Fair Isaac Change way Credit Scores are Calculated

This Money Magazine article: No more credit-line sharing touts a "sea-change" in credit scoring and how it could deflate your credit score.

Formerly, parents with high credit scores could add their kids as authorized users on the account that the parent's credit score would show up in their child's payment history - in turn bolstering the child's credit score.

Due to potential fraud in buying authorized status from people with good credit, Fair Isaac, the company that calculates credit scores is no longer including authorized users in the calculation.

The article offers the following ways to deal with the change in credit score calculation if you are an authorized user and are afraid your credit score might deflate:

• If your spouse or adult child is an authorized user with no other history, have him or her get a secured card. These require little or no credit history but do necessitate a cash deposit. Once he or she proves creditworthy, it's possible to switch to a traditional card.
• If your kid is an authorized user and in college, get him his own card now (shop at www.cardtrak.com), as it'll be easier to get approved while still a student. Note: It takes six months to get a FICO rating.
• If your spouse or child is an authorized user with poor credit, encourage him or her to pay bills on time: More than a third of the FICO score is based on this.