I just cosigned a car loan with my fiance and wondered if that will give any type of boost to my credit score?

We are both young professionals and he makes enough to not worry about missing a payment. I have a 740 now and I believe he has 720. What he lacks however, is an Equifax score since he doesn't have any credit cards. He already had a car loan before this one that he paid off in 3 months. His father cosigned for that one. But yet he didn't have a credit history to get the 20,000 car loan. I however, have had a credit card since 17. I also a car loan under my belt worth $15,000 (no cosigning woo hoo). So should my score get boosted any more than it is? Or would it stay about the same?

Public Comments

1. its going to stay about the same, there is new fico scoring system rolling out over the next 18-24 months to close the loop hole that picks up on cosigning. the reason is people with bad scores are temperarily "borrowing" someone's good score to boost their own.
2. There are three major credit beareaus that all use credit scoring software provided by FICO, and yes it will help your credit provided that you are not overextended. Here is a peice that I was just working on writing for my emlployees to better understand credit and how it works. Understanding Credit 1.Credit Scoring a.These scores are calculated by a mathematical equation that evaluates many types of information from your credit report one of the three agencies. 2.Agencies a.Transunion b.Equifax c.Experian 3.How does a FICO score get generated a.Your credit report must contain enough information and recent information in order to create a score. Generally that means you must have at least one account that has been open for six months or lo0nger, and at least one account that has been reported to the credit reporting agency within the last six months. 4.There are multiple types of credit scores, but FICO scores are the scores most often used by lenders in the US and Canada. 5.The three major agencies calculate your credit score with software provided by the Fair Isaac Corporation. 6.FICO Range a.From 300-850 b.The higher the score the lower the risk c.Unfortunately no scores guarantees that the individual will be a good or bad customer. 7.Credit scoring does not consider your gender, race nationality or marital status. a.The Equal Credit Opportunity act prohibits lenders from considering this information when issuing credit. 8.What other credit scoring sources are out there? a.Application risk scores i.Many lenders use scoring systems that include the FICO socre but also consider information from your credit application b.Customer risk scores i.A lender may use these scores to make credit decisions on its current customers. This is also called behavior scores,” these scores generally consider the FICO score along with information on how you have apid that lender in the past. c.Other credit scores i.These scores may evaluate your credit report differently that FICO scores, and in some cases a higher score may mean more risk, not less risk as with FICO scores. 9.Credit Reporting Agency and FICO score name a.Equifax and Equifax Canada = Beacon b.Experian = Experian and Fair Isaac Rish Model c.Transunion = FIX Risk Score, Classic 10.Score will be different a.The scoring model provided by fair Isaac makes scores as sonsistent as possible between the three credit reporting agencies, but even if the information about you at all three credit reporting agencies were identical your scores would likely still differ because the models for the three credit reporting agencies are developed separately. 11.Payment History a.Approximately 35% of your score is based on this b.This does not ensure a great credit score though. 12.Your Credit score will take into account the following information as well. a.Payment information on most credit lines b.Public record and collection items i.This reports events such as bankruptcies, foreclosures, suits, wage attachments, liens and judgments. These are considered quite serious, although older items and items with small amounts will count less. ii.Details on late or missed payments and public record and collection items. 1.The score considers how late they were, how much was owed, how recently they occurred and how many there are. iii.How many accounts show no late payments 1.a good track record on most of your credit accounts will tend to increase the credit score. 13.How can your client raise their score a.Pay all bills on time b.If they have missed opayments, get current and stay current c.Be aware that paying off a collection account or closing an account on which you previously missed a payment will not remove it from your credit report. d.If they are having trouble making ends meet, contact your creditors or see a legitimate credit counselor. e.Avoid credit repair agencies that charge a fee to improve your score by removing negative, but accurate, information from your credit report. i.These companies often deliver nothing and keep your money. f.Keep balances low on credit cards and other revolving credit g.Pay off debt rather than moving it around h.Don’t close unused credit cards as a short term strategy to raise your score i.Don’t open an number of new credit cards that you don’t need just to increase your available credit i.This could actually lower your score. j.If you have been managing credit for a short time, don’t open a lot of new accounts too rapidly. k.Do your rate shopping for a given auto or mortgage loan within a short period of time l.Be careful about opening new accounts that you don’t need m.Reestablish your credit history if you have had problems n.Note that its OK to request and check your own credit report and your own FICO score. i.This won’t affect your score as lo0ng as you order your credit report directly from the credit reporting agency or through and organization authorized to provide credit reports to consumers. o.Apply for and open new credit accounts only as needed. p.Have credit cards – but manage them responsibly q.Note that closing an account doesn’t make it go away. 14.Amounts owed to collections a.This accounts for approximately 30% of your credit score b.Your score takes the following into consideration i.The amount owed on all accounts ii.The amount owed on all accounts, and on different types of accounts iii.Whether you are showing a balance on certain types of accounts iv.How many accounts have balances v.How much of the total credit line is being used on the credit cards and other revolving credit accounts vi.How much of installment loan accounts is still owed. Compared with the original loan amount 15.Length of credit history a.This accounts for approximately 15% of your score b.How long your credit accounts have been established, in general. The score considers the age of your oldest account c.How long specific credit accounts have been established d.How long it has been since you used certain accounts 16.New Credit a.This accounts for approximately 10% of your score b.How many new accounts do you have c.How long it has been since you opened a new account d.How many recent request for credit you have made as indicated by inquiries to the credit reporting agencies e.Length of time since credit report inquiries were made by lenders f.Whether you have a good recent credit history following past payment problems 17.Types of credit in use a.This accounts for approximately 10% of your credit score b.What kinds of credit accounts do you have c.How many of each kind you have
3. As long as you two make the payments as agreed (which it sounds like you will) yes your score and your fiance's will both get better. The reason that he had no qualifying credit is because he paid off the car to fast. You need to make at least 12-18 payments to really help your score and to show people that you can pay for things over time. One of the first things a lender looks for is 12-installment payments made as agreed. O.B.T.W. the loophole that the first poster referred to is for authorized users on credit cards not joint or co-signed loans.
4. The answer is 'no'. Your score will actually go down since you are now considered responsible if he defaults. Credit scores are based upon many things as shown in the chart below. Score Component Weight Payment History 35% Amounts Owed 30% Length of Credit History 15% New Credit 10% Types of Credit Used 10
5. only if he pays on time