Will this improve my credit?

[SportGuy]

I was told that one way to improve credit is to be a name added to the same credit card number as someone with great credit. Is this true?

My wife has a near perfect credit score. I do not own any credit cards, and she has two. Her plan was to add me on to one of her credit cards, and then cut the card as soon as she gets it. This way I would not be using the card but we were told this would help improve my credit every time she pays the bill. does this really work? since my credit is much lower than hers, if I am added to her card, will this hurt her credit?

and if this does work, how long does it take of me being added to her account until my score will start to improve? we haven't checked scores in awhile but her score was 804 and mine was 593 when we checked about a year ago. I have been paying off debts and improving my credit since that time though.

[Petunia 100]

Here is an answer from Experian: http://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-ex...credit-report/

[hamchan]

Speaking from my experience only, my husband was never able to get approved for a CC because he had no score, no credit history. A couple of months after adding him as an AU on my capitol one card he started getting his own offers. First from Capitol One and then from other companies. It did not impact my score at all.

[SportGuy]

It did not impact my score at all.

did it improve your husband's score? or did he just have to get his own credit cards with the offers that were being sent to him?

[hamchan]

Well, he went from not having a score to having one, but since he didn't start monitoring his score until later on I do not know what his score was. If I were in your shoes I would certainly give it a try as you really have nothing to lose.

[agarlits]

I was told that one way to improve credit is to be a name added to the same credit card number as someone with great credit. Is this true?

My wife has a near perfect credit score. I do not own any credit cards, and she has two. Her plan was to add me on to one of her credit cards, and then cut the card as soon as she gets it. This way I would not be using the card but we were told this would help improve my credit every time she pays the bill. does this really work? since my credit is much lower than hers, if I am added to her card, will this hurt her credit?

and if this does work, how long does it take of me being added to her account until my score will start to improve? we haven't checked scores in awhile but her score was 804 and mine was 593 when we checked about a year ago. I have been paying off debts and improving my credit since that time though.

In simple terms the answer to your question is yes. If you have little to no credit history and you are added to an account that is reported to the credit bureaus, such as a credit card, you will see an increase in your credit score as you are adding more information to your credit history. However if you already have an extensive (good) credit history you will not see much of a change as long as the account is kept up.

[elcidd]

Secret to a great credit score

Hello,

The little know secret to getting a great credit score is to have 3 credit cards and 1 trade line. What is a tradeline? It can be anything from a mortgage to a lease to a secured personal loan. Once you obtain all four of them, follow the below rules:

1. Never have more then 50% of the balance on any of the cards
2. Never have a balance of more than 50% of your total credit (credit limit of all 3 cards added together) across all your cards.
3. Never be late on paying any of your cards
4. Never, Never, Never be late on paying your tradeline (mortgage, lease, etc)
5. (Recommended) Try not to carry a balance on your cards. Once you build your credit, I would keep the cards just for emergencies and to qualify for cheaper rates on other things, but I would go to using the cash system for most of my purchases.
6. One exception to #5 is if you have a card that issues points. In this case you can use the points cards to pay fixed expenses (gas, electricity, utilities, rent, etc) and pay off the card at the end of the month. This way you maximise your points using expenses you have to pay anyway (not creating expenses to get the points).

I hope this helps

Lionel

[freedomv]

Credit Savy

Lionel,

Excellent points! Thanks for sharing your insight.

[snidersusan21]

If she's going to add you in her credit this is actually will not hurt on her credit score. But cutting her credit card will affect her credit score. Be sure that she will pay off on time. The late payment will obviously hurt her credit score.

[youshallliveinoverflow]

I do not know that adding you as an authorized user will report to the credit reporting agencies. You may want to consider a secured credit card to improve your personal credit score. This is a slow process, but works.

[eric448503]

When I was selling cars, people who had good credit from being an "authorized user" were looked at the same as people who had little to no credit. It did not help them one bit with the banks.