Authorized user

[Anonymous]

Hi.

I am building up my credit having moved to the US only a couple of years ago.  I have a secured credit card already, following the great advice of some friendly people on this board.

I also recently married, and understand it may be useful for my wife to add me as an authorized user to her two credit cards (she has a good credit score).  The cards are a TD Bank Cash Rewards Platinum Visa card and a US Airways Mastercard.  Will it help my credit score if I am added as a user to these cards?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

To answer the question:

Assuming the cards report the authorized users, not all do. Your utilization, average age of accounts, oldest account will be calculated from your cards and you AU cards. Your score could go up or down depending on how these change. You can run some of the fico simulators with and without the extra cards to get an idea of the change. You may find only 1 card added is the best.

Other thought:

If you only have the 1 secured card with a good history, you might consider adding another card or two. FICO likes a minimum of 3 cards for better score. This will also improve your score and build some solid history over time. You might want to do both.