Authorized User on Macy's Store Card

[ugalien]

I added my husband on my Macy's credit card as an authorized user.  I verified twice that he is only an authorized user, not an account holder.  The account went deliquent for a few months and they are reporting this negatively on his credit report.  Is this legal if the card is only in my name?  I thought the point of being an authorized user was to have the benefits of the card without the responsibility.

[tcbofade]

Macy's may just be an odd duck here.

When I added DW as an AU, they listed the account in her CRs...a few years later, when we didn't want it to show on her CR's, she filed a request with the CRA's to remove it from her CR because it wasn't her account.

It no longer shows on her CR's, but she's still an AU and still has and uses her own card on my account.

[09Lexie]

As an AU, her husband inherits the credit history.  He is not responsible to repay the debt but the reporting is accurate.  If you want him to not have any further reporting issues, he'll have to request the entire TL to be removed as not his. 

[ugalien]

What is TL?

So, if I understand correctly . . . I cannot make Macy's change their reporting.  I have to dispute the information they reported with each credit bureau as it was not his account.

[09Lexie]

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@ugalien wrote:

What is TL?

So, if I understand correctly . . . I cannot make Macy's change their reporting.  I have to dispute the information they reported with each credit bureau as it was not his account.

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TL= tradeline 

No, if your husband is an AU his report will include the CL, pyt history and open/close date from your account.  In order to have the negative removed, he would need to request the TL to be removed as not his.  Similarly to questions that come up on util. if you max out a card, it will impact his CS if he shares the account with you as an AU. 

[kroberts67]

I added my boyfriend who lives at a different address and supplied no ss#.  They began reporting about 2 mos into it.  The CL is factored into his total UT.

[Creditaddict]

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@ugalien wrote:

What is TL?

So, if I understand correctly . . . I cannot make Macy's change their reporting.  I have to dispute the information they reported with each credit bureau as it was not his account.

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He needs to dispute the account on each of HIS credit report that it's not his account and since he is just au they will delete it in a matter of days usually.

your credit report as is since it's accurate and your account.

[Anonymous]

My mom just added me. When she called she said "i need to add an authorized user" they said she would have to fill out a form when she received the form it said "joint account number" I had to send a copy of my dl and ssn....theres no possible way for anyone to report to your credit if they dont have your ssn...so I do believe that card companies do report on AU but somewhere sometime somehow the card holder gave them your ssn. I will give some advise I learned the hard way...if u are doing it to help your credit the mortgage underwriters are catching onto this and demanding it be removed and then the mortgage loan has to be reprocessed....however joint users are fine they accept those because joint users are considered liable with payments and defaults if primary holder defaults...I would like to know if anyone else has done joint on macys and if so how much and how soon was credit score increased

[Anonymous]

"Joint account member" not number oops!

[Anonymous]

As it has been said, you DO NOT need to give a SSN when adding an AU onto your credit account. This is one way that the credit bureaus have cracked down on the misuse of "Piggybacking". As long as you share the same address as the official account holder, they only need and ask for your first and last name.
I have personal experience on this, I became an AU on a family members Macy's account in which we share the same address. The only info given to Macy's was my first and last name, 30 days later it was reported on my credit!
I can understand your concern and confusion, the first time I became an AU was on a Lowes card (Same family Member), same story, they asked for my first and last name only. I told the employee she was misunderstanding my intentions, long story short I ended up going to her supervisor which insured me it would be reported correctly and explained the process, 30 days later it was on my credit.
So please believe me, they don't need a SSN to match up and report it on a individuals credit repor
As far as my credit and how it affected mine becoming an AU, my situation left me sitting great, raised my score over 40 points. But this is not a black and white situation or answer, there's lots of different factors that play a role when determining how it will affect ones credit. There are some situations where it can kill your credit, example being they find you over obligated with debt to income or the account has a large utilization percentage.