Husband responsible for Chase charge-off?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I am new to this site but I will try to provide relevant info to have my question answered.

Years ago (I had good credit, my then fiance had bad credit) I added my fiance as an authorized user (not a joint account)to my Providian credit card. Providian became Washington Mutual and then Chase. Due to certain events (loss of job etc.) I decided to enter into a debt consolidation/settlement program 1/2010 knowing my credit was going to take a major hit.

Fiance is now husband and has pretty good credit and income. I recently pulled my credit reports and noticed that some of the debts I have not yet settled on are showing up as Charge-off/Bad debt which I was expecting. I intend to settle/pay all these debts over time. However, the Chase Charge Off of over $6000.00 is showing up on my husband's credit report. I was ignorant and thought that going into the debt settlement program would not affect him as these were my debts. I did not think to have him removed as an authorized user (ignorance)I am dismayed to find that something I did to originally help his credit is now damaging it. His good credit is a sense of pride for him since he always had bad credit and grew up really poor. I haven't told him yet what I discovered.

As an authorized user, are they really able to put this on his credit report ?-it is showing on Trans Union and Equifax. Can I have it removed? Any help is appreciated

[MarineVietVet]

Hi CyndiF and welcome to the Forums.

You found out the hard way that just as an AU can benefit from being on an account with stellar history that same account can wreck the credit of the AU if things go bad.

You can remove him as an AU at any time. Just contact the issuer and have him taken off the account. Or he can contact the CRA's and dispute this account as "not mine". Either way once he is removed it will be like he was never on the account at all.

Good luck going forward!

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[-Cain-]

He should be able to dispute with CRA as not his account if he's listed as an authorized user and he was not responsible for the debt.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for responding. I wasn't certain if my debt was now considered his debt because we are married. I certainly need to educate myself more. Definitely going to dispute with CRA's. Thanks again.

Cyndi

[RobertEG]

Marriage does not merge the individual credit files of the spouses, and thus has no affect on credit scoring.

Personally, I would not dispute an AU account as "not mine."  The party consented to be added as an AU, and thus to the extent that it is included in his credit file and credit score, it is not a "not mine."  I dont believe the CRA has the authority to delete the reported AU status on their own.

I would do it cleanly by just having the creditor report the deletion of AU status.

[Anonymous]

The online dispute process with Equifax and TransUnion was very effective and efficient. It has already been deleted with both, got the investigation results emailed today.

Lesson learned. Thank you.

[-Cain-]

PM coming your way CyndiF...

[RobertEG]

I would not advise the route of disputing the account as not mine as a way to remove AU status.

Disputes are to address inaccurate reporting.  Addition of AU status was a voluntary request by the consumer, and thus is not an inaccuracy.

The lack of legal responsibility for the debt is a separate issue, and is not of concern to the CRA.  It does not make the requested addition of the account to his credit file an inaccuracy.

A dispute will go back to the creditor for their investigation.  How will they answer such a dispute?  That complying with your request to have him added as an AU was an inaccuracy? I would not put them in that position.

I would address removal by simply having the card-holder get it deleted.

[-Cain-]

Robert, how would you suggest someone who has since lost contact with the account owner to handle it if not through the CRA? Would the OC listen to a request from the AU for removal?

[Anonymous]

It's my understanding that if you're an AU on an account, you can call the CCC and ask to be removed from accounts. I'm pretty sure the company has to honor the request of an AU who doesn't want to be on someone else's account. Of course it's possible they might ask you to send in some proof of identity (fax your DL or SSN card or whatever) to them, or speak to the fraud department.

Then again, if the creditor won't work with you and you can't get a hold of the account's owner, I guess you pretty much would have to dispute/contact the CRA directly at that point.

But my first step would be to call the creditor and ask them how you can be removed as an AU on an account when you have no contact with the account's original owner anymore. You'd think they'd be happy to remove you from any and all accounts at that point.