Should I add my mom as an AU?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I found out my mom has very high car insurance rates for someone her age and no accidents on her record and that led me to believe she must have bad credit. So I was able to check her report and low and behold she has a collection on her reports from a Walmart card she had years ago. I don't know when it was charged off or anything about it since it's not on any of her reports but the collection is by portfolio recovery. She is not going to pay this, yes she owed most of the debt but she had issues with synchrony saying she wasn't paying her bills even though she was paying it in cash at walmart. So in the end she said screw it and never paid another cent. Below is what it shows on one of her reports, I don't remember which one. Now I know the opening date for the collection means nothing but given that date I would think it's got to be getting close to dropping off her reports. Or am I mistaken?

She only has 1 credit card and it's a store card. A jcpenney card she's had for almost 25 years that she has never been late paying. She does always carry a balance. Around a 1,000 or so and her limit used to be maybe 7,000-9,000. But recently they began balance chasing her which has destroyed her utilization. Since it's her only card and she does us it every month at rite aid I would like to help her hopefully keep the card and have them stop balance chasing her. 

So here is what I'm hoping. If I add her as an AU on one of my cards that should help her with her overall utilization right? And maybe boost her score enough so Synchrony can back off a little. Once the collection falls off I plan on removing her and hopefully her score can start to recover on it's own.

Would or could that work? Is there any downfall to me or her if I were to do that?

PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES

Account Number

603220XXXXXXXXXX

Account Type

Debt Buyer

Responsibility

Individual

Date Opened

09/23/2015

Status

Collection account. $798 past due as of Oct 2021.

Status Updated

Sep 2015

Balance

$798

Balance Updated

10/14/2021

Recent Payment

$0

Monthly Payment

$0

Original Balance

$798

Highest Balance

$0

Terms

1 Months

[FireMedic1]

How did you check her reports? Annual Credit Reports?

[Anonymous]

Yes but I was only able to view one. One didn't let me in, said I answered the questions wrong and other wanted me to sign up or give my email and I wasn't comfortable doing that since it's my mom's and not mine. 

[FireMedic1]

Which one? Maybe get a look at Credit karma too. Trying to get to where is the CO and when. Especially when did it fall off and the DoFD. No matter how many times a debt is sold (and resold), the date that counts for the seven-year credit report clock is the date of delinquency with the original creditor. If a collection agency bought your over 7 yr old debt and has started putting it on your credit report with a different date, that’s a no-no.

[Anonymous]

I believe it was experian and I did make her a credit karma account and the original account isn't list there either. She had one closed account on one of the bureaus but it wasn't the walmart card. The closed account was closed with a zero balance I'm guessing due to not being used from woman within.

I'm not that experienced with all this, I've never had a charge off or a collection against me but I've been trying to find the first date of delinquency too but I can't find the original trade line anywhere.

[GApeachy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES

Account Number

603220XXXXXXXXXX

Account Type

Debt Buyer

Responsibility

Individual

Date Opened

09/23/2015

Status

Collection account. $798 past due as of Oct 2021.

Status Updated

Sep 2015

Balance

$798

Balance Updated

10/14/2021

---

I'd venture to guess that since she had the Walmart acct. "years ago" and she quit paying it (but not recently quit paying it correct?) that the DOFD is Sept 2015= perhaps date opened by first CA  and perhaps not reported in the past(?).  I'd also guess that Portfolio Recovery may have recently acquired this acct.  If so, good news is she can PFD.  Like @FireMedic1 suggested, sign her up for Credit Karma to see more details and perhaps determine when this all happened.  If DOFD is Sept 2015, that's not a long time to wait and maybe even get a better deal on PFD. (IDK)  If it's when she opened the acct. (look at Credit Karma) then pic her brain as to how long she had the card before the pymt. situation got out of hand.

As far as adding her to your card as AU...idk if that would help her with Ins. premiums or not (being an AU) but it might.  I would think it would help as far as overall like you mentioned as far as a credit boost/utl.

[Anonymous]

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@GApeachy wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES

Account Number

603220XXXXXXXXXX

Account Type

Debt Buyer

Responsibility

Individual

Date Opened

09/23/2015

Status

Collection account. $798 past due as of Oct 2021.

Status Updated

Sep 2015

Balance

$798

Balance Updated

10/14/2021

---

I'd venture to guess that since she had the Walmart acct. "years ago" and she quit paying it (but not recently quit paying it correct?) that the DOFD is Sept 2015= perhaps date opened by first CA  and perhaps not reported in the past(?).  I'd also guess that Portfolio Recovery may have recently acquired this acct.  If so, good news is she can PFD.  Like @FireMedic1 suggested, sign her up for Credit Karma to see more details and perhaps determine when this all happened.  If DOFD is Sept 2015, that's not a long time to wait and maybe even get a better deal on PFD. (IDK)  If it's when she opened the acct. (look at Credit Karma) then pic her brain as to how long she had the card before the pymt. situation got out of hand.

As far as adding her to your card as AU...idk if that would help her with Ins. premiums or not (being an AU) but it might.  I would think it would help as far as overall like you mentioned as far as a credit boost/utl.

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She has no intentions to pay this, it's been this long and done what's it's done. From what I was able to gather from doing some research before coming here. The Sept 2015 open date is the date PRA got the account. If that's true and yes my mom stopped paying anything on that card so long ago she can't remember when, it was definitely back when they started saying she wasn't, wouldn't that mean the original trade line went delinquent before Sept 2015? Which should mean there's less than a year before it falls off. 

Lowering her insurance premiums was my primary goal but after seeing synchrony balance chase I'm now more worried about them closing that account.

[GApeachy]

DOFD may we'll be before Sept 2015.  Like @FireMedic1 also stated, if time is already up then that's a "no no". Does she keep old records?  Anything you can look through? 

Probably CK is your best bet now.  Asking mom the security questions is another best bet to view all acr's too. 

Being AA has recently happened, not before, could mean looking into re-aging of the acct. for some weird reason or another....investigate all dates everywhere you can.  Sign her up for wallethub, they have a great timeline feature going way back. Look for pymts, etc.

[FireMedic1]

Sync and balance chasing isnt unusal. They have a few reasons why they do it. It usually doesnt end in some cases until its paid off and then closed. Insurance scores (Home/Auto) usually come from FICO and LexisNexis. When I got my new truck I was with GEICO for over 20 yrs. They wanted $167 a month. WHAT!!!!!!!!! So I went on one of those sites and compared rates. Ended up with State Farm at $89 a month with all the perks. Less than half. When I went to cancel GEICO. Oh we'll give you a 54% discount if you stay with us. HUH? So I learned that if your with a co. for a long time. They dont think you'll leave. Once you do THEN they pull out the stops to keep you. I laughed and told them my new price and you could have done me right after all these years. C-Ya! So check those popular sites and even credit karma under auto. Never know.

[FireMedic1]

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@GApeachy wrote:

DOFD may we'll be before Sept 2015.  Like @FireMedic1 also stated, if time is already up then that's a "no no". Does she keep old records?  Anything you can look through? 

Probably CK is your best bet now.  Asking mom the security questions is another best bet to view all acr's too. 

Being AA has recently happened, not before, could mean looking into re-aging of the acct. for some weird reason or another....investigate all dates everywhere you can.  Sign her up for wallethub, they have a great timeline feature going way back. Look for pymts, etc.

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@GApeachyI just have that sinking feeling PRS got it right before fall off date and are still holding it. Dont know why. Doesnt make sense the account isnt listed and passed the 7 yr fall off date and PRS is trying to hold onto it. Maybe a dispute for too old may work? Thoughts?

@AnonymousWhats the staue of limitations in your state? You can Google it.