Settling on a card with my husband being an authorized user

[Shelly3630]

I have two chase accounts that I owe on. One is not behind yet, and the other is like 3
months. I want to settle on both accounts. So I know I will probably have to wait another 3 or 4 months to start looking into that. But my husband is an authorized user on one, the one that is not behind yet. If I default on it and settle would that go towards his credit since he did not sign for the card, I just added him as being able to use it a while back.

[ValleYum]

My advice: Try to get him off before you settle!! Usually authorized user's information can be removed from credit bureau files *unless* you are married then I believe that § 202.10 of the FDIC Laws comes into play and whatever is on there stays on there (and he may well be stuck on there now).

Hopefully, someone else knows more than me and will come along and advise you as to what you should do. To protect yourself, you should obtain legal and financial counsel before you settle!

[Shelly3630]

I had one lawyers office tell me that he would'nt be liable if he was just an authorized user, not an acutal account holder.

[ValleYum]

It's not the liability that I was speaking of at all. There is none for an authorized user regardless of marital status. I was speaking of the information staying on a credit report for 7 years with negative (bankruptcy/settled account for less than owed) history. That's what I was referencing above as it is something my spouse and I are currently experiencing and it definitely will take a whack at your credit scores.

[catleg]

Nope, my wife and I had numerous accounts which were individual responsibility with the spouse as an AU and none have reported the on the AU negatively.
The credit bureaus got wise to the use of AU's as a credit repair trick and were phasing that out anyway.

[Charlie777]

To minimize any credit reporting damage remove him as AU immediately. Once he's off, there's no chance his report will be hurt.

[df04527]

Agreed - remove him now.

[panda]

I had a Bank Of America card that my husband was an AU on, and it did start to show negatively on his credit report after I was late. I called them and told them he was an authorized user only and as I was late it was starting to affect his credit, so I needed to remove him. They did not give me any hassle, agreed that he was not responsible and immediately removed him and sent me an email saying they had done so.Now on his credit report it is still showing up saying something like removed or some such and the last day it was reported, which was when I called them and they updated. It does not say IIB or anything else and is reporting all positive history. I am OK with this unless they try to update it to negatives, if they do I will dispute it, but the last time it reported anything was back in October and he has an ongoing equifax account that updates any new activity so we would know if anything weird showed up immediately.

[LostItAll2]

We also have account in our individual names, so I appears I best get busy with our removing each other from the accounts.

[ValleYum]

Nope, my wife and I had numerous accounts which were individual responsibility with the spouse as an AU and none have reported the on the AU negatively.
The credit bureaus got wise to the use of AU's as a credit repair trick and were phasing that out anyway.

<mini thread hijack> catleg? Any advice as to what to say to the folks who *are* reporting us negatively? I have a sample letter down in credit repair if you'd be so kind as to peruse it and perhaps offer me the benefit of your wisdom in that thread. I really could use the help. Thread is here: http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.ph...-info-off-CRAs

Here is what is shows on my Equifax (with items blanked out to protect privacy):



FYI, we missed a grand total of 1 payment before filing BK (the 11/2010 payment due date). These folks were the nastiest we dealt with by far with their 4x collection calls per day - screaming at me and threatening me.

[dman]

Definitely remove all AUs ASAP (if you are, or will soon be, late). Should just be a simple phone call. If they ask why, just say you don't want him on the account anymore. If they keep pressing, say you don't want him to be able to make any charges on your account. Shouldn't be a big deal. They may want to know if you have his card (many AU cards have the same number as the primary...so simply removing them from the system would not keep the card from working). That's about it.

The worst that can happen, is they say no (I can't imagine why) and you wasted a few minutes of your time. The best, is that you won't have to deal with negative information showing on his account, the card company coming after him for charges he made on your card (rare, but it has happened), etc.