topic Re: Age of account and adding joint owner in Credit Cards

Age of account and adding joint owner

iltph — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:55:17 GMT

If I get a credit card now then in 6 months, 1 year, etc. add my wife as a joint owner, would the date that the account was opened remain the same? Or, would adding her as a joint owner require us to apply for a new account then the date would be changed to when she is added?

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

Mark_in_Pasadena — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:04:31 GMT

@iltph wrote:
If I get a credit card now then in 6 months, 1 year, etc. add my wife as a joint owner, would the date that the account was opened remain the same? Or, would adding her as a joint owner require us to apply for a new account then the date would be changed to when she is added?

You'll both get the same original open date for AUs across all credit card companies.

With Chase, that's also true for conversion to joint accounts, but I'm not sure if that's true for all banks that support conversion to joint (most actually don't allow conversion nowadays).

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

iltph — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:11:57 GMT

The bank/CU that I was referring to was NFCU. Do you or anyone else know if they allow conversion to joint ownership on an existing account?

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

oracles — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:58:50 GMT

Honestly, i tihnk you should just put her as an AU.

Under no circumstance should you have a joint account.

I am sorry but you just never know the future.

Your wife will still have the same benefits as a joint user if she was an Authorized user.

It will be very difficult on both of you if somthing should happen and you have this joint account.

I would definitely advise against.

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:48:26 GMT

Oracles,

Does it cost anything to add an authorized user on a credit card?

My wife has terrible credit and a $9,000 credit line with Citibank.

If she adds me as an authorized user (I'm new credit), does she risk getting a credit line decrease or something? One more question, will it help improve my credit?

Thanks

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

oracles — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:16:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Oracles,

Does it cost anything to add an authorized user on a credit card?
My wife has terrible credit and a $9,000 credit line with Citibank.

If she adds me as an authorized user (I'm new credit), does she risk getting a credit line decrease or something? One more question, will it help improve my credit?

Thanks

Hi xav,

No it does not cost anything to add an authorized user. Also it will not effect her credit line. She will not get a decrease in her credit limit for adding you. There are many ways in this day of age in receiving a credit limit decrease but not for adding an AU. (just yet LOL)

As far as it helping you to improve your credit, if her account does not have any baddies on it, she ALWAYS pay on time, and the util% is very low on the card, then it will most indeed help to improve your credit. Also if the card has some history on it, it will help your average age of accounts which will add more points to your score.

Hope this helps

P.S.

One more thing to add, i would definitely ask the credit card company if they report to the CB for the AU.

You can ask here and we can tell you if they do, but some CCC do not report AU's to the CB.

Let us know

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:50:52 GMT

Thanks for your answer.

Her account is in good standing, her credit score though is terrible because she has some delinquent accounts (medical bills that she got before we got married). Considering all this I'm extremely surprised that they haven't reduced her credit line. I guess maybe it's because she's been paying off debt.

Most likely I have a better credit score that she does, now I have very limited history (8 months). Would it be hard for me to become an authorized user considering my lack of history?

Thanks

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

oracles — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:32:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for your answer.

Her account is in good standing, her credit score though is terrible because she has some delinquent accounts (medical bills that she got before we got married). Considering all this I'm extremely surprised that they haven't reduced her credit line. I guess maybe it's because she's been paying off debt.

Most likely I have a better credit score that she does, now I have very limited history (8 months). Would it be hard for me to become an authorized user considering my lack of history?

Thanks

No, not at all. Many people here put their children on as AU so they can start to build credit.

This is definitely a good idea if the account is in good standing with what i posted previously.

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:04:08 GMT

Thanks

She just added my name as an authorized user. However, I didn't enter my social security number so I don't think I'll be reported to the CB

Does anyone know of a way to get Citi to report me?

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

oracles — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:18:05 GMT

Actually xav, many on here have expressed not having to give their SSN and the credit card companies had reported the tradeline on their report.

Give it sometime to report. Wait 2-3 weeks after the statement date of the credit card and then check to see if they reported.

Hope this helps and keep us updated

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

iltph — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:39:20 GMT

My dad's Sears account just started showing up on my EX five days after he added me, but it isn't showing up on TU and EQ just like his BoA (which has been reporting for about 10 months). My parents address is on my EX report and not the others so it appears to be tied directly to the name/address, since Sears or BoA do not have my SSN.

After two of the baddies I disputed are finished, I'm going to fax EQ and TU a copy of my student loan statement with my name and their address on it so hopefully my AU status will show up on them as well.

Message Edited by iltph on 01-31-2009 01:39 AM

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

oracles — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:36:41 GMT

@iltph wrote:
My dad's Sears account just started showing up on my EX five days after he added me, but it isn't showing up on TU and EQ just like his BoA (which has been reporting for about 10 months). My parents address is on my EX report and not the others so it appears to be tied directly to the name/address, since Sears or BoA have my SSN.

After two of the baddies I disputed are finished, I'm going to fax EQ and TU a copy of my student loan statement with my name and their address on it so hopefully my AU status will show up on them as well.

They do or they dont have your SSN?

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

iltph — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:38:54 GMT

Ah, my bad. It's almost 2 AM here!

They DO NOT have my SSN.

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

oracles — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:42:40 GMT

No problerm I am in NYC, same time as you, so i know what you mean

Thanks for the response

Message Edited by oracles on 01-31-2009 01:42 AM

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:22:58 GMT

One last question guys,

Can we easily see on a credit card statement the expenses that an authorized user made?

Thanks

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

cobaltnv — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:37:00 GMT

In many cases the answer is no as both the AU and the Primary have cards with the same account number. Some companies will issue the AU their own number. For example with my Costco AMEX statements it lists which purchases were made by me and which by my DW.

@Anonymous wrote:
One last question guys,

Can we easily see on a credit card statement the expenses that an authorized user made?

Thanks

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:42:13 GMT

My AmEx Gold breaks them out as well.

I'm AU on DH's Discover, which I hardly use anyway, and it does not show our purchases separately.

Re: Age of account and adding joint owner

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:56:58 GMT

Received my card today in the mail.

Cool

Thanks