Will adding an Authorized User affect my credit score?

[Slabenstein]

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@SedimentaryRock wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi @SedimentaryRock , I understand hard times and it seems like you are only trying to help out a loved one -so I wish you both the best. The fact still remains that it is unethical and let me be blunter,  it is illegal to use your sister's personal information without her knowledge AND consent- even if you feel it is for her benefit. Take care and all the best! 

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Thanks. You're obviously correct about the legality. Saying I wouldn't involve her was more to avoid a conversation thread of well-meaning people reminding me I'm responsible for her purchases etc. It's not important that she explicitly not know. I can get her permission.

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Getting her permission should be your first step.  It seems like you genuinely want to help your sister with her scores, but it's also important to respect the autonomy of those close to us, including their financial autonomy.  If your NFCU card is aged with a perfect payment history and a decent credit limit, then it could boost her score (providing that NFCU reports AUs to the bureaus and that the newer FICOs' anti-abuse algorithm doesn't discount it from scoring), but it's her credit file so she ultimately needs to be the one making the decision about what goes into it.

[SedimentaryRock]

Duly lectured.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous my bad, I think I was wrong calling it illegal. Thanks for posing the question. 

@SedimentaryRock as I mentioned best of luck to you and your sister. I certainly  wasn't trying to come at you online....just offering my perspective. Have a lovely day. 

[BmoreBull]

My question is how is this any different than people who do this to help their children? I'm not saying it's right or wrong. Just asking. When I was 18, my best friend's mom got a gas card in his name from Sunoco. She paid the card and he never really had any responsibility for it. It built his credit and now his scores are in excellent shape. I wish my parents had done this for me. 

[SedimentaryRock]

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@BmoreBull wrote:

My question is how is this any different than people who do this to help their children? I'm not saying it's right or wrong. Just asking. When I was 18, my best friend's mom got a gas card in his name from Sunoco. She paid the card and he never really had any responsibility for it. It built his credit and now his scores are in excellent shape. I wish my parents had done this for me. 

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I agree with you and it is in this spirit that I want to do this. I think maybe the dissent was more of an intellectual exercise. If you want to be a very serious blowhard, sure it's unethical to do a LOT of things that involve another person and touches on legality, so I can't in good faith disagree. But I can't see how this is actually illegal as I haven't entered her into a contract or agreement. And it's moot anyway because I can just tell her and she'll say "OK thanks." And if it was illegal I'd place it in the category of spirit-of-the-law vs letter-of-the-law. BUT I will be sure to tell her first out of respect. I was just thinking of efficiency because it literally doesn't involve her except that her score will go up through no effort of her own. 

[Anonymous]

@BmoreBull yep, same here...having parents or someone else teach you about credit or even establish it on your behalf is a good thing. With my oldest, I definitely added her, to my NFCU- and she benefitted. I've also added a good friend to another account. In my opinion, AU a very helpful credit building tool.

No one in my family ever offered to do this for me, but I don't come from a credit savvy family. Once I learned about credit, I asked my family if they'd be willing to add me. Thankfully, they agreed. I also make sure I educate my kids. I talk to my daughter about her credit profile monthly. Personally, many of my earlier credit challenges were partially due to finances. Once I had more money and could set up auto-pay, I've been on autopilot. If I were added as an AU, when I was younger, broke and not as responsible, it probably wouldn't have benefitted me as much as the accounts do today. Everyone's journey is different. I wholeheartedly agree with @SedimentaryRock about bringing someone up with you. I think most of us do...it's also the spirit of this forum. 

[Anonymous]

After thinking about it more, considering it is your account and you are simply granting another person access to make charges to your account, I can’t see illegality. You are not subjecting them to any sort of liability or responsibility.