Question about becoming an authorized user

[Anonymous]

I'm just curious - if my relative adds me as an AU on one of their credit cards, what date would

show as the account origination date? The date I am added as an AU or the date that my relative opened the account ?  Thanks for any input!

[gdale6]

Welcome to the board

The open date of the card will report but the history on the account on month by month may only start in month you are added as AU

[newhis]

If they add you to Amex card, they will report the date you were added.

[Anonymous]

I think it's crucial that the OP understand that not all accounts where you are an AU will show up on your report and/or "count" toward your credit profile.  You said "relative" which is a bit vague.  In sitations of immediate family (same last name and address, for example) there are rarely AU issues but if it's someone in another state with a different last name whether they are your relative or not could be deemed irrelevant if the creditor makes the decision not to report the account to you as the AU.  All creditors are different with respect to this and what their policies are.  I'm just saying that it's not an absolute given that the AU "trick" will work.

[vanillabean]

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@Anonymous wrote:

In sitations of immediate family (same last name and address, for example) there are rarely AU issues

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I was wondering if by rarely you mean <50% or something like ~1%.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of it is creditor-specific.  However, I'd say that 9 times out of 10 if an immediate family member living at the same address with the same last name (like a father and his 18 year old son) were to implement an AU on the account that it would "work" for the purposes being discussed, so at most maybe 10% of the time it wouldn't work.  Just my opinion here.  The more you're talking different information though... such as different addresses, last names, etc. it becomes more and more likely that being an AU won't work.  From what I understand years ago it would work for almost anyone, but due to random people that don't even know each other giving AU authorization creditors have gotten much stricter in terms of what credentials are acceptable.  And again, that definitely can vary by creditor.