Adding wife as AU who has bad credit

[Marcos8]

Hello all! A couple of questions about possibly adding my wife as an AU to some of my credit cards in order to help her rebuild. Prior to meeting me when she was in her 20's she screwed up her credit. She has some collections (which are all about to fall off this year) and a judgement she is on a payment plan for. She has operated for the last 5-6 years on cash only. She only has 6 accounts on her credit report and they are all negative with the exception of her BOA secured card she opened 6 months ago. Is it dangerous to add her to my credit cards as an AU (I understand the UTL impacts etc...but I do not plan to give her the cards to spend on)? Will the company that has the judgement against her start to come after me for her debt? Should I wait for the collections to fall off this year before I add her?

Also, of my cards which would report an AU to all 3 bureaus? Thanks!

Chase Slate

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[mrgoattoo]

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@Marcos8 wrote:

Hello all! A couple of questions about possibly adding my wife as an AU to some of my credit cards in order to help her rebuild. Prior to meeting me when she was in her 20's she screwed up her credit. She has some collections (which are all about to fall off this year) and a judgement she is on a payment plan for. She has operated for the last 5-6 years on cash only. She only has 6 accounts on her credit report and they are all negative with the exception of her BOA secured card she opened 6 months ago. Is it dangerous to add her to my credit cards as an AU (I understand the UTL impacts etc...but I do not plan to give her the cards to spend on)? Will the company that has the judgement against her start to come after me for her debt? Should I wait for the collections to fall off this year before I add her?

Also, of my cards which would report an AU to all 3 bureaus? Thanks!

Chase Slate

BOA Cash Rewards

Cap 1 Quicksilver

Amex BCP

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Not sure if anyting changed in recent years but my wife did this for me, put me on as an AU and it really bumped up my score. Well enough that I got approved for a  WaMu card myself so i could start rebuilding my own credit apart from hers.

I THOUGHT I read that some scoring methods made this not work out as well as before, but I could be wrong.

I dont think any states allow creditors to come after a spouse for the others old debt if they werent married when it went into collections.

[takeshi74]

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@Marcos8 wrote:

Is it dangerous to add her to my credit cards as an AU (I understand the UTL impacts etc...but I do not plan to give her the cards to spend on)?

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The danger is really just from the AU's usage of your account.

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@Marcos8 wrote:

Will the company that has the judgement against her start to come after me for her debt?

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No.  Your info isn't merged with her report.  Your account just shows up on her reports.

[Marcos8]

Which of my cards would report an AU to all 3 bureaus?

Would any of my card issuers take a bias towards me in any way since I would be adding someone who doesn't have a good credit history?

Thanks for the responses so far!

[meehan22]

OC's, CA's cant come after you for debt that happened prior to marriage. So you are fine there, they can call you and such but cannot legally sue/garn/etc.  Only thing that can happen is any assets that are in both of your names such as a house or a vehicle. If payments are missed on the judgment and her name is on a free title or on a home they can attach the judgment to them assets. Or garn a bank account that has her name on it (like a joint account)