Age of account and adding joint owner

[iltph]

If I get a credit card now then in 6 months, 1 year, etc. add my wife as a joint owner, would the date that the account was opened remain the same? Or, would adding her as a joint owner require us to apply for a new account then the date would be changed to when she is added?

[Mark_in_Pasadena]

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@iltph wrote:
If I get a credit card now then in 6 months, 1 year, etc. add my wife as a joint owner, would the date that the account was opened remain the same? Or, would adding her as a joint owner require us to apply for a new account then the date would be changed to when she is added?

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You'll both get the same original open date for AUs across all credit card companies. 

With Chase, that's also true for conversion to joint accounts, but I'm not sure if that's true for all banks that support conversion to joint (most actually don't allow conversion nowadays).

[iltph]

The bank/CU that I was referring to was NFCU. Do you or anyone else know if they allow conversion to joint ownership on an existing account?

[oracles]

Honestly, i tihnk you should just put her as an AU.

Under no circumstance should you have a joint account.

I am sorry but you just never know the future.

Your wife will still have the same benefits as a joint user if she was an Authorized user.

It will be very difficult on both of you if somthing should happen and you have this joint account.

I would definitely advise against.

[Anonymous]

Oracles,

Does it cost anything to add an authorized user on a credit card?

My wife has terrible credit and a $9,000 credit line with Citibank.

If she adds me as an authorized user (I'm new credit), does she risk getting a credit line decrease or something? One more question, will it help improve my credit?

Thanks

[oracles]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Oracles,

Does it cost anything to add an authorized user on a credit card?

My wife has terrible credit and a $9,000 credit line with Citibank.

If she adds me as an authorized user (I'm new credit), does she risk getting a credit line decrease or something? One more question, will it help improve my credit?

Thanks

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Hi xav,

No it does not cost anything to add an authorized user. Also it will not effect her credit line. She will not get a decrease in her credit limit for adding you. There are many ways in this day of age in receiving a credit limit decrease but not for adding an AU. (just yet LOL)

As far as it helping you to improve your credit, if her account does not have any baddies on it, she ALWAYS pay on time, and the util% is very low on the card, then it will most indeed help to improve your credit. Also if the card has some history on it, it will help your average age of accounts which will add more points to your score.

Hope this helps 

P.S.

One more thing to add, i would definitely ask the credit card company if they report to the CB for the AU.

You can ask here and we can tell you if they do, but some CCC do not report AU's to the CB.

Let us know

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your answer.

Her account is in good standing, her credit score though is terrible because she has some delinquent accounts (medical bills that she got before we got married). Considering all this I'm extremely surprised that they haven't reduced her credit line. I guess maybe it's because she's been paying off debt.

Most likely I have a better credit score that she does, now I have very limited history (8 months). Would it be hard for me to become an authorized user considering my lack of history?

Thanks

[oracles]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for your answer.

Her account is in good standing, her credit score though is terrible because she has some delinquent accounts (medical bills that she got before we got married). Considering all this I'm extremely surprised that they haven't reduced her credit line. I guess maybe it's because she's been paying off debt.

Most likely I have a better credit score that she does, now I have very limited history (8 months). Would it be hard for me to become an authorized user considering my lack of history?

Thanks

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No, not at all.  Many people here put their children on as AU so they can start to build credit.

This is definitely a good idea if the account is in good standing with what i posted previously.

[Anonymous]

Thanks

She just added my name as an authorized user. However, I didn't enter my social security number so I don't think I'll be reported to the CB

Does anyone know of a way to get Citi to report me?

[oracles]

Actually xav, many on here have expressed not having to give their SSN and the credit card companies had reported the tradeline on their report.

Give it sometime to report. Wait 2-3 weeks after the statement date of the credit card and then check to see if they reported.

Hope this helps and keep us updated