Authorized User Question?

[9110]

I was advised to have myself added to my parents credit card accounts as an authorized user.  By reading these forums I know that a few years ago this was a great way to gain a good credit history, I also have read that they changed it and it will no longer affect the authorized user.

Which is true? My mom added me to her Macy's card, but they didn't ask for my SS#. Will this in anyway inpact my credit score/report?

She has had the card for over 10 years, no late pays, and has a balance of less than 29% of the limit.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@9110 wrote:

I was advised to have myself added to my parents credit card accounts as an authorized user.  By reading these forums I know that a few years ago this was a great way to gain a good credit history, I also have read that they changed it and it will no longer affect the authorized user.

Which is true? My mom added me to her Macy's card, but they didn't ask for my SS#. Will this in anyway inpact my credit score/report?

She has had the card for over 10 years, no late pays, and has a balance of less than 29% of the limit.

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This was originally planned to happen, but they backed off, due to conflict with the EOCA. This has been so for a good while now, but it persists on the Internet and among lazy journalists.

AU's still count, at least on TU and EQ. Of course, who the heck knows what Experian does with them any more, since we can't see our EX FICO scores.

Macy's should report you, as long as the credit bureaus can match you up --same address, even if an older one, same last name, etc.

29% is awfully high, though. It might help, it might hurt, depending on what else you have going on.

That's the tricky and somewhat delicate thing about AU cards --it's really not nice to carp at the actual cardholder for how they use their credit.

[RobertEG]

Once you are accepted as a AU, and it is reported to the CRAs, then it will report to your CR.

But, as HTSU has summarized, many players in the credit reporting game, including the CRAs, Fair Isaac, and creditors, have recognized the clear and blantant abuses that have occured in the past in selling AU status to strangers.  It became an internet auction farce of the entire principal of scoring each consumer based on their own credit history.  While my opinion is hardly noteworthy, I would totally eliminate the entire AU process.

But, reality being as it is, it is still out there.  My understanding is that the mainstay in this processs now rests primarily with the credtiors who are asked to grant AU status.  From my readings, most creditors have tightened up on their requirements, and want to see an immediate family connection before granting AU status on their account.. Thus, it appears to me that the primary decison now resides at the discredtion of the creditor who owns the account for which an authorized user is being requested to be added.