Will having myself added to my sisters BofA CC as an authorized user help?

[Anonymous]

Sister offered to put me on one of her credit cards as an authorized user of a bank of america credit card if it helps me. 

How would I go about adding myself and having it report to my credit?

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Sister offered to put me on one of her credit cards as an authorized user of a bank of america credit card if it helps me. 

How would I go about adding myself and having it report to my credit?

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Hello there.

Being added as an AU can help you under certain conditions.

If the account is older than any of yours,

If the payment history is long and clean,

If the utilization is very low, and

If it will report to the CRA's. Not all cards will do this. You need to ask the company first

Your sister will have to add you. You can't do it yourself. You will inherit the entire history of this account. One caveat however; if this account starts to go south your credit will be affected as well. Keep that in mind.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[llecs]

For your sister's card: 1) Roughly, what is balance and the CL? 2) Are there any lates reporting? 3) How old is the account? 4) Is it a special account like a WorldPoints or a Signature CC?

For your credit: 1) Do you have any other open CCs reporting? 2) How are your overall balances and assoc. CLs? 3) What is your average age of your accounts?

Adding a new CC via being an AU can increase or even decrease your FICO score. It depends on several variables like utilization, age, payment history, and mix of credit (hence, the questions). You may or may not want to be added.

To be added, she would contact BofA and ask to add you on. She would likely only be needed to give your name. They usually don't ask for a SSN, but somehow they always know to report. It would likely appear after the next statement date.

ETA...Slow-typing strikes again. What MVV said.

[Anonymous]

Account is older than any of mine, clean history, balance is always paid off. She's far beyond responsible and budget conscious. 

She will add me as long as it helps. This is by her will and I'm more than glad to accept

[llecs]

Based on what you said, it should help your FICO. I don't see any downside. You'd see a significant gain if you have no CCs now and if this becomes the oldest account by a large margin.

[RobertEG]

+1

i would only add one comment.  When the account holder authorizes you AU status, they are also taking a risk.

If they issue you a CC to you under the account, any defaults or high utils you make will reflect on both accounts.  Big matter of trust on both sides.

While this may be kinda irrelevant, I will post my reasons for my personal opposition to this whole process.  Credit reporting is predicated on review of an individual's personal credit history.  AUs are contrary to all of this.  Even marriage does not even merge credit reports.  I personally see no legitimate reason why one should take any benefit for credit history that is not theirs.  But just my opinion.  But it is currently availbable, if accepted by the credtor, so use it wisely. 

[vanillabean]

My view on this is not primarily based on that a credit report is individual, but rather that people often live as household families, which may (I don't know) be the reason that "The company [Fair Isaac] estimates that more than 50 million U.S. consumers are legitimate authorized users on another person's credit card."

From the current tax situation: "Taxpayers who itemize on their federal tax returns will have to wait until at least mid-February to file, the IRS said Thursday." "Itemized deductions include mortgage interest, ..." "The majority of taxpayers will be able to fill out their tax returns and file them as they normally do."

I imagine these numbers largely overlap, with mortgages being what the two have in common. And then "in 1974 something fabulous called The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) was passed and became federal law, ensuring that all consumers are given an equal chance to obtain credit.

One of the goals of the Act was to help married women establish credit histories in their own names. In order to benefit all women, especially the ones who did not work outside the home, the Act provides that a creditor that furnishes information to credit bureaus must report account information for both spouses on joint credit accounts and on accounts where a spouse is an authorized user."

It's my impression that the bureas don't have to consider the credit history of spousal authorized users unless the information is available and that credit reports don't indicate the existence of a spousal relationship between authorized user and account holder.

So if the scoring model used by a bureau applies more weight to a card holder's card than to the spouse's corresponding AU card, I suppose you could write the bureau and point out your common address history in the credit reports and so forth?

But even the address history may not apply to OP. Then again, lenders still use FICO models with unrestricted AU.

[OptimalCS]

johneec wrote:

Sister offered to put me on one of her credit cards as an authorized user of a bank of america credit card if it helps me. 

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Do u guys have the same last name?  

[Anonymous]

No, not same last name... she just got married a little over a year ago, but I did give Bofa my SSN... does it matter?

[OptimalCS]

Just a heads-up; If you don't live at the same address with the same last name and BoA is using FICO 08 they could lessen the effect of the AU. This was done to eliminate the effect of unethical piggyback credit-renting. You should be OK especially if they're using an older version of FICO score model (which I think they do).

This summer my wife added me as an AU to her Cap 1 card. I inherited the full benefits. So technically it still works.