Credit rating piggyback?

Question

Ok, so my brother made some bad choices and pretty much ruined his credit rating. He is paying off his debt now but is trying to get his rating up if possible. I have heard that I could put him as an authorized user on my credit cards (I would not give him a card to use though) and his credit will benefit from my good rating. However, will his credit affect mine in any way, vice versa?

Answer 1

Forget that ruse. As of next month, listing him as an authorized user will no longer raise his credit score. Those who paid good money to get listed as an authorized user are now going to suffer, since FICO is setting up their rating system to make any increase in credit score retroactive.

Those who benefitted in the past will now lose any benefit gained.

Answer 2

In theory, it could help his credit score. However, the credit reporting agencies are putting a stop to this and within a few months, authorized users will no longer benefit from this technique. It's probably not worth doing at this point.

I would also suggest your brother visit the creditboards.com credit forum and see if there are strategies he can use to clean up his record. He might make more progress that way than by becoming an authorized user on your account.

Answer 3

Actually, no his credit will not affect yours. However, the credit reporting loophole on authorized users on credit cards will be changing in September (I believe) and that loophole will be closed. Only individual and joint account holders will be reported. Authorized users will not benefit or be dinged in the credit rating. This is being done because of people who historically took advantage of this loophole to artifically inflate their scores to get auto loans and mortgages. Right now many underwriters will not even consider a credit line if it shows up as an authorized user.