Add me as Responsible on my husband's credit card?

[Anonymous]

I am trying to boost my credit above 700. Does anyone know if I can be added to my husband's credit card as Co-RESPONSIBLE (not authorized user)? If so, then won't this boost my score since he's had this particular credit card for many years and has excellent payment record on it?

Do credit card companies have this option for Co-Responsible vs. just authorized user? If so, would I automatically be added instead being approved by the credit card company since my husband already has the established good credit history?

Thank you

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[haulingthescoreup]

No, you do NOT want to do this! --as long as the card reports to the AU's credit reports that is.

Authorized users are still credited with the history of the card. This is a change from the original plan for FICO 08 (which barely anyone is using, anyway.)

Joint accounts have many, many problems. There is no point in being a joint user if you can be an authorized user instead.

Again, just confirm first whether it reports. I would first ask the customer service rep, and then post back here, telling us which card it is, and asking whether members here have had the card report OK. CSR's frequently (and cheerfully) tell customers completely wrong stuff.

I'm AU on my husband's Discover card, and it reports to all three, no problems.

[Anonymous]

thank you very much for your reply...

The credit card is USAA and it does report to the 3 credit bureaus. Since I DO want to inherit his credit history on his card which is excellent to boost mine, why wouldn't I want to do this? I've read in other forums that the credit bureaus have modified their scoring to outsmart people who are just adding authorized users and being responsible for the debt.

[Anonymous]

I meant to say---I've read in other forums that the credit bureaus have modified their scoring to outsmart people who are just adding authorized users and NOT being responsible for the debt.

[haulingthescoreup]

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SassyTiger wrote:

thank you very much for your reply...

The credit card is USAA and it does report to the 3 credit bureaus. Since I DO want to inherit his credit history on his card which is excellent to boost mine, why wouldn't I want to do this? I've read in other forums that the credit bureaus have modified their scoring to outsmart people who are just adding authorized users and being responsible for the debt.

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Small world --I was talking to USAA yesterday about my daughter's college mock trial team charging hotel rooms on my card. She said that USAA always reports spousal AU cards, and that the customer has the option to have children/ sibling AU cards report.

I did just look at reports I pulled 2 days ago, and the Discover card is still there. I think that the CRA's are trying to winnow out the "piggybacking" cards bought by total strangers, or maybe used by friends, distant relatives, and so forth.

The big problem with a joint card is that one member can't take himself/ herself out of it. No one wants to think about divorce, so we won't go down that road, other than to note that I've read way too many posts by members whose spouses and exes deliberately ruin the credit on a joint card in order to hurt the other person, and there isn't a single thing that the innocent party can do.

But one very real danger is that if one spouse suffers a financial catastrophe (lawsuit, medical expenses not covered by insurance) and needs to declare bankruptcy. You don't want to be a joint owner in this case. If nothing else, if credit is held separately, the non-BK spouse can continue to carry the family credit burden through the long period when the other's credit is slowly recovering.

[Anonymous]

Perfect... I just read the last line that says you are an AU on your husbands and they do report.

thanks for your help!!

[Anonymous]

Adding yourself as a joint (co-responsible as you said) responsible party will not help your FICO more than AU.  So, if your only concern is FICO, you all ready have that benefit.

The only possible benefit of adding yourself as "joint" is to allow the account to be considered as a credit reference, in addition to FICO factor.

AU's are not financially responsible, and therefore they will not be considered as a factor toward your personal credit experience nor as a credit reference when being considered for new credit.  They will count in FICO calculations of utilization, number of balances, etc.

Most people on this board advice not to become a joint account holder under any circumstance.  However, depending on your personal circumstances, goals and objectives, you may decide that one joint account is more beneficial than the potential risks.

I think it best to say, do not have all of your credit tied up in joint accounts and do not only have AU credit.  However, I think it is too rigid to say never have joint credit.  If you have 6-8 accounts and 1 or 2 is joint, you still have adequate personal credit resources to offset the risks of death and divorce of spouse.  But you do need to manage the downsides of your credit should your spouse not manage this account.  If that account is mismanaged, you are holding the proverbial crap credit bag.

I think it best to say, only use joint accounts where the benefits far outweigh the downsides and do not have all or majority of credit in joint accounts.

I'm not arguing with Hauling and the others in this thread.  I do generally agree that joint accounts should only be used for a strategic purpose and only under certain circumstances.  They have long term, irreversible consequences that must be considered, mitigated and managed.

[haulingthescoreup]

Good point!

I'll modify my advice to say that if someone wants to be joint on an account, don't let it be on an old, old account that is significant in your scoring. If your significant other someday buys that red convertible and disappears over the horizon, you'll need to close any joint accounts PDQ, so you don't want them to be anything whose loss will truly hurt your own credit.

[Anonymous]

hi Sassy,

The others are right in that you can get the same benefit if you are an AU, the only difference being that if you are a joint owner and you want to remove yourself from his credit card at some point down the line, your husband will have to close this account and re-open another one, therefore loosing the age of the account. FYI, AAoA plays a big role in getting a better fico score.

Also, as a joint owner, you will also be responsible for whatever debt the credit card incurs.

I think being an AU is better in a card as it reports to all 3 bureaus.

I have my brother as an AU on my AMEX and BOA Visa. They both report to his 3 CRA files.