Credit Cards

[wealthcreator]

Hi,

I asked discover to add my spouse as authorized user so that my credit limit get reported on her files. They sent me letter for adding Join Account Holder. Does both same thing ??

[Cleanmachine]

Short and Sweet

Authorized User is not responsible for the account.

A joint account holder is equally responsible.

[jsucool76]

They probably assumed as a spouse you would want to make it a joint account. If you want to add an AU you can usually do it right through your online access account.

[cashnocredit]

Amex has a slightly different take on AUs. They get their own card number and the account owner can manage their CLs as well as set notifications for spending levels. Amex will hold both the account owner and additional card user responsible for the additional card user's spends.

I like the Amex reporting spending breakdown by user and also the restaurant detail which breaks out the tip from the main charge.  I wish Chase did this.

[drkaje]

USAA also holds authorized users responsible for their charges should the primary default. AU agreement also says they'll create a seperate CRA entry (in the AU's name) for the bad account.

[wealthcreator]

So if I add her as AU then also credit card will be reported to her file ? I just wanted to display my discover CLI on her reports so that she can have better credit history.

[wealthcreator]

One more question, will they pull credit file of second applicant in both cases ??

[pizzadude]

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wealthcreator wrote:

So if I add her as AU then also credit card will be reported to her file ? I just wanted to display my discover CLI on her reports so that she can have better credit history.

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Yes, generally this is how it works with AU accounts ~ the AU inherits all of the credit card history ( good or bad ) onto their own credit reports.

[pizzadude]

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wealthcreator wrote:

One more question, will they pull credit file of second applicant in both cases ??

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For a joint application I would think that they'd likely want to do a credit pull.   AU accounts won't result in a credit pull.

[cashnocredit]

Amex asks for SS# and does a soft pull on additional cardholders.