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Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

Hi, I have been paying my Dad's cards (not joint) during the last few years but not sure how they all show up in my credit reports as if they were either mine or "joint" . This has created a problem since they have increased my debt and have reduced my FICO drastically. Should I call those credit card companies and ask them to remove me ? My guess is that since they can see where the payments are coming from they assumed that I was on the account too. Thanks, Jubin

Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
Creditaddict
Legendary Contributor

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

if you are added as an auth user they would report to your credit.

Message 2 of 11
MarineVietVet
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

 


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, I have been paying my Dad's cards (not joint) during the last few years but not sure how they all show up in my credit reports as if they were either mine or "joint" . This has created a problem since they have increased my debt and have reduced my FICO drastically. Should I call those credit card companies and ask them to remove me ? My guess is that since they can see where the payments are coming from they assumed that I was on the account too. Thanks, Jubin


 

Hello and welcome to the forums.

 

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. If you are not listed on an account just paying on a debt does not affect your credit in any way. The CCC's don't know and don't care who makes the payments.

 

If you are an authorized user you can have yourself removed but if you are listed as a joint owner it becomes more complicated.

 

 

 

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802
EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800
TU - 8/10-772
You can do the same thing with hard work


Message 3 of 11
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

 


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, I have been paying my Dad's cards (not joint) during the last few years but not sure how they all show up in my credit reports as if they were either mine or "joint" . This has created a problem since they have increased my debt and have reduced my FICO drastically. Should I call those credit card companies and ask them to remove me ? My guess is that since they can see where the payments are coming from they assumed that I was on the account too. Thanks, Jubin


 

If you want to keep doing this, for whatever reason, you can pay them off right before the statements are due to drop, so that they will show $0 as the balance due. That will reduce your reported "debt" (this is actually called reducing the revolving utilization, or "util"), and your scores won't be affected. A very few cards (HSBC/ Orchard bank cards; US Bank cards) report the balance as of the last business day of the month, so if there are any of those, you would want to pay them off several days before that. But the overwhelming majority of cards report the balance due that's on the statements, so that's the timing to go for.

 

The payment source doesn't get reflected on your credit reports. You're showing on these cards in one form or another. Look for a field called "ownership" or something similar, and see if it says "joint" or "authorized."

 

If you aren't one or the other, the cards shouldn't be on your reports, and they aren't affecting your scores.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 4 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

Thanks everyone, I love this forum !!!! YESSS , you are all right, I checked and saw that somehow I was put as an AUTHORIZED user, I'll look into it, but before I do that I still need your opinion as my score took a dive and the main reason they show is that the total DEBT BALANCE is too high (I am paying mostly minimum and not full amount ) , so I am guessing that if I remove my name as authorized user on these accounts would the "debt balance" come down, and if so how soon ? Then, how soon my score returns back to healthier number ? FYI, About 80% of my total CC debt are my dad's account.

Message 5 of 11
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

If you are an authorized user on your dad's cards, then you are not legally responsible for the debts. One exception: American Express will hold the AU responsible for charges made on the AU's card, but not for the total balance. (Unless the total balance represents AU charges, of course.)

 

It does sound like you need to get off these cards to protect your own credit. If you feel that you ought to continue paying your dad's cards, for whatever reason, you can continue to do so, without being listed on the cards.

 

I don't know if he's willing to help you out on this by taking you off the cards. If so, he can call each lender/ bank and ask to have you taken off the account and request that they stop reporting it on your reports. If not, you can try calling each card/ bank and asking to be taken off. They might or might not do this for an AU. If they do, you should come off the next time that the statement updates and they report to the CRA's (credit bureaus.)

 

If they don't, or if he can't help you out, you will need to dispute with the credit bureaus as "not mine." In other words, you're only an AU; it's not your account. Although the usual procedure is to dispute each account on all three, I would suggest that you start by disputing as "not mine" only with Equifax. This is because Experian has a nasty way of blowing you off the first time, and then when you try again, they say that they've already investigated the account, so go away.

 

With luck, disputing with EQ will make each CCC (credit card company = bank) take you off each card and stop reporting. Give it a month (=one biling cycle.) If the accounts are still showing up, then you'll have to dispute on all three, I'm afraid.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 6 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

Very helpful, thank you so much for your time, I still need to know once I am off as AU and those accounts removed from my account and the debt balance is reduced substantially , how fast the score improves, is it instant during that month's cycle or will it take a few months ?

Message 7 of 11
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

Your scores are calculated off whatever is on your reports at that very moment. So in fact, even if you don't pull a score, if the underlying report has changed, your score has changed as well. Think of it as a potential score, I guess.

 

As each lender updates, taking you off each account, your score will change. The trick will be to get them to update promptly, and they will vary in terms of how cooperative they are. In most cases, the new info (as in, no longer reporting) will happen when the account posts a new statement. But sometimes the AU account doesn't get removed, because it's a non-news event, in that you weren't really there in the first place, so there might not be anything to trigger an update.


FWIW, when I came off as an AU on my daughter's BofA account (she was out of the country, and I was babysitting), it went away the next time that the statement updated. But she and her father (DXH) still show as AU's on my American Express Gold card, long since closed, even though they've been off for over two years. And I came off as AU on DXH's Discover card in January, but it still shows on all three of my reports. It has a last date of activity of January on EQ and TU, but it's showing as currently updating on EX, including a recent balance posted.

 

So it very much varies by lender.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 8 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

Thanks again haulingthescoreup, fortunately none of these a/c's are AMEX and with your very valuable info now I have a good picture of what is going on and will decide which way to go to have my name removed as the advantage of being a AU on these a/c's doesn't worth the terrible dive my FICO has taken and I'd be better off not to be AU on these a/c's. I wish I had kept on an eye on my credit reports to notice this sooner. Now I am contemplating between myfico.com and myfreecreditreport services as the one to use on permanent basis, I am guessing that you are all using myfico and are happy with it @ about $13/mnth, I am on their 10 day free trial and it seems to be a good service ... the 10 days is ending tomorrow and I have emailed them not to renew it until I finish my homework of removing my name on these CCC's then staring the service with them and keep a close eye on it. I have printed the reports and know which CCC's I need to work on.

Message 9 of 11
llecs
Moderator Emeritus
Moved:

Re: Paying Father's Non-Joint Cards Bills

Post split to form a new thread within Rebuilding Your Credit

Message 10 of 11
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