Another AU question, advice anyone, please

[Anonymous]

Okay. I have a couple cards of my own (i have a cap1 secured and an opensky on the way, neither reporting yet) and i had the idea to ask a relative if I could be an AU on their account.... to my surprise they told me that I already am and she has a card with my name on it and all that. Okay, well then how come its not being reported to the credit bureaus? I called Discover and they told me that as an "authorized buyer" I dont have the same powers and whatnot as the account holder and that I would have to become a co-card holder. (So what started as me asking to be put on the account and having no impact on the account holder has turned into an HP for me, and a possible fluctuation in the credit limit or interest rate for my relative)....... But I see ALL of these posts talking about being an AU and getting the reporting benefits. so i guess my question is: is this specific to Discover? Do they just not report if you're only an AU but other companies do? Or are all you guys using the term AU to refer to co-account holders? I'm not sure whether I should pursue the Discover card or if I should ask if she has a different card I can just be an AU on that I might be able to get the benefits from. If anyone has had a similar experience, especially with Discover, I'd like to hear it.

Thanks y'all,

Shamrock

[gibeon]

I had a very weird experience with Discover. I was accidentally added as a joint account holder (according to my CR) to someone else's account back in 1990.

For 17 years I had a Discover card reporting on time payments and utilization to my Experian report. I have no idea who the actual cardholder was.

The max limit was $12,500 and the high balance was $952. It was opened in 1990, and closed in 2007 at the consumers request. They never missed a payment, God bless 'em.

I didn't even notice it until a few years ago.

I've got about 1.5 more years of it helping keep up my AAoA.

If it helps answer the question, it looks like you have to be a joint account holder to get the reporting benefits.

If you just want to be an AU and get the utilization and history benefits, I know for certain that BofA and Capital One will report to the AU's reports.

[Anonymous]

It's just strange because so many people on here report getting the entire credit history as an AU on someone else's discover card.... I wonder if I hit some cutoff where they stopped doing that. I will say that credit report wise that I'm sure being a co-account holder probably looks better than just being an AU, so as long as the account holder doesn't care and understands the risks that'd probably be my better bet. (I will never possess the credit card or have the number, i dont need it and dont want it) I just want the payment history and age

[Anonymous]

20 year old Discover card with perfect payment history, less than 5% UTI with a 10,000 dollar limit, gimme dat, GIMME DAT NOW 

[Anonymous]

DH is on mine as AU and it reports. I was on his as AU and it reported. Then I learned more here and took myself off his (since it's got a high balance at 0%).