Posted: 12/17/2025 1:28:54 PM EDT
| Come spring, the woman and I (unmarried) are going to be house hunting. I have a good downpayment, and credit >800. She has some debt from a divorce a few years back, and credit isn't as good. I've heard people say that adding an authorized user on a credit account adds that history to the added user, helping to boost their score. Some folks mentioned doing it for a minor child before they turn 18, so that when they do, they already have credit established. Any truth to that? Is it worth adding my GF as an authorized user now, and would it help when we start looking at financing around april/May-ish? Any downsides to doing so (they won't have a card, so won't actually be using the credit other than having their name on it). |
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My wife had shit credit from a past marriage and bankruptcy. I added her to one or two of my CC accounts as an Authorized user, but no card. In less than 2 years, her credit increased substantially. |
LARUEMINATI
NRA Endowment Life Member
Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
NRA Endowment Life Member
Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
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Originally Posted By smullen: My wife had shit credit from a past marriage and bankruptcy. I added her to one or two of my CC accounts as an Authorized user, but no card. In less than 2 years, her credit increased substantially. Did adding her in any way affect your credit? |
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My wife is a stay at home mom. She had bad credit while dating, but cleared it up by the time we got married. By then she had no accounts in her name. I’ve always had an 800+ credit score. After we got married, I added her as an auth user on my credit cards and even added her to the home loan when we refinanced. So she is either only an authorized user or secondary on the exact same accounts that are in my credit report. Every time we pull our credit, her score is higher than mine. I have no idea how. You would think they would be identical. My adult kids are authorized on one of my credit cards only to build their credit. Neither has actual possession of the cards. Their scores are in the high 700s with this credit card being the only thing on their credit. |
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It will not hurt. HOWEVER, it does not help the way it used to. Modern scoring models (FICO 8/9) now greatly reduce the benefit of being an authorized user and this will not help your score as much as it used to by crappy older scoring models (Vantage 3). The BEST way to build credit is to get your wife 2 credit cards in HER NAME only. If she cannot qualify for a real credit card, then get two pre-paid/secured cards. Use Capital One and DiscoverIT. $500 on each. Have them each charge a small monthly bill (like cable/streaming/cell phone) and have them auto-pay. Within 1-2 years they will convert to unsecured and then available credit can be raised. Keep playing this game while trying to clean up her credit report if possible. |
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Originally Posted By NAM: Did adding her in any way affect your credit? Originally Posted By NAM: Originally Posted By smullen: My wife had shit credit from a past marriage and bankruptcy. I added her to one or two of my CC accounts as an Authorized user, but no card. In less than 2 years, her credit increased substantially. Did adding her in any way affect your credit? Adding a bad credit person as an authorized user to one of your cards will never hurt your personal credit score or report. |