Ghost account on Experian credit report

[Nashwaaker]

The backstory isn't important, but I was briefly an Authorized User on my partner's Amex BCE card.   I never actually used the card.  Partner had me removed from the card in Sept 2025, and subsequently closed the account entirely.   Equifax removed the account from my report on the next update.  Transunion updated my report to show the card as 'Terminated', but immediately removed it in response to a 'not my account' dispute.  But Experian updated their report to look like this (image is from my report pulled online yesterday):

I opened a 'not my account' dispute with Experian.  They responded that American Express has verified the data as correct.   I contacted Amex and was directed to their "Credit Bureau Unit".   They sent me a letter, which included the following summary of what they are reporting to Experian:

So, I opened another dispute, including Amex's letter.  Experian again closed the dispute claiming that Amex had verified the information in my report.

I contacted Amex's CBU again, and this time the agent connected interactively to Experian's database while talking with me.  They confirmed that Experian has recorded an ECOA code of 'T' on my file.    So, it appears that Experian has the correct information (as they insist) but that they are displaying it incorrectly.   I opened a dispute on that basis, but again they do not appear to understand my complaint.  Yesterday I received a long email explaining their FCRA obligations and telling me how to submit a consumer statement to be attached to my file.

Has anyone else ever encountered this kind of ghost account on an Experian credit report ?     Should I care about it ?   Is there any point in submitting a consumer statement ?   As far as I can tell, it is not being considered in the calculation of my FICO 8 score.   It's just noise.

[pizzadude]

As long as there isn't any derogatory payment history or anything negative showing ( it looks good to me from your images ) then I wouldn't worry about it at all.    It's not hurting your FICO scores in any way. 

[radiofrequencies]

Your experience is the same a user on another credit forum reported after they were removed as an authorized user from an Amex card. Amex handles reporting authorized user accounts differently that most card issuers. And technically, I don't see anything wrong with the reporting - you were an authorized user on an account that is now closed. Is the account included in your average age of accounts calculation and was the account opened on July 26, 2025 or is that when you were added as an authorized user?

[Nashwaaker]

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@radiofrequencies wrote:

And technically, I don't see anything wrong with the reporting - you were an authorized user on an account that is now closed.

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Except that according to what Experian is showing, the account is open and I am still an AU - those statements are both false.   It certainly confuses Experian's own CMS, which includes it in the number of open accounts, the total credit limit and the aging stats.  I don't believe FICO is including the ghost in any of it's calculations, although it's hard to be sure.

[radiofrequencies]

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@Nashwaaker wrote:
Except that according to what Experian is showing, the account is open and I am still an AU - those statements are both false.   It certainly confuses Experian's own CMS, which includes it in the number of open accounts, the total credit limit and the aging stats.  I don't believe FICO is including the ghost in any of it's calculations, although it's hard to be sure.

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I totally missed where it's listed as open in the Experian screenshot and was thinking "terminated" meant the account was closed. It's possible American Express's language of "terminated authorized user" is saying that you're not an authorized user any more rather than "the account was terminated". Is the account listed as open on your reports from annualcreditreport.com? If yes, I would submit another dispute to Experian for the "Open/Closed" field being incorrect.

[AndySoCal]

This is an authorized user account. The only way the card can report as closed is if the owner of the account closes the card with AMEX.  Your relationship to the account is has been terminated by whose request it does not matter.  You are not financially reponsible for the account.

[Nashwaaker]

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@radiofrequencies wrote:

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@Nashwaaker wrote:
Except that according to what Experian is showing, the account is open and I am still an AU - those statements are both false.   It certainly confuses Experian's own CMS, which includes it in the number of open accounts, the total credit limit and the aging stats.  I don't believe FICO is including the ghost in any of it's calculations, although it's hard to be sure.

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I totally missed where it's listed as open in the Experian screenshot and was thinking "terminated" meant the account was closed. It's possible American Express's language of "terminated authorized user" is saying that you're not an authorized user any more rather than "the account was terminated". Is the account listed as open on your reports from annualcreditreport.com? If yes, I would submit another dispute to Experian for the "Open/Closed" field being incorrect.

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"terminated authorized user" is not some Amex expression.  It's the standard representation of the  ECOA code 'T'.   This is part of the Metro2 standard.

Experian provides at least three different versions of their report, depending on the exact way you request it (annualcreditreport.com, 877-FACTACT and their own CMS).   Although there are slight differences in the reports, they all show the Responsibility element as "Authorized User", despite the ECOA code being 'T'.

[Nashwaaker]

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@AndySoCal wrote:

This is an authorized user account. The only way the card can report as closed is if the owner of the account closes the card with AMEX.  Your relationship to the account is has been terminated by whose request it does not matter.  You are not financially reponsible for the account.

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• As stated in the original post, the primary cardholder has already closed the account.  
• My complaint is that, while knowing this tradeline was reported with an ECOA code of 'T',  Experian continues to report the responsibility as 'Authorized user' - this is clearly visible in the report extract in the original post.
• That I am not financially responsible for the account has always been true.   The issue is that some FICO scoring metrics do take AU accounts into account.   In particular, a single, zero balance, AU account will incur a scoring penalty of about 15 points in FICO 8.   

[Nashwaaker]

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@radiofrequencies wrote:

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@Nashwaaker wrote:
Except that according to what Experian is showing, the account is open and I am still an AU - those statements are both false.   It certainly confuses Experian's own CMS, which includes it in the number of open accounts, the total credit limit and the aging stats.  I don't believe FICO is including the ghost in any of it's calculations, although it's hard to be sure.

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I totally missed where it's listed as open in the Experian screenshot and was thinking "terminated" meant the account was closed. It's possible American Express's language of "terminated authorized user" is saying that you're not an authorized user any more rather than "the account was terminated". Is the account listed as open on your reports from annualcreditreport.com? If yes, I would submit another dispute to Experian for the "Open/Closed" field being incorrect.

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Oops - I posted my last reply too soon.

I have already submitted such a dispute three times - including more information each time.   Experian always replies that they have verified the information on the report.   That's true - but the problem is that they are not displaying the information that they have, in fact, recorded.  Their own database shows that this account was reported with an ECOA code of 'T' - yet they do not include that fact in their presentation of my report.

I've actually received an email from Experian suggesting that I need to stop disputing this account.    They suggest that I should tag the account with one of their canned personal statements.

But that tag will not affect FICO scoring.   I have stated that I think FICO is ignoring this account, but there's no way to know.   They AU AZ penalty could be applied.   (There are enough other minor differences between my EX report and the other two that it is not possible to isolate the effects on my EX 8 score.)

[Nashwaaker]

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@radiofrequencies wrote:

Your experience is the same a user on another credit forum reported after they were removed as an authorized user from an Amex card.

I think you may be citing my own posts in the r/CRedit community.   (I cannot find any other reports concerning Experian's presentation of accounts with ECOA='T', in that forum or anywhere else on the web.)

Authorized User accounts are a frequent topic of discussion in that community - especially with respect to their lack of utility as a credit building tool.   The topic also arises when people realize that a primary user is having trouble and this is dragging down the credit score of an authorized user.    Most knowledgeable commentators assert that it is easy to get an AU account removed, that all negative effects will immediately go away, and that the account will vanish entirely from their credit reports.

I have been adding cautions to those remarks - including my own experiences - to show that the situation is not so simple.  I've also been trying to suggest that an FAQ document on the subject (which was last edited 12 years ago) needs to be updated to reflect current facts.    This thread is part of my effort to collect corroborating evidence to support my experiences.