topic Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute? in General Credit Topics

Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 09:13:18 GMT

A family member added me as an authorized user on a Home Depot charge card, which currently has a high balance. I did not want to be added as an authorized user for obvious reasons. This just showed up in my new report on Transunion and Experian. Is there any way I can dispute this? I never requested to be added to the account, I do not want to be associated with this account, and I'm absolutely irate that this was allowed and reported on my credit. Is authorized user the same as joint account holder? If I'm just an authorized user, will my credit be affected for a high balance?

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

fltireguy — Wed, 02 May 2018 11:55:59 GMT

Just dispute it as "not my account"

If it is carrying high util, it probably WILL affect your scores.

A AU is not the same as a joint account holder - you have no responsibility to pay

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 11:58:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
A family member added me as an authorized user on a Home Depot charge card, which currently has a high balance. I did not want to be added as an authorized user for obvious reasons. This just showed up in my new report on Transunion and Experian. Is there any way I can dispute this? I never requested to be added to the account, I do not want to be associated with this account, and I'm absolutely irate that this was allowed and reported on my credit. Is authorized user the same as joint account holder? If I'm just an authorized user, will my credit be affected for a high balance?

Sorry to hear of this. First you need to deal with your family member and ask them to immediately remove you as an authorized user. You can file disputes with the credit reporting agencies but they may or not remove you as an AU until your family member does first. Being an AU is not the same as a joint account holder because you are not legally responsible for the debt whereas a joint account holder would be. However, any balance (if the card is a revolving credit line and not a true charge card) and associated credit history will be considered in your credit scores. If that’s the case your scores could be affected by the high balance if it significantly affects your overall credit utilization. Good luck in getting this resolved.

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

SOGGIE — Wed, 02 May 2018 15:14:01 GMT

You also have the option of notifying Citibank of your removal request in writing via USPS Certified Mail with signature confirmation. Good luck!

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:29:15 GMT

I called the Home Depot credit customer service department and had myself removed from the account. They made a note "did not give permission to become authorized user" or something along those lines. When I had fraud on one of my cards, the original account was closed and a new card was issued. On my report, I can see it noted as "fraud, new card issued." Will the bureaus also see the note on the Home Depot account and remove it from my report? It only just reported, but I'm trying to solve this before it becomes permanent.

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

tcbofade — Wed, 02 May 2018 21:09:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I called the Home Depot credit customer service department and had myself removed from the account. They made a note "did not give permission to become authorized user" or something along those lines. When I had fraud on one of my cards, the original account was closed and a new card was issued. On my report, I can see it noted as "fraud, new card issued." Will the bureaus also see the note on the Home Depot account and remove it from my report? It only just reported, but I'm trying to solve this before it becomes permanent.

Breathe.

It will disappear entirely.

With or without help from legal, you DO need to have a chat with the family member and make certain that you are clear... you do not wish to be an AU on any accounts.

They may have thought that they were doing you a favor...

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 22:07:40 GMT

So the family member did this to hurt you purposefully or was he/she trying to help you but did not know the ramifications of high UTI?

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

DaveInAZ — Wed, 02 May 2018 22:23:11 GMT

@tcbofade wrote:
Breathe.

It will disappear entirely.

With or without help from legal, you DO need to have a chat with the family member and make certain that you are clear... you do not wish to be an AU on any accounts.

They may have thought that they were doing you a favor...

If they thought they were doing sstr0129 a favor they would have ordered an extra card for them and said "happy shopping!". Instead sstr0129 didn't find out until they saw it on their credit report. I suspect doing a favor was not the motivation.

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2018 22:27:34 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@tcbofade wrote:
Breathe.

It will disappear entirely.

With or without help from legal, you DO need to have a chat with the family member and make certain that you are clear... you do not wish to be an AU on any accounts.

They may have thought that they were doing you a favor...
If they thought they were doing sstr0129 a favor they would have ordered an extra card for them and said "happy shopping!". Instead sstr0129 didn't find out until they saw it on their credit report. I don't think doing a favor was the motivation.

Exactly DaveInAZ. Home Depot did say an extra card was ordered, but sent to their address. We don't live in the same state, and I probably wouldn't have known about this had I not seen it on my monthly credit report. I'm not sure what the motivation was... probably was on the phone with Home Depot customer support, was offered to add an authorized user, and without thinking, gave my name, DOB, and social. Pretty scary information to give out without thinking or notifying me. It's very disturbing and feels like a violation. I've worked incredibly hard on maintaining my credit, and the fact that someone was allowed to do this without my prior consent/communication seems SO egrigious.

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Fri, 04 May 2018 14:26:07 GMT

I have had this happen. I was added as an AU on my husbands card with out my consent. And he runs high usage through it so my scores are always effected by it. We argued over it and I decided not to remove myself as a AU but now have to keep my own cards at a very low balance just to keep my over all usage down. He always has 50 to 65 percent charged on it. It is not a card I have ever used. And he uses it to purchase things for his hobby. If it had charges on it that helped the house hold I would not be as upset over it as I am. But I get nothign out of it and 99 percent of the time niether does the household. I just get a ding to my score for high usage.

I think it should be illegal to add people to cards. Period. And if one has to be added as an AU there should be more steps and verification involved showing the person wishes to be on that card account. Married or not! I think this should go for joint cards too.

I realize people use AU to help establish credit but I think both parties need to discuss it before any action is taken.

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

RobertEG — Sun, 06 May 2018 22:54:27 GMT

As an aside, the recent agreement between the CRAs and the state attorney generals of 32 states includes the following provisions as a means to prevent inaccurate reporting and/or addition of unauthorized AU accounts:

“Authorized User Accounts

The CRAs shall prohibit furnishers from reporting authorized users without a date of birth (using month and year) on new accounts opened after the date set forth in the Implementation Schedule and reject data that does not comply with this requirement.
The CRAs shall inform furnishers of the mandatory reporting requirementrelating to additions of authorized users on newly opened accounts and to reject such data that is not provided with a date of birth (using month and year).”

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Sun, 06 May 2018 23:28:20 GMT

UPDATE: My FICO TU score has now decreased by 18 points because of a 'decrease in bankcard credit limit' since I ended the authorized usership with Home Depot. This is crazy because I never gave permission to be an authorized user in the first place. I want to dispute this thru TU. Has anyone had experience with this?

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Sun, 06 May 2018 23:47:45 GMT

What credit monitoring system notified you of your new TU score? Was it an "alert" that you got via the myFICO Ultimate product?

If so, that reason statement is actually the reason why they pulled your score again. Your total credit limit went down (it sounds like) which was an alertable event, something the caused them to generate your score again. Your score had gone down, but it's possible that something else in the last few weeks had cause the drop. Many things can cause a score drop that are not themselves alertable events.

What was your total credit limit (all cards except the AU card)? What was the credit limit on the AU card? What was the balance on the AU card? What was the combined balance on all other cards?

If we know those four things, we can try to assess the effect that losing the AU card had on your score.

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

JVille — Mon, 07 May 2018 03:16:48 GMT

Just call and have yourself remove. Your husband won’t even be aware you have done it.

Re: Added as authorized user without permission... can I dispute?

Anonymous — Tue, 08 May 2018 17:54:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
What credit monitoring system notified you of your new TU score? Was it an "alert" that you got via the myFICO Ultimate product?

If so, that reason statement is actually the reason why they pulled your score again. Your total credit limit went down (it sounds like) which was an alertable event, something the caused them to generate your score again. Your score had gone down, but it's possible that something else in the last few weeks had cause the drop. Many things can cause a score drop that are not themselves alertable events.

What was your total credit limit (all cards except the AU card)? What was the credit limit on the AU card? What was the balance on the AU card? What was the combined balance on all other cards?

If we know those four things, we can try to assess the effect that losing the AU card had on your score.

Yes, it was an alert through MyFICO Ultimate.

Total CL without the AU card was $42k, total CL with AU card was $47k. At the time, the AU card had a low balance, but with a pending charge of $4k.

I keep my utlization low, so the combined balance across all cards was under $3k, except for that pending charge on the Home Depot AU card.

In the past month, I did get a new car lease and was approved for a Discover IT card. The IT card has a $9k SL which isn't yet reflected in my report. In order to do those things, I was very careful not to apply for anything for the last two years, so I'm still incensed this family member used my info for the Home Depot card. I've actually sent them a message saying do not contact me, and if they ever do anything like this again, I will sue them. This was really the last bit of proof I needed to know I cannot trust these people. Had they told me immediately, things would be different because I could have rectified it then and there... but I had to wait three weeks and see it on my credit report, and the card with my name was sent to THEIR address. Insane and irresponsible beyond belief...