topic Re: Authorized user in General Credit Topics

Authorized user

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:47:11 GMT

My husband has an Amex account on which I am an authorized user (with an Amex card in my name). Although this account is my husband's responsibility it is showing up on my credit report as well. On the credit report, under "Responsibility" it says "Authorized". All my other accounts which are in my name show up as "Individual Account" under "Responsibility". My question is, can I have this Amex account removed from my credit report as it is not my responsibility. I am merely an authorized user. And if my husband is delinquent on this account will this be reflected on my credit report and affect my credit score?

Re: Authorized user

Jazzzy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:56:21 GMT

Yes, you can have yourself removed...but you may want to determine if the reporting is helping you or hurting you.

Certainly if you see the possibility of late payments, have yourself taken off. Late payments will report on your CR.

If, however, this is an old account, is never delinquent, and has low usage, it may be helping your credit history show a good age. The account may actually be helping your score.

Give a few more details, and someone here can give you pretty specific advice.

Re: Authorized user

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:07:14 GMT

It is going to hurt me because my husband is going to be delinquent. Do I need to talk to American Express to get myself removed, or to the credit agencies.

Re: Authorized user

Jazzzy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:09:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
It is going to hurt me because my husband is going to be delinquent. Do I need to talk to American Express to get myself removed, or to the credit agencies.

Go ahead and call American Express from the number on the back of your card.

The credit agencies will only report what American Express tells them, so you need to get yourself off directly with American Express.

Re: Authorized user

Jazzzy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:12:05 GMT

I just wanted to add that AmEx is slower than many other credit card companies in their reporting to the credit agencies. Don't panic if it takes a bit of time, just confirm with them that you are off the account.

Re: Authorized user

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:17:26 GMT

Ok, thanks very much....will do.

Re: Authorized user

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:53:52 GMT

I have not been able to get AmEx to remove DH's and DD#2's AU cards from their reports, even thought they've been off for more than a year. They want an EX report number for each to do so.

Be prepared to have to pull a full EX report in order to get a number to make AmEx delete the line. And the folks that do this only work normal M-F work hours, Eastern time.

Re: Authorized user

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:37:42 GMT

Thanks for this useful info. BTW, what does DH, DD #2 and AU stand for?

Re: Authorized user

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:42:14 GMT

Oh, sorry:

DH = dear husband
DD#2 = dear daughter number two (the second one)
AU = authorized user

Common Abbreviations