topic Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder in Credit Cards

Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 01:02:38 GMT

Hi,

I asked discover to add my spouse as authorized user so that my credit limit get reported on her files. They sent me letter for adding Join Account Holder. Does both same thing ??

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 01:23:08 GMT

Short and Sweet

Authorized User is not responsible for the account.

A joint account holder is equally responsible.

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

jsucool76 — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 02:53:36 GMT

They probably assumed as a spouse you would want to make it a joint account. If you want to add an AU you can usually do it right through your online access account.

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

cashnocredit — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:39:51 GMT

Amex has a slightly different take on AUs. They get their own card number and the account owner can manage their CLs as well as set notifications for spending levels. Amex will hold both the account owner and additional card user responsible for the additional card user's spends.

I like the Amex reporting spending breakdown by user and also the restaurant detail which breaks out the tip from the main charge. I wish Chase did this.

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:50:27 GMT

USAA also holds authorized users responsible for their charges should the primary default. AU agreement also says they'll create a seperate CRA entry (in the AU's name) for the bad account.

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:30:15 GMT

So if I add her as AU then also credit card will be reported to her file ? I just wanted to display my discover CLI on her reports so that she can have better credit history.

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:34:42 GMT

One more question, will they pull credit file of second applicant in both cases ??

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

pizzadude — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:15:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So if I add her as AU then also credit card will be reported to her file ? I just wanted to display my discover CLI on her reports so that she can have better credit history.

Yes, generally this is how it works with AU accounts ~ the AU inherits all of the credit card history ( good or bad ) onto their own credit reports.

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

pizzadude — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:16:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
One more question, will they pull credit file of second applicant in both cases ??

For a joint application I would think that they'd likely want to do a credit pull. AU accounts won't result in a credit pull.

Re: Difference between authorized user and Joint Account holder

cashnocredit — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:01:29 GMT

Amex asks for SS# and does a soft pull on additional cardholders.