topic Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report? in General Credit Topics

Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

SavannahMan — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:48:27 GMT

My wife openeda credit card account with a dept. store before we married. After we got married she added me to the account as an authorized user although I have never used the acccount. This account now shows up on my credit report although I did'nt sign any agreement with this company.

Is this legal? and can I have it removed even though we are still married?

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

McGrawgal — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:30:42 GMT

Yes, it's legal, although the responsability for payment lies with her. You just get to collect the history and use the card if you choose to do so. Yes, she can have you removed as an AU but you will also loose the history associated with the account.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

overdrive — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:31:06 GMT

SavannahMan wrote:
My wife openeda credit card account with a dept. store before we married. After we got married she added me to the account as an authorized user although I have never used the acccount. This account now shows up on my credit report although I did'nt sign any agreement with this company.
Is this legal? and can I have it removed even though we are still married?

Since you are an AU, you have equal responsibility towards the account. People often add themselves to take advantage of the primary owner's good, long credit history and boost their scores. If you want, you can remove yourself. Just call the CC company and it should wear off your CR by the next reporting cycle.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

fused — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:32:43 GMT

SavannahMan wrote:
My wife openeda credit card account with a dept. store before we married. After we got married she added me to the account as an authorized user although I have never used the acccount. This account now shows up on my credit report although I did'nt sign any agreement with this company.
Is this legal? and can I have it removed even though we are still married?

Yes, this is legal and you potentially benefit from it. The fact that your wife did this and is it legal, not sure. But after reading this post, you shouldn't care. Read on...By being an AU on your wife's dept store card and assuming there is nothing negative being reported on this card, you have a nice aging tradeline (TL) reporting on you credit reports. If however, something is negative on this tl then it will ding your score. If everything is positive, do not remove yourself as an AU. You could potentially take a major hit to your scores. By the way, do you know your FICO scores.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

fused — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:34:00 GMT

overdrive wrote:

SavannahMan wrote:
My wife openeda credit card account with a dept. store before we married. After we got married she added me to the account as an authorized user although I have never used the acccount. This account now shows up on my credit report although I did'nt sign any agreement with this company.
Is this legal? and can I have it removed even though we are still married?

Since you are an AU, you have equal responsibility towards the account. People often add themselves to take advantage of the primary owner's good, long credit history and boost their scores. If you want, you can remove yourself. Just call the CC company and it should wear off your CR by the next reporting cycle.

AU's have NO FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILTY, only the primary cardholder does.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

overdrive — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:36:27 GMT

fused111 wrote:

overdrive wrote:

SavannahMan wrote:
My wife openeda credit card account with a dept. store before we married. After we got married she added me to the account as an authorized user although I have never used the acccount. This account now shows up on my credit report although I did'nt sign any agreement with this company.
Is this legal? and can I have it removed even though we are still married?

Since you are an AU, you have equal responsibility towards the account. People often add themselves to take advantage of the primary owner's good, long credit history and boost their scores. If you want, you can remove yourself. Just call the CC company and it should wear off your CR by the next reporting cycle.

AU's have NO FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILTY, only the primary cardholder does.

oops, I meant in the context of affect on credit scores + or -

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

fused — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:43:34 GMT

Hey, no worries! We are all students and Tuscani is our Professor!:smileyvery-happy: One thing about being an AU and not knowing it is hopefully the primary cardholder is responsible. Otherwise, in the future when you pull your cr's and suddenly its showing a negative tl, you have been given a nasty surprise present.:smileysurprised:

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

Tuscani — Tue, 29 May 2007 22:10:33 GMT

Dispute it as "not mine"

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

fused — Wed, 30 May 2007 00:53:59 GMT

Tuscani wrote:
Dispute it as "not mine"

Huh? Why?

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

Tuscani — Wed, 30 May 2007 10:45:25 GMT

fused111 wrote:

Tuscani wrote:
Dispute it as "not mine"

Huh? Why?

If the OP does not want the account on his reports he should dispute it. With that said, it's probably only helping him and there is no need to remove it as long as the payment history is good.

Message Edited by Tuscani on 05-30-2007 05:45 AM

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

coachhenson — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 01:06:35 GMT

My wife and I are working on cleaning up our credit, and an account she had as a charge-off recently was listed on my credit. I disputed it with TU, deleted the next day.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

focused07 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 03:30:23 GMT

So when you disputed, did you go the route as Tuscani advised of stating "this is not my account", or did you state "this is my wife's account and I am only an AU, please remove"? I am in the same boat (I am an AU on my husband's card and there is one 30 day late payment that is reporting to my CR) and was about to write a GW letter but wonder if I would get faster, better results by disputing. There is otherwise a perfect payment history on this card. The account is about 5-6 yrs old but I have others and it's currently reporting as "closed by the consumer" - so not sure it's doing anything but hurting my score right now anyway.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

focused07 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 05:08:04 GMT

bump.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

so_confused — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:17:49 GMT

Sounds like you could do the GW from him, then if its not removed, and you have older TL's, and its not going to really effect your UTIL % you could dispute it as, not mine.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

focused07 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:24:20 GMT

thanks so confused!

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

Noah_Bodie — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:54:00 GMT

focused07 wrote:
I am in the same boat (I am an AU on my husband's card and there is one 30 day late payment that is reporting to my CR) and was about to write a GW letter but wonder if I would get faster, better results by disputing. There is otherwise a perfect payment history on this card. The account is about 5-6 yrs old but I have others and it's currently reporting as "closed by the consumer" - so not sure it's doing anything but hurting my score right now anyway.

Lates hurt until they drop. The amount of hurt fades with time.

Have your husband pursue GW. If your husband can get GW, it's almost assured they will delete the TL altogether rather than delete only the late.

You can hold out and see whether your husband can get them to delete only the late, but as I say it's not likely. But I would go ahead and dispute it off your CRs since you're an AU.

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

focused07 — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:55:03 GMT

Noah - I am a bit confused. So are you recommending that I should have my husband send a GW letter to them? Or should I dispute the tradeline as not mine? I have prepared the GW letter and I am ready to send. Can I do both simultaneously (the GW and the dispute as not mine)? If I go the "not mine" route, do I indicate anywhere in the letter that I am an AU on the account?

Help???

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

Noah_Bodie — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:08:29 GMT

focused07 wrote:
So are you recommending that I should have my husband send a GW letter to them? Or should I dispute the tradeline as not mine? I have prepared the GW letter and I am ready to send. Can I do both simultaneously (the GW and the dispute as not mine)? If I go the "not mine" route, do I indicate anywhere in the letter that I am an AU on the account?

Both.

Your husband should pursue GW, and that may or may not come to pass.

But you can dispute this away without any problem since it's an AU account for you. Either online or in a letter. You can tell 'em either not mine or you're only an AU.

The only way an adverse AU account of a spouse can be reported on the AU spouse's CR is if the married couple resides in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin) and the account was acquired "within the marital community." However, even if you're in a community property state, I would still dispute it as not mine or AU account. Not every OC is aware of community property statutes. They might just see AU and think, "uh-oh, don't wanna be another $100K Johnson v. MBNA."

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

focused07 — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 01:01:01 GMT

Thanks Noah - got it now. We were not married at the time that he added me as an AU (about 4.5 years ago), but we are now (just 1 yr.). And we do live in CA, so I am going to have him sign the GW letter I drafted and also send a dispute letter and online. One more question since I have not disputed much: do I file the dispute online directly with the bureau are with the creditor?

Re: Should an account of my wifes be on my credit report?

Noah_Bodie — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:58:55 GMT

Dispute with the CRA to get the TL deleted off your CRs.