Can putting someone else as an authorized user on my credit cards hurt my credit score?
First of all, the other person would not get the physical cards (I would get the second card with their name, but destroy them upon receipt), so the balances should be safe.
However, I'm unsure if the above does not open some kind of security / fraud backdoor that I am not aware of.
The purpose of the above, is to "bump" the credit score of the other person. I'm just afraid, it might also lower my score (as theirs is ~600) ?
Considering it took me quite a few years to get to the 750 (Equifax) / 730 (FICO), I want to hear all risks associated with putting someone else's SSN on my credit cards.
(3)3 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
I think your question is about making someone else an authorized user on your credit card to help their credit score, but not giving them a physical card. Right?
The other person would still be an authorized user in the bank's system with a card in their name and social security number (even if you physically destroyed the actual piece of plastic). Since the bank would consider them to be an authorized user, it is possible they could use that status to obtain an additional card, make balance transfers onto the account, obtain cash advances, or otherwise access the account. While a bank may not allow him to do all of these things without your approval as the primary account-holder, it is unlikely that this is truly guaranteed, and you will be unable to complain as the other person is, in fact, an authorized user. Since you're responsible for the debt as the primary account-holder, you'd be stuck paying the bill.
So I would only do this if you can truly trust the other person with up to the credit limit on the card.
The real problem with your scheme is that the other person isn't going to get much of a bump to their credit score and depending on how the card issuer reports (or doesn't report) authorized users, there may be no benefit to them at all.
These types of tricks are usually not worth the effort to try them, the best way to build credit is to use it and be responsible about paying it back.
What your are trying to do is called piggy backing to boost the credit score of a person, relative or not it doesn't matter it works the same. While this is not illegal, some frown upon it since the person getting the boost is not actually learning any financial responsibility. I think some people on the forum think your are
Using someone else's SS# or letting someone else use your SS# that is not the case, you are only adding another person into your line of credit to help the credit score of another person. The only issue that I see would be that since you are giving someone access to your line of credit they may or may not possibly put you in debt from improper use. As you stated above, this person will not be getting an actual card from you since you will destroy it so there really should not be a problem.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.