My sister added me as an AU on her macys and Victorias secret card... simply because i have 2 negs on my credit and no positives...so my score is too low to do anything at all.... this was in march... it is still not showing on my credit reports... do not all AUs get reported
It depends. Some only ask for the persons name to be added and others ask for all the information as if you would be the applicant. I added my wife today to a Citi business card and they wanted everything, ss#, address, dob, phone #.
I actually don't think giving out SSN is known to make any difference in terms of credit reports. AMEX usually asks for SSN and Chase doens't, but they both somehow magically report AUs. As for the Macy's, I spoke with their CSR just moments ago and learned that they don't report AU, but converting individual card to joint account is really easy. It sounded like both have to sign the form that they send and just return it. But the drawback is that it won't reflect the whole account history of the primary holder and rather start from the point of account conversion, so what's the use? =(
And, it means that if the account is defaulted, you are liable as a joint owner, whereas you aren't if you're an AU. Nice way of making users liable for the account.
