topic Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's? in Credit Cards

Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

mrdrum18 — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:07:01 GMT

I'd like to add a few people but I know one has bad credit and I don't want that effecting my account. When I looked at the form to add a cardholder they don't require SSN's anymore but they do require DOB's.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

Creditaddict — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:23:07 GMT

@mrdrum18 wrote:
I'd like to add a few people but I know one has bad credit and I don't want that effecting my account. When I looked at the form to add a cardholder they don't require SSN's anymore but they do require DOB's.

no credit check.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

DI — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:42:39 GMT

Don't expect the account to appear on the AUs credit reports.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:44:31 GMT

@DI wrote:
Don't expect the account to appear on the AUs credit reports.

Why not? I've had three different people as AU's on my AmEx cards, and they've always shown up on their reports.

In fact, they keep reporting, even though they've been off the cards for years.

Anyway, AFAIK, AmEx asks for the social of AU applicants to check against their internal records, but they don't soft them. Usually, anyway.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

DI — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:48:11 GMT

It must be taking them a long time to report my AU. I probably need to double check to make sure I didn't skip them when adding my AU to my accounts.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:50:54 GMT

Do they update new balances for you immediately, or do they wait four weeks?

It did take a while for my AU's to show up, because that was on a Gold card with the 4-week updating delay. So first we had to wait for the next statement to drop, and then we had to wait four weeks.

They're starting to update immediately for more cards and cardholders, but not for everyone yet. Maddening when you're waiting on a balance to update, or an AU to appear as in your case.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

DI — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:04:15 GMT

Yes, somehow I missed AMEX when adding AUs to my accounts. The form I got moments ago asked for SSN and B-day. I'm not sure what form the OP got.

btw: I noticed a pre-approval for a zync card. I wish they'd pre-approve me for a no AF card. I've been waiting for the longest now.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

mrdrum18 — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 03:13:21 GMT

@DI wrote:
The form I got moments ago asked for SSN and B-day. I'm not sure what form the OP got.

I'm dealing with a charge card, though I wouldn't expect it to be a different form. However, yes it does have an SSN field but it is optional. Try to fill out the info and omit the SSN....

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 03:16:33 GMT

@mrdrum18 wrote:

@DI wrote:
The form I got moments ago asked for SSN and B-day. I'm not sure what form the OP got.
I'm dealing with a charge card, though I wouldn't expect it to be a different form. However, yes it does have an SSN field but it is optional. Try to fill out the info and omit the SSN....

If you want to make sure it reports, especially if the AU doesn't live with you, then fill in the SSN too. They aren't going to pull anything.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:14:27 GMT

So I thought AU's didn't get credit anymore.. If I add my girlfriend to my AMEX as an AU in like a few months it will show up on her report and help her credit? Does this work with Discover as well?

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

halos24 — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:16:44 GMT

I was an AU on my husbands Amex 5 years ago and they did report. I also recently added him to my Amex Costco card and asked me for his ss. Now to help my credit history even more my father recently added me to his Discover that hes had for years! So my avg acct increased since they are reporting I have had the 8500k cl since 1999!! It increased my score I beleive by 24pts! Discover did not ask for my social either.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:41:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So I thought AU's didn't get credit anymore.. If I add my girlfriend to my AMEX as an AU in like a few months it will show up on her report and help her credit? Does this work with Discover as well?

Originally FICO08 (new scoring system) was going to ignore AU accounts for scoring. After a huge uproar involving the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, they backed down, although they issued mysterious hints about trying to verify if AU's had a legitimate relationship, or if they had bought the history on a stranger's card.

So AU accounts are still scored, although there might be an asterisk floating around. Also, lenders can ignore AU accounts when decided to issue credit.

The entertaining part about all this is that hardly anyone is using FICO08 (the lending industry is incredibly slow to make changes in their preferred scoring systems), so it was pretty much much ado about nothing.

I know that the EQ and TU98 FICO systems that we have here still score AU accounts, because I have an AU account that's my oldest on those two reports, and its age is the age of my oldest account.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

DJH87 — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 09:42:58 GMT

When I added two AUs on my account, Amex asked for their birthday and SSN. Amex did a soft pull on each of their Experian report.

I am not sure if Amex would ever deny an AU or if they are reviewing the CR for future business.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

OnTheRebound — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:12:56 GMT

Amex also softed me when I added myself to my wifes Green Card. They report me to all 3 CB's.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

DI — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:16:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So I thought AU's didn't get credit anymore.. If I add my girlfriend to my AMEX as an AU in like a few months it will show up on her report and help her credit? Does this work with Discover as well?

Yes, and it works for Discover too.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

mrdrum18 — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:28:07 GMT

@OnTheRebound wrote:
Amex also softed me when I added myself to my wifes Green Card. They report me to all 3 CB's.

@DJH87 wrote:
When I added two AUs on my account, Amex asked for their birthday and SSN. Amex did a soft pull on each of their Experian report.
I am not sure if Amex would ever deny an AU or if they are reviewing the CR for future business.

When did you guys add an AU? Because this is conflcting with everyone else who said they don't pull any reports.

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:00:16 GMT

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

MarineVietVet — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:21:50 GMT

Hello beamMeup.

Welcome to the forums.

I noticed you seem to be having some trouble posting. It is possible to edit your own post if you have posted an incomplete message. To edit your post, go to the post. To the right you'll see "Options." Click on "Options" and select "Edit Message" from the drop-down menu. If you have accidentally posted a duplicate message, you can use the “Report Abuse to a Moderator” link to ask the moderation team to remove one for you. To find this link, go to the duplicate post, click on "Options," then select "Report Abuse to a Moderator" from the drop-down menu. If you need any help with anything, let me know.

--Marinevietvet, myFICO moderator

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:28:52 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:
Hello beamMeup.

Welcome to the forums.

I noticed you seem to be having some trouble posting. It is possible to edit your own post if you have posted an incomplete message. To edit your post, go to the post. To the right you'll see "Options." Click on "Options" and select "Edit Message" from the drop-down menu. If you have accidentally posted a duplicate message, you can use the “Report Abuse to a Moderator” link to ask the moderation team to remove one for you. To find this link, go to the duplicate post, click on "Options," then select "Report Abuse to a Moderator" from the drop-down menu. If you need any help with anything, let me know.

--Marinevietvet, myFICO moderator

Anyway, on the issue of the soft pulls for AU's, I will go back to my usual dithering, since it does appear that sometimes they do get softed. Although that's an interesting point that it might have been in order to decide if they would be offered credit in their own names.

If EQ were softed, you might be able to tell by the prefix used. (AR vs PR, etc.)

Re: Does Amex pull credit repots for Additional Cardmembers/AU's?

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:27:53 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:
Hello beamMeup.

Welcome to the forums.

I noticed you seem to be having some trouble posting. It is possible to edit your own post if you have posted an incomplete message. To edit your post, go to the post. To the right you'll see "Options." Click on "Options" and select "Edit Message" from the drop-down menu. If you have accidentally posted a duplicate message, you can use the “Report Abuse to a Moderator” link to ask the moderation team to remove one for you. To find this link, go to the duplicate post, click on "Options," then select "Report Abuse to a Moderator" from the drop-down menu. If you need any help with anything, let me know.

--Marinevietvet, myFICO moderator

Hey DH offered to take me to lunch! I was so darn excited!