Off the wall idea...

[MattH]

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LaserBlue wrote:...Here's the possibility I find really intriguing: Even though it's not an idea I find very comforting, I had also thought that although my mother isn't terribly old, it might be an account that could survive her eventual death. Even many years after she is gone (hopefully a long time from now), the card and its associated history could continue to benefit me. And then if I did the same with my (hypothetical) future children, the account could theoretically continue forever and we could eventually have an account with 100 years of history.

Or have I misunderstood something about how it works?

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Um, better talk with a lawyer first, dunno what happens with a joint account upon the death of one person, they might automatically close the account or somesuch. Anyway, if you don't apply for a while I expect your score will improve significantly as your recent accounts age, so if you simply make all your payments on time and keep utilization down you should have a 720-plus score on all your accounts soon enough.

[MattH]

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@momof2 wrote:

I am confussed, what is the difference between a joint account holder and an AU? Doesnt both let you use the card to buy things? someone please explain to me in laymans terms

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An Authorized User is allowed to make purchases on the card but is not responsible for paying the bills, whereas a joint account holder has equal legal liability for the bills. Generally if the primary holder of the account wants to put somebody on as an AU the company might require proof of breathing, whereas putting somebody on as a joint holder will require a credit check of the prospective joint holder.

[momof2]

matth--- thanks, that helps alot now i understand. one last question, if your are an AU how would this help your CR and score if they are not responsible for the bill being that the account isnt even in their name?

[MattH]

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@momof2 wrote:

matth--- thanks, that helps alot now i understand. one last question, if your are an AU how would this help your CR and score if they are not responsible for the bill being that the account isnt even in their name?

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Traditionally, being an AU has helped the score of the AU, but they are cracking down on that because of abuse -- there are companies where people with poor FICO scores pay people with excellent FICO scores to list them as Authorized Users, and so forth.

[jmbfl]

The problem with your plan will be when you want to add the next generation of co-owner. You will need the approval of all the existing co-owners to add a new one. That will be hard to do if one of them is deceased!