Added as an Authorized User - could that help me to rebuilt my score?

[smz5124]

I was recently discharged. My daughter has added me as an "Authorized User" of one of her credit cards.

Could this be one of the ways to help me to rebuild my credit?

Thanks!

[tobee43]

i'm not really certain nowadays....

i did that for my kids when they went to college to help them establish their own credit...they both are still over 820....so i guess it could still work??? but i pd all the bills.

[Logan]

I posted a thread a while back on this since I am an authorized user on a couple of my wife's cards. From memory, yes it should help but there were changes put in place because people could buy themselves into an authorized user card to improve their credit scores. FICO has determined a way to weed out these people and give credit to us.

I know my wife's cards are on my report. I have not checked my FICO in over a year so I'm not sure if it has done much at this time. I'll find out when I go to buy my next house.

Logan

[tobee43]

yes, logan...i now recall it on the credit report...it is indicated in a different category and number...so it may not help that much...however, every little bit helps!

[df04527]

Creditors have begun to NOT report auth users anymore.

[tobee43]

ahhhhhh...of course they have!!

[df04527]

Yup -- figures right....

[Logan]

Creditors have begun to NOT report auth users anymore.

USAA and BOFA are reporting me as an authorized user on my credit reports.

Logan

[df04527]

Creditors have started doing this recently, not all of them, but there are more and more that are doing this everyday. If they are reporting for you, awesome -- they will all be on that bandwagon, over time, to defeat it's purpose. It's the wave of the future. They do not like auth users and have found a simple way to defeat it.

Just like anything else.........

[Logan]

Creditors have started doing this recently, not all of them, but there are more and more that are doing this everyday. If they are reporting for you, awesome -- they will all be on that bandwagon, over time, to defeat it's purpose. It's the wave of the future. They do not like auth users and have found a simple way to defeat it.

Just like anything else.........

I found it interesting that USAA even let me have a credit card as an authorized user since they won't even let me open a bank account. It even has a 25K limit and since I'm the bread winner in the family I'm the one that manages the card.

Logan

[LSUTiger32]

They were going to change this and then decided not to.....although I think they are not counting it like they used to.

http://www.credit.com/credit_information/credit_report/Consumer-Alert-FICO-Formula-Changes.jsp

[df04527]

Yes for sure --- FICO08 offers the lenders a way to deal with it as well. The only problem with FICO08 is "when" will FICO08 be the standard that all the lenders will use. Could take years. In the meantime - the creditors discovered not reporting it also solves the same problem and they can do that right now for free.

[Logan]

They were going to change this and then decided not to.....although I think they are not counting it like they used to.

http://www.credit.com/credit_informa...la-Changes.jsp

It's changed since that article. I'm not going to go digging but I have posted this before that the credit Agencies have determined a way differentiate from valid authorized users vs. people buying their way onto a credit card. If you go to FICO.com you can find it and there are other articles about this.

Logan

[IBroke]

The last info I received on that topic is that the agencies only "credit" you for the history on a joint account from the date you were actually added in order to to make it impossible for people to get credit for joint accounts before they were acually on them.