hey all, I'm a newbie here so please forgive me if this is something that has come up again and again. If someone is listed as an authorized user on a credit card (or charge card, e.g., amex), can that au be held responsible for debts incurred by the primary user? thanks for any information
as far as the credit reports YES! all the information from the original account shows on the authorized users credit. This can show all good and bad infor.
An authorized user is never responsible for the debt, all charges, including those of the AU are the responsibility of the card holder. As pointed out by the other poster, negative information on the primary user's account will also show on the AU's CR's. (If this were to happen, all the AU would need to do is get taken off the account, and then dispute as "not mine")
thanks very much for the information - I figured it was disputable with the cr once au is removed, but I was specifically concerned about debt collection agencies and such. I'm not clear on the way the debt collection agency side of things work, but I am vaguely aware that there are certain legal restrictions put on them, would harassing an au about the primary user's debt fall into the no no category for dc's?
If the CA is aware the AU is just an AU, then attempting to collect, including posting a negative TL, claiming the AU owed the debt, would appear to be a FDCPA violation. No different than collecting from the wrong person. You would probably have to force the issue, since the OC probably didn't pass the original contract to the CA.
