Question:
Hi. My father is terminally ill and he has a nearly perfect credit score. My score is roughly 700 and I'm painstakingly raising it inch by inch. Is it true I can actually bump up my credit score by naming him as a second user on my credit cards, or perhaps, by opening a joint card with him? Does this have any real impact on his score?
Answers:
If he added you on a joint account then you would benefit from the history of that account not his whole history. The benefit of being an authorized user will no longer exist after they change the scoring methods in September, only joint accounts will help. I do not think this would be nessecary for you however if your score is 700 that is pretty good and if you are careful with it I am sure it is rising from here. about 760 will get you the best rates on any loan depending on the bank, some banks 725 gets there top rates. There would be no impact on his score from this.
A new card would not do this, it only works with established credit history.
He would need to make you a cosigner on one of his cards with a long history of good payments. Note: Cosigner, equally responsible for the debt (ie if he dies and the card is maxed you are responsible for paying that card) not an authorized user, not responsible for debt, just allowed to use the card...it used to be an authorized user was alllowed to get the positive credit history but not anymore.
Both of the posters are correct in regards to authorized users. At this point, it would do more harm to your score than good in opening up another account at this juncture with the initial inquiry for applying for credit and waiting some time for a payment history to establish. If you're trying to raise your score, the best option for you would be to make sure that the balances on all your cards are at 25% or below your combined available credit. If you haven't already, request for modest line increases across the board on all your accounts. The added available credit may help with your utilization (debt to available credit) ratio and raise your score. The magi number for prime rates for any loan is 720, so with that in mind, just be patient.
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