Is it a good idea to add my partner's name onto my credit card?
by Author on Sunday, April 11th, 2010 | 9 Comments
I have good credit and she has fair credit. Will it affect my credit score by doing so? I want to help her raise her credit score.
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I would have to say NO, because if something ever happens you will be stuck paying for it!
If you are married – yes.
If not – no. You will be responsible for any and all debit that she charges. And she can ruin your good credit.
Make sure you can really trust her.
Soon enough though, when someone is just a signer on an account, that account won’t be considered in the credit score calculation.
Yes, it will affect your credit if she is going to be responsible for paying for the bill. If you are willing to put your good credit on the line and let her use your card, then you can do it. It depends on how well you actually know and trust her. Since you say her credit is ‘fair’, I would be very cautious. If you are going to continue to pay for it on time regardless of what she does (even if she maxes it out!) then your credit should be fine. But just be careful!
JOY
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Don’t do it! Once you add someone on you can never take them off. They will tell you that you can, but credit-wise you can’t. I got divorced in 92 and took myself off all my husbands credit cards. He remarried in 94 and his new wife chared them all up. In 95 he filed for bankruptcy, guess who they came after for payment?!? ME!
If she wants to improve her score the best way is for her to get her own.
((Don’t get played.))) Mistake.
Did she suggest this or you?
If she is really concerned about credit ratings she will do all she can to improve her credit.NOW!!
For example, she should get her credit report and make arrangements to pay off her debts.
If she is someone you plan to be with for years. She will order her credit report and show you a copy ,stop shopping, eating fast food, highlights, happy hour. If those are ways she spends her money she should cut back for at least six months. It will be rough but it is part of being responsible. AND THEN SHE CAN GET HER OWN CREDIT CARDS AND ADD YOU ON. Sorry for the caps
It will only affect her credit if you add her as a joint owner of the account (or a cosigner)…so that means the creditor will want to run a credit check on her before they allow her to be on the account. It used to be that adding her as an authorized user would affect her credit, but not as of Sept 2007 and they have said that they will retro active the benefits it has given people in the past (see this article: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2003749472_harney17.html).
If you really want to help your partner, help her pay down her credit cards she has now…pay off any collections she has, and maintain monthly on time payments. If she proves to you then that she can handle her credit apply for new credit in both names or have her added as a co-owner one or two of your cards.
Just be careful, you don’t want to just add her and have her go out on a spree, then you are saddled with debt you didn’t create but are still responsible for!
it will help her if she does nothing…but she can ruin yor credit is she goes back to her old ways and abuses credit cards so be careful. do this quicky as credit bureaus are on to this pigyback strategy of artifcially inflating ones credit score