If you want to build your credit more quickly by getting someone with good credit to add your name as an authorized user to their credit card how will this affect their credit?

Answer 1

As long as you pay your bills on time, there should be no affect on their credit at all. I've been monitoring/managing my credit for several years now (got a nasty taste of ID theft) and I can tell you that the simple truth is that there is only one way to build your credit postively, and that's to establish and pay off your credit accounts on time. Just because you have a co-signed loan or a shared credit card, your history (and the history of your co-signee) will still just be your individual history. Sharing a credit account with someone who has good credit will probably get you access to better terms and rates, but there isn't a halo effect on either your credit or theirs - unless you fail to make payments on time. If you're looking for more info on this, here's a good overview: http://learn.equifax.com/cs/Satellite?c=DS_General_Cont_C&childpagename=DecisionSimple%2FDS_General_Cont_C%2FDSGeneralContentTemplate&cid=1164040850481&pagename=DecisionSimple%2FPage%2FDSLayoutTemplate&ParentLinkID=1162919656130 CORRECTION: I have been told by Equifax, and by my two credit card companies that adding my fiance as an authorized user will likely improve his score, because my credit cards companies do report on the authorized users credit as well, giving them your entire account history, which if you have always paid on time, should improve the authorized users score. But not every credit card company does this, you just need to ask them. (I use Citibank and Capital One). UPDATE: Adding someone as an authorized user no longer helps them improve their credit. This practice, known as piggybacking, was ended in 2007 as a result of substantial abuse by third party brokers that would help people lease out their good credit to those who needed a credit boost. There is no longer a credit benefit resulting from authorized user status.