Benefit or Drawback by adding additional user on account Share your experience

[Anonymous]

Every time i get a new card I see the section for adding an additional user on my account.  Normally it doesnt cost anything however i have seen where some companies i believe they are sub-prime CC's will charge a fee for an additional card. ex: credit one bank. In the past my ex-fiance had me on a couple of her cards in hopes of bringing up my score a little bit and it was cool i guess. The one thing she told me was be careful because all my purchases are her responsibility to pay in the eyes of a creditor.  So my behavior directly affects her credit and her accounts.  So now that I have my own cards I have the option of adding a user.  One card I am considering is my BP Rewards Visa because my parents live next door and they go to the BP for gas as do I.  When I approached my mom about it she was hesitant because she feels it will affect her credit being on my account and in the event I default it will reflect on her.  I can understand her concern.  But I dont know how that works.

My question is if I add an authorized user on my card and for some odd reason I default will that directly affect their own credit and will the CC company come after her for any unpaid balances due on my account, or am I solely responsible for the account.

My second question is if she is an authorized user does my account appear on her credit report as a new account, and will my behavior with the card such as UTIL or high balances missed payements ect..  be reported on her CR?

Please share any of your experiences with adding users on your accounts 

Thanks for reading my post and as always comments and advice are welcome.  Have a Blessed Day.

[JSS3]

If will affect her if you default, but you can remove her as AU and the negative(and history) goes away.

[Anonymous]

so in essence having an AU goes both ways when dealing with a CR?  Did not know that Thank You

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

so in essence having an AU goes both ways when dealing with a CR?  Did not know that Thank You

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Yes, pretty much. Everything will follow the AU, based on what you do with that credit card.

So -- if you have good payment history, PIF -- that will go on your AU's CR. In the contrary, if you have defaults, late payments, negatives, then that will also go on your AU's CR. 

[dragontears]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

so in essence having an AU goes both ways when dealing with a CR?  Did not know that Thank You

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Yes, pretty much. Everything will follow the AU, based on what you do with that credit card.

So -- if you have good payment history, PIF -- that will go on your AU's CR. In the contrary, if you have defaults, late payments, negatives, then that will also go on your AU's CR. 

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Very true; However someone with an AU account on their report can easily contact the CRA and ask for the account to be deleted since they are not responsible for it.

Also different lenders handle the reporting of AUs differently, for example on my chase freedom I have both my SO (who lives with me) and my mom (who does not live with me) and the chase card only shows on my SO report while I also have my mom as an AU on my Sallie and it does show on all her reports.

[Anonymous]

No i have a very good payment history no baddies no defaults but I think she is just hesitant because she is one of them old school kinda people who doesnt believe in all the credit card mumbo jumbo stuff. Its fine I use enough fuel on my own with the BP card so i will reap the rewards which btw are great, you should look into it if you have a BP gas station around you.  SO far best fuel rewards I have seen and great introductory rewards for first 90 days ..

[Anonymous]

@rj
Just checked out the bp visa cc.
Intro offer is okay, but after that id rather have the penfed card which gives 5% back at all gas stations, rather than having to get gas only at bp stations.