I think the fees are reasonable for what they're doing. They're giving you the ability to put information into your credit file that does not reflect your own behavior. They're offering you the opportunity to mislead the bank about the risk you represent. You can get quite a substantial increase in your score by doing nothing. Another thing you have to consider is that some people do this right before shopping for mortgages, so they get better rates than they're entitled to, and then quit using the service. So I have no complaint that the fees are too high; my concern is that I think the whole enterprise is criminal. My concern is that it's clearly dishonest, and probably illegal. I wouldn't be surprised if people start going to jail. Look at it. You are on the card as an "authorized user" but you are NOT an authorized user, because you can't use the card. So how are you an authorized user, and how is paying to be represented as an authorized user anything other than a fraudulent act? The whole enterprise is going to be shut down soon, I think. I did find out some useful information by learning about it, though; I made some changes to the authorized status of myself and my wife on our cards. I added myself to a couple of her cards with zero balances, and did the same for her with a couple of my cards, and took her off of a couple of my cards with big balances.
