How Issuers View AU Accounts

[Anonymous]

I got my first card last August and I plan on applying for a few more (Amex Plat, AMEX BCP, USAA Limitless, Chase Slate) around February next year. A family member who has a credit card with a spotless payment record and an account age of 3 years and a CL of ~9k offered to add me as an AU. 

Assuming I don't screw up making payments on my Discover card, will i be in a good position for at least one of those cards beginning of next year? Can issuers distinguish an AU on a credit report? And is it true that if i get added on as an AU, I will essentially "adopt" all 3 years of that account history as my own?

[Anonymous]

The only way that they can distinguish you are an authorize user is on manual review.

[Anonymous]

It will help your FICO score and extend your credit history. But some banks such as Chase and Citibank have their own internal scores and systems. I know from experience their system won't always count AU accounts as part of your own history since your not financially liable for AU accounts. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It will help your FICO score and extend your credit history. But some banks such as Chase and Citibank have their own internal scores and systems. I know from experience their system won't always count AU accounts as part of your own history since your not financially liable for AU accounts. 

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I agree with this. It depends on each credit card company.

[K-in-Boston]

I'm sure some of the computerized decisions by the large lenders that use internal scores are able to distinguish between primary and AU accounts as resposibility is one of the fields that would get imported.  But generally, most decisions will be based on your overall credit profile (number, age, and type of accounts, utilization, etc...).  

American Express is (and this is recent) the only lender that I am aware of that does not report the entire account history for authorized users to the credit bureaus; these days they report the account as opened on the day that the AU was added.  Otherwise, yes any information that appears on the primary account holder's credit reports should show on yours, with the exception of the responsibility which would be noted as Authorized User.