When my daughter was in college I added her as an AU on some of my cards without giving it a second thought. Now, I have an entirely different kind of situation, a non-relative, and would appreciate any input/advice.
Briefly, I've known her for 15 years; she's been living with me since I was discharged from the hospital after a lengthy illness, so about four years ago. She moved in to take care of me, my pets, my house. We've become very close, and we're continually mistaken for mother and daughter. 
Her credit sucks! 
Since she's been here she's managed to get her finances under better control, including getting approved for a couple of low-limit CreditOne and Capital One cards. When I say "low" I mean like $300! She's taken my advice to heart, and followed my idea of best practices with her cards.
I was thinking of adding her to some of my accounts to help her improve her credit. What I want to know is, can adding her to my accounts HURT my credit in any way?
The tiny bit of thinking I've done on this has been purely in my own head--I haven't even mentioned it to her yet--and involves not even giving her any actual access to the accounts. Just add her as an AU and let time go by and increase her score. Is that how it works? Or is there more to it, i.e., does she have to have a card with her name on it that gets used?
Are there any downsides you can think of? I mean other than the obvious, running up the balance on my accounts.
Although I trust her implicitly, I'm old enough and wise enough to know that *BLEEPITY-BLEEP* happens! FWIW, she knows my debit card PIN, and could easily take any/all of my credit/debit cards out of my room without my noticing. She may not be good at managing her own credit, but she is not a devious or untrustworthy person. Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?
Adding her as authorized user on your card will not have any impact on your credit but the other way... all the history of your card(s) will be reflected to her history.
Whether those cards are getting used or not, does not matter. From what I know, Mostly all AU cards will have the same number as the primary card.
@SoCalGardener wrote:When my daughter was in college I added her as an AU on some of my cards without giving it a second thought. Now, I have an entirely different kind of situation, a non-relative, and would appreciate any input/advice.
Briefly, I've known her for 15 years; she's been living with me since I was discharged from the hospital after a lengthy illness, so about four years ago. She moved in to take care of me, my pets, my house. We've become very close, and we're continually mistaken for mother and daughter.
Her credit sucks!
Since she's been here she's managed to get her finances under better control, including getting approved for a couple of low-limit CreditOne and Capital One cards. When I say "low" I mean like $300! She's taken my advice to heart, and followed my idea of best practices with her cards.
I was thinking of adding her to some of my accounts to help her improve her credit. What I want to know is, can adding her to my accounts HURT my credit in any way?
The tiny bit of thinking I've done on this has been purely in my own head--I haven't even mentioned it to her yet--and involves not even giving her any actual access to the accounts. Just add her as an AU and let time go by and increase her score. Is that how it works? Or is there more to it, i.e., does she have to have a card with her name on it that gets used?
Are there any downsides you can think of? I mean other than the obvious, running up the balance on my accounts.
Although I trust her implicitly, I'm old enough and wise enough to know that *BLEEPITY-BLEEP* happens! FWIW, she knows my debit card PIN, and could easily take any/all of my credit/debit cards out of my room without my noticing. She may not be good at managing her own credit, but she is not a devious or untrustworthy person. Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?
@arunkumarmm wrote:Adding her as authorized user on your card will not have any impact on your credit but the other way... all the history of your card(s) will be reflected to her history.
Whether those cards are getting used or not, does not matter. From what I know, Mostly all AU cards will have the same number as the primary card.
@SoCalGardener wrote:When my daughter was in college I added her as an AU on some of my cards without giving it a second thought. Now, I have an entirely different kind of situation, a non-relative, and would appreciate any input/advice.
Briefly, I've known her for 15 years; she's been living with me since I was discharged from the hospital after a lengthy illness, so about four years ago. She moved in to take care of me, my pets, my house. We've become very close, and we're continually mistaken for mother and daughter.
Her credit sucks!
Since she's been here she's managed to get her finances under better control, including getting approved for a couple of low-limit CreditOne and Capital One cards. When I say "low" I mean like $300! She's taken my advice to heart, and followed my idea of best practices with her cards.
I was thinking of adding her to some of my accounts to help her improve her credit. What I want to know is, can adding her to my accounts HURT my credit in any way?
The tiny bit of thinking I've done on this has been purely in my own head--I haven't even mentioned it to her yet--and involves not even giving her any actual access to the accounts. Just add her as an AU and let time go by and increase her score. Is that how it works? Or is there more to it, i.e., does she have to have a card with her name on it that gets used?
Are there any downsides you can think of? I mean other than the obvious, running up the balance on my accounts.
Although I trust her implicitly, I'm old enough and wise enough to know that *BLEEPITY-BLEEP* happens! FWIW, she knows my debit card PIN, and could easily take any/all of my credit/debit cards out of my room without my noticing. She may not be good at managing her own credit, but she is not a devious or untrustworthy person. Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?
@arunkumarmm Not necessarily so. Because of the prevalence of people selling unused trade lines FICO introduced an anti-abuse algorithm in FICO 8. If it detects that the AU is not related to the primary account holder, or that there's no real nexus between the individuals the added account and history might be ignored.
From the FICO 8 press release:
"In addition, FICO 8 helps lenders protect against authorized-user account ‘piggybacking’ by incorporating new patent-pending technology that materially reduces the potential score impact associated with the abuse of authorized user accounts."
@GrandBay wrote:@Anonymous I think the OP and AU should be fine. They have shared a residence for 4+ years and anti abuse looks for folks with no tangential relationship. FICO would not know the extent of this relationship whether familial, platonic or romantic.
@SoCalGardener the AU will benefit from being added. If you keep the card(s) away from the AU your credit is yours to ruin. If you allow the AU to use the card(s) you become liable for their expenditures and this can have a negative effect on your scores.
Edited to say: @SoCalGardener when adding an AU you can choose to give the authorized user online account access. My understanding is that this may be mandatory with some companies. Also, not all credit card companies report AU accounts to the credit reporting agencies. My suggestion would be to call the credit card company and inquire about the reporting procedures and what access the AU has to your accounts.
Excellent reply! Thank you so much.
The thing about unrelated people and fraud algorithms, I'm glad you caught that we live together, so our address is the same. She could easily be my daughter--as I noted, we're constantly mistaken for mother/daughter! The fact that we have different last names is meaningless in today's world. But I won't lie. I mean, if they ask for the relationship, I'll put "family friend" or "housekeeper" or whatever, but I won't lie that she's related to me.
A funny side note: one day last year I called my primary doctor's office for something, and the nurse I spoke to said "I told your daughter this morning...." and I said, "wait, my daughter called?" I'm sitting here scratching my head--like how did my daughter (who lives in another state) even KNOW about this issue?! And then it dawned on me.... 
@GrandBay wrote:@SoCalGardener Citi is one of the easier companies. You can add up to 10 AUs and they do not need to be related to you. Also, you can opt out of giving the AU online access to the account.
I added someone as an AU on my AMX Plat many years ago without a SS# and remember it being an easy process. Conjecture on the FICOForums is that CCs are better than charge cards for the AU.One piece of advice: only add the AU to accounts where you have a $0 balance. In some scoring algorithms your balance may suppress their gains.
Great advice again, thanks.
The $0 balance thing--so add her when the balance is $0, but then use it as usual? I mean, we want to show activity, right? Like payments!
@GrandBay wrote:@SoCalGardener Are there any cards you PIF before the statement cuts? Those cards will be the one that you add to the AU's CR.
Honestly, no. I never do that. I pay when the statement arrives in the mail. (Yes, I still get paper statements, but have paid all my bills online since that first became possible! Side note: on an episode of Jeopardy! shortly before Alex Trebek died, there was a question about paper vs paperless; it said a poll showed that 95% of people who pay their bills online still prefer to receive paper statements!)
So what should I do? How important is it to pay in full before the statement cuts? If it's only marginally helpful, I'd rather leave things as is. I have my bills down to a science and don't want to change things up unless I really need to.