Ask Terry Questions Credit scores

Credit scores

By Terry Savage on May 27, 2021 | Credit/Debt

Hi Terry! What has more impact on your credit score between credit utilisation and age of credit. I ask this because I’m an authorized user on one of my wife credit cards. It is at 90% utilization,but that card is also the oldest credit card on my credit history. If I remove myself from this card, will it reduce my score or improve it? Thanks in advance,

Terry Says

Well, you’re sort of caught in the middle here. Length of credit plays an important role in your credit score, and being an authorized user on a card held for a long time will positively impact your score (and likely negatively impact it upon removal). But if the cardholder has bad payment habits, that impacts your score even more directly. Credit utilization falls behind length of credit in impact.

My suggestion: Get your own separate credit card. Use it every month. Pay on time and in full every month. And in a year, you will have built up enough good credit history to mostly offset the impact of removal from your wife’s card.
And ask yourself, what things are you going to do in the next couple of years that would be impacted by a lower credit score for a while –things like: finance a new car, purchase insurance, purchase a home, apply for a job. If none of those are in the offing and you want or need to get off your spouse’s card, then just do it after you get your own new card.

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