Downside of adding an AU to CC

[Bay_Area_Joe]

Can anybody tell me if there is a downside to adding my girlfriend to several of my CC as an AU ?

There is no trust issues and I am not worried at all about her using them for what she can't afford.

Her credit is not so good, but only from a pending short sale of her old house with ex-husband.  She has a few other active accounts but they are close to maxed out.  I am trying to help her paying down the debt, but a slow process and she does not think it matter becasue the house loan is in bad shape.  She has no lates or baddies except the house.

Are there any negatives to me as the account holder ?  I added her on my Marriott card about 6 months ago and I have not seen anything that concerns me.

Main reason I am considering this is to meet new spend requirement on new accounts, and if she contributes to the spend then I will make all the bonuses easy. 

And lastly, how will adding her as an AU on some of my accounts help her overall credit score in the long term ?

Thanks,,,,,

[webhopper]

She would get the most boost from being added as an AU from older accounts. The only red flag is that you say she has accounts in her own name that are maxed. While its noble to want to help, you should consider that her best long term solution will be to pay down her existing debt. If you need to meet spend requirements... Offer to buy stuff on the card and she can give you cash. Adding her to a bunch of recently opened accounts will shorten her AAOA and may not benefit her as much as you may imagine.

[chasmith]

You covered the downside - trust issues.

As long as the cards she is made AU on have lower utilization than her overall util, they will help improve her util and score.  Same with AAOA (if longer than hers will help, shorter will hurt).  If some of the AU cards show zero balances it will help her score as well.

The mortgage with her ex will be a drag on her credit until the sale closes, then it may take three or four years to age off most of the effect.

[Open123]

Aside for your being responsible for what she charges?  No, there's no downside for you.  

Unless it's with Amex, where they dislike it very much whenever an AU (any AU, even one's spouse) charges more than the basic cardmember.

[mnavas]

The only risk you'd have is if she uses your cards and max them out... Maybe you could just add her on your card (s) but not give any to her cuz if she already has max out hers theres a high chance she might over spend on yours..... As for her baddies, you won´t get anything from her report (s) cuz there´re not your accounts so no worries...and yeah her Overall Utilization will improve as soon as she gets your accounts on her reports which normally happens after a few days your CC stament (s) cut 

[Bay_Area_Joe]

Excellent suggestions.

thank you.

[thom02099]

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@Bay_Area_Joe wrote:

Can anybody tell me if there is a downside to adding my girlfriend to several of my CC as an AU ?

There is no trust issues and I am not worried at all about her using them for what she can't afford.

Her credit is not so good, but only from a pending short sale of her old house with ex-husband.  She has a few other active accounts but they are close to maxed out.  I am trying to help her paying down the debt, but a slow process and she does not think it matter becasue the house loan is in bad shape.  She has no lates or baddies except the house.

Are there any negatives to me as the account holder ?  I added her on my Marriott card about 6 months ago and I have not seen anything that concerns me.

Main reason I am considering this is to meet new spend requirement on new accounts, and if she contributes to the spend then I will make all the bonuses easy. 

And lastly, how will adding her as an AU on some of my accounts help her overall credit score in the long term ?

Thanks,,,,,

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As Ronald Reagan used to say "Trust...but verify".  Sounds like you are doing this.  It doesn't hurt to continue this practise. 

[Anonymous]

If current cards are only being used for things she can afford, why are they maxed out?

It's hard but we aren't always helping in some situations like this. Generally, I'd say only adding her to older cards with $0 balance will give the greatest score boost.

Only downside I can imagine (since there are no trust issues) is two people trying to manage one card and how that might impact OP's utilization %. I really only have DGF on USAA cards that get PIF'd.

[twall06]

I added my gf to my cap 1 but i didnt oreder her a card not that i do not trust her just been burned by a gf before so I'm pretty cautious now. And it is just to help her score she doesn't actually need to use it.