Adding authorized user?

[Anonymous]

Adding eachother as authorized users can help with utilization and can help improve your credit scores in general. The only real negative that could happen is if you have a high utilization on any of the cards being added as an authorized user. If you have had missed payments or anything on the cards and add each other as an authorized user, IT CAN affect the Authorized User's credit depending on if the card issuer reports the full history of the card to the authorized user. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Me and my wife both have good individual credit cards. Is it a good idea to add each other as authorized user? Both of us don't carry any balances so that is not a negative. Other then that what could be positives and negatives adding authorized user? I burned few of the banks that she deals with BK, will that affect her?

---

Pros:

1. More available credit allowing higher reported spend with lower utilization.

2. If accounts are old, maybe higher AAoA

3. Easier to maximize rewards and applying for different rewards cards and sign-up bonuses and making each other AUs 

Cons:

1. If high utilization on one of your cards, both of you will suffer a score hit. 

2. If accounts are new on the shared cards, both of you will have lower AAoA. 

3. If one card misses a payment both of you will suffer a credit score hit (AU can remove it by removing the TL from the AU card)

4. If you have a nasty split-up, one of you could max out the AU cards without the responsibility to pay it off

Your BK/bank burning history should not effect your wife if she adds you as an AU. Unless you joint apply for a card, you should be fine. Deciding whether or not to make a spouse an AU is a personal decision. Every couple is different and every couple manages finances differently. In an optimal world, adding each other as AUs is probably mildly beneficial, but the benefit does come with risks. 

[takeshi74]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Is it a good idea to add each other as authorized user?

---

Clarify what you mean by "good idea".  What are you looking to accomplish?

If the card reports for AU's then the tradeline is simply added to the AU's reports.  Whether or not the tradeline benefits the AU depends on the tradeline.  Derogs, high utilization and a short age (depends on how the tradeline reports) will generally not help while postive payment history, low utilization and a longer age will generally help.

That said, whether or not a given scoring model and creditor consider the tradeline where the person is an AU also matters.  Not all do and there is no effect either way in such cases since such accounts are simply disregarded.

There are certainly other potential considerations than just reporting and scoring.  For example, my wife and I are AU's on some of each other's accounts because we find it useful as we do have a need to utilize each other's tradelines.  However, we don't have a need to be an AU on every single tradeline.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I burned few of the banks that she deals with BK, will that affect her?

---

Again, the tradeline simply appears on the AU's reports if the card reports for AU's.  The AU's credit is not merged with the original cardholder's.  The only potential impact from the AU is if the AU racks up enough charges to negatively impact utilization and potentially cause derogs on the tradeline.