Had a Chapter 7 discharged in January '09. Now have an Orchard credit card with a $39 annual fee. Credit score around 619. I had my mom add me as an authorized user on one of her cards...she has great credit. Her credit card company told me that having me as an authorized user won't help or hurt my or her credit scores. They said if she were to add me as an authorized user, that would help my score. QUESTION: If I have mom add me as an authorized user, which she is willing to do, would that hurt her credit score? Thanks.
No, it won't have any effect on her credit unless something happens like a late pay or running up the balance to change the ratio or something. But if she doesn't even give you the card you can't even buy anything, and then it would have no effect at all.
Clarification Requested... ...So, what you're saying, is, if she adds me as a joint user and I don't end up using the card then it won't help me, right? Please clarify that. Thanks.
If she adds you as an AU and never gives you the card, then you get the all the benefit and she has no additional risk. If she adds you as an AU and gives you the card, then you get the benefit and she gets whatever risk that will occur with you using the card. E.g. you charging up a big balance that she can't pay off, that negatively impacts her utilization, etc. Whatever risk that she might incur depends entirely on how or if you use the card.
ccbob is right. If she adds you, you get all the benefits. If she lets you actually use the card, she has the risk that you run it up, promise to pay and don't, etc. But if she never gives you a card, you still get all the benefits and it can't impact her at all.
