How does being added as an authorized user affect credit

Q: Does making someone an authorized user help their credit?

Becoming an authorized user on someone elses credit card account is a strategy for improving credit quickly. It works best if the primary users card has a long record of on-time payments and a high credit limit and the authorized user doesnt have recent blemishes on their credit report.

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How to remove your partner as an authorized user
What impact will it have on my credit score?
Bottom line
Will my credit score go down if I add an authorized user?
Does making someone an authorized user help their credit?
Is there a downside to adding authorized user?
How many points does being an authorized user affect credit?

Adding your partner as an authorized user to your credit card is one way to help your partner’s credit — provided, of course, that you are responsible for your own use of the card.

However, if your relationship ends, you may want to deactivate them as an authorized user. What effect will this have on your credit score? What is the simplest and cleanest way to accomplish this? Here’s what you need to know.

How to remove your partner as an authorized user

Getting your name off your partner’s cards, and vice versa, should be a relatively easy task. Just contact your card issuers and tell them you want your partner removed as an authorized user. And your partner should have the same conversation with their issuers.

Another alternative is to contact your partner’s card issuers yourself and ask to be removed as an authorized user. That sounds like a simple task, but card issuers take different approaches to having an authorized user remove themselves from an account. Some might remove you on your own say-so, but others will also require your partner’s consent to have you removed as an authorized user.

If you’re on good terms with your partner and they are on board with the plan you outlined, getting their consent should not pose a problem. If your partner isn’t agreeable to this plan, it may be a bit more complex.

Either way, when you remove an authorized user, it’s good practice to get a new card with a new number for your account, as a safeguard, since your partner has the existing card number. If you have any recurring billings associated with the card, make sure to notify the merchants of your new card number.

What impact will it have on my credit score?

The primary impact on your credit score will be on your credit utilization, which accounts for approximately 30 percent of your FICO credit score. Considering the credit line you had access to while an authorized user will no longer be available to you, you will have a lower total credit to dip into.

If you have a total credit line of $20,000 on your own cards and $15,000 on your authorized user accounts, your total credit line, which used to be $35,000, will now drop to $20,000. If you do carry a balance on your cards, say $5,000, it means your credit utilization will jump from 14 percent to 25 percent. Credit scoring formulas look more favorably on a lower credit utilization ratio, so there could be a negative impact as a result.

For those who use an authorized user account to build up their credit history and don’t have much of a track record with cards beyond that, removing yourself from an authorized user account would take a toll on the length of your credit history. This factor accounts for about 15 percent of your credit score.

If you have your own cards that you use responsibly and have a credit history that goes back a while, being removed as an authorized user will not have much of an impact on the average age of your accounts, and consequently your credit score. If the account lingers on your credit report, it will count toward the age of your credit history even though the account will not be updated.

Bottom line

Removing yourself as an authorized user from a partner’s credit card account is a relatively simple process if your partner goes along with the plan. Two potential credit score fallouts could be from any impact on your credit utilization ratio and the age of your credit history.

If you pay off the balances on all your cards immediately after resolving the authorized user situation, your credit utilization will go down considering the zero balance. That will be a near-term positive for your credit utilization. If you do carry balances in the future, though, your credit utilization factor will be higher, which would mean a less beneficial impact on your score.

Editorial Disclaimer

The editorial content on this page is based solely on the objective assessment of our writers and is not driven by advertising dollars. It has not been provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners.

Poonkulali Thangavelu is a senior staff reporter at CreditCards.com. She focuses on legislation and regulation, discerning how public and private policies impact card users. She has extensive journalism experience covering personal finance and business topics and likes to simplify such subjects to enable readers to make good decisions. Poonkulali is also the author of CreditCards.com's bi-weekly "Fine Print" column. Her career includes a stint doing consumer market research for global advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather.

Will my credit score go down if I add an authorized user?

Adding an authorized user to your credit card account alone shouldn't have a negative impact on your credit. But keep in mind that if that person uses your credit irresponsibly, negative credit impact could follow.

Does making someone an authorized user help their credit?

Becoming an authorized user on someone else's credit card account is a strategy for improving credit quickly. It works best if the primary user's card has a long record of on-time payments and a high credit limit and the authorized user doesn't have recent blemishes on their credit report.

Is there a downside to adding authorized user?

The primary cardholder is solely liable for payments. The card issuer may charge an annual fee to add an authorized user. The credit scores of both authorized user and primary cardholder can suffer when either person mismanages the account.

How many points does being an authorized user affect credit?

For instance, for those with bad credit (a credit score below 550), becoming an authorized user improved their credit score by 10% — in just 30 days. Fast forward to 12 months, and that figure jumps to 30%.