Joint Credit Card Account

[Anonymous]

I noticed an error in all three reporting agencies. It shows that i cosigned with my husband for Chase Mastercard with a balance of $21K. This is my husband's account. I guess they made this mistake when i asked my hubby to give me access to his credit card by issuing one in my name. WHile this account is in good standing the 21K high balance makes my credit balance high. I have other accounts in bad standing but with not high balances. This 21K is the highest. WIll it hurt my score if i have the 21K in good standing removed from my report or the fact that it is in GOOD STANDING is already helping me credit score? Please advise.

[Creditaddict]

That depends what the credit line is?

[Anonymous]

The credit line is for 21K on this Chase Mastercard. My husband maxed it out. We have an outstanding balance of 21K. So on that front it does not look good but then again CHase trusted him as a customer and gave him this high credit line like 5 yrs ago.

So in this case i am not sure if having my name as a cosign and reported in my CR makes sense or not. As I said, this card has never been past due or missed any payments. However in my CR i have missed payments in my small credit card balances such as $1K, $700.....my credit line is always maxed out.

I am a mother of two and there is always something to buy out there.

My FICO score is TU: 574, EX 541....not good. I want to be able to raise it so i can ask for a car loan. Can I raise it if i notify the credit bureus that the above balance 21K is not mine but my husband's only?

Please advise.

Thanks so much!

[thrasher865]

Uh....  if you're maxed out, and your husband's account is maxed out...  I don't see its removal being helpful, but I'm not sure in this circumstance.

I don't even know what to say in this situation except....   PAY DOWN YOUR CARDS!!!!!  lol

In the nicest way possible, of course.

[Anonymous]

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mzoila wrote:
I noticed an error in all three reporting agencies. It shows that i cosigned with my husband for Chase Mastercard with a balance of $21K. This is my husband's account. I guess they made this mistake when i asked my hubby to give me access to his credit card by issuing one in my name. WHile this account is in good standing the 21K high balance makes my credit balance high. I have other accounts in bad standing but with not high balances. This 21K is the highest. WIll it hurt my score if i have the 21K in good standing removed from my report or the fact that it is in GOOD STANDING is already helping me credit score? Please advise.

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This is not an error at all.  When you received a card with your own name on it, you became what is known as an Authorized User (AU).  It is normal for AU accounts to appear on credit reports, even when the account itself is in someone else's name.

Yes, you are correct that a maxed out credit card on your reports is hurting your FICO scores.  Even if it is in good standing and has a good payment history, you are losing a lot of FICO points for having that card on your reports.

One question: How old are the other accounts on your reports and how old is this card?

Message Edited by cheddar on 06-26-2008 06:29 AM

[Anonymous]

My husband opened the Chase Mastercard in 2001. I have a 16 yr old credit history which is deemed excellent - of course they are just referring to the number of years i have been using credit not the quality of my payments... . I went crazy in college (i was extended credit, and was poor and had to rely on CCs). I lost my job and two cards were put in collections and later charged off. I managed to keep one good card. The good card by Citi was in great standing but CITI closed it because they saw that i was not paying the other CCs on time. I was devastated! I never missed a pyment in that CITI mastercard but they closed it anyway.....so i opened new ones in 2004, 2007 but of course with my bad credit they only gave me low availability: 700 cl BOA gave me the highest 1200 cl (opened in 2007). I have a loan with Citifinancial for $7,000. Total debt balance is definetely around 12K. So having this 21K balance on my CR appears not to be helping me.

I have been paying mostly everything on time....sometimes i miss one or two cards because of me being disorganized but for the most part i am good. However, my old cards (charge offs) are still haunting me. THese were charge off a while ago 99. I am not sure why they are not out of my CR yet.

I need to get to fixing this CR soon.....