I recently applied for a mortgage loan and when the Loan Officer ran my credit report, she found a credit card account that I didn't report to her with a balance of $9200. She gave me the credit card number and assured me that it was coded as a #3 which apparently means I am an authorized user on the card, not necessarily the primary card holder. My question is this, is there anyway to trace that credit card number? The credit report simply stated that it was a Fleet Credit Card. This could be anything... I did contact Fleet and gave them the card number that showed up on the report, but they show no record of that account. Can anyone offer any advice on this matter? Thanks....
Yes, Send your request through the bureau that is reporting the card. They will reply with the name and address of who verfied it. From there you can contact them directly. If it is old and has been sold or transfered then verfying through the bureau will possibly remove it. Either way, you will have a current address and name of who is reporting it. Fleet bought old accounts from other banks so calling them will do little. Amy wrote: ------------------------------- I recently applied for a mortgage loan and when the Loan Officer ran my credit report, she found a credit card account that I didn't report to her with a balance of $9200. She gave me the credit card number and assured me that it was coded as a #3 which apparently means I am an authorized user on the card, not necessarily the primary card holder. My question is this, is there anyway to trace that credit card number? The credit report simply stated that it was a Fleet Credit Card. This could be anything... I did contact Fleet and gave them the card number that showed up on the report, but they show no record of that account. Can anyone offer any advice on this matter? Thanks....
Why would a mortgage broker care about the account anyhow? As an "authorized user" you are under no obligation whatsoever to pay on the account. The CRAs policy of reporting account performance on "authorized users" credit history is subject of a class action lawsuit. There are some specific references to documents available on the web regarding the lawsuit posted in earlier messages on the board. I know bankrate.com has an article on this. What's particularly troublesome about this situation is that someone doesn't need permission from another person to list them as an authorized user on any of their accounts. So if you're about to go down the financial toilet and have an ex-spouse or someone else you want to take with you, by all means, sign them up!
Some banks and credit unions have it written into their terms and disclosures what the capacity of "authorized user" means. If you signed finacial liability as an authorized user then you would be liable and the debt would be part of your overall debts calculated. J. Edgar wrote: ------------------------------- Why would a mortgage broker care about the account anyhow? As an "authorized user" you are under no obligation whatsoever to pay on the account. The CRAs policy of reporting account performance on "authorized users" credit history is subject of a class action lawsuit. There are some specific references to documents available on the web regarding the lawsuit posted in earlier messages on the board. I know bankrate.com has an article on this. What's particularly troublesome about this situation is that someone doesn't need permission from another person to list them as an authorized user on any of their accounts. So if you're about to go down the financial toilet and have an ex-spouse or someone else you want to take with you, by all means, sign them up!
It's one thing if you've signed the credit app, but if you are just an authorized user, your signature is not required on the app nor is you permission required to be listed as such. Most creditors do no checking whatsoever on authorized users. I know people who have requested (and gotten) credit cards tied to their accounts with their pet's name on the card. I got an Amex card for my partner on my account just by filling out a little form that came stuffed in my bill. All's that was required was his name. They asked for a DOB and SSN, but I didn't fill that in and they sent him a card anyhow. I guess they wanted the $80 annual fee more than knowing whether he was indeed a real person. I could have just as well asked for a card for Elmer Fudd. My point is that creditors should not be reporting the the CRAs on authorized users without that person's explicit permission since the creditor isn't requiring explicit permission from the authorized user to have the card issued to them.
Amy, one thing you might try is to dispute the account as "not yours" with the bureaus. If you've called Fleet and they have no record of the account, then maybe the bureaus will not be able to verify it either, which should get it deleted off of your report.
