The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Murse on February 05, 2018, 06:28:21 PM
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I added someone to my credit card to help out their credit. Do I need to activate these cards for it to work to increase their credit.
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I would think that you do. I would also think that it will also pull your credit down, especially if they miss payments.
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If their credit needs help, then my advice is not to give them the cards (or the numbers). You can activate the cards and then stash them in a secure place instead.
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I agree -- do NOT give this person 'their' card. They do not have to actually use the card to get the benefit of your history.
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I added someone to my credit card to help out their credit. Do I need to activate these cards for it to work to increase their credit.
No need to activate.
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You probably need to make sure that the card closes with a non-zero balance on your statement so that it reports to the bureaus. Just pay it off in full before the due date, of course.
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no need to activate no need to give it to them.
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I would advise you to remove them from your credit card. Bad idea. Let them get their own card. Worst case, they have to get a secured card. If they can't scrape together $500 for a secured credit card, you certainly don't want them on yours.
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I would advise you to remove them from your credit card. Bad idea. Let them get their own card. Worst case, they have to get a secured card. If they can't scrape together $500 for a secured credit card, you certainly don't want them on yours.
you're going to need to elaborate on why its a bad idea b/c adding someone to your credit doesnt mean they get to use the card unless you give it to them. Its a very reasonable way to help a friend out without cosigning and really putting your credit on the table.
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I would advise you to remove them from your credit card. Bad idea. Let them get their own card. Worst case, they have to get a secured card. If they can't scrape together $500 for a secured credit card, you certainly don't want them on yours.
You should post this on the tradeline thread and see what they think about this advice.
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My parents did this with me and it was great. I was well into the 700s before ever opening my first line of credit.... Which was a mortgage.
It probably saved us thousands.
I had access to the card when I was about 17 but fully understood that anything I put on their was (1) a real emergency or (2) something I had to pay off (to my parents) within a week.
Really taught me the value of the cards without getting a 20k debt price tag that so many seem to accumulate. (Plus my mom card-churned and we went on vacations growing up, that was nice).
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I would advise you to remove them from your credit card. Bad idea. Let them get their own card. Worst case, they have to get a secured card. If they can't scrape together $500 for a secured credit card, you certainly don't want them on yours.
you're going to need to elaborate on why its a bad idea b/c adding someone to your credit doesnt mean they get to use the card unless you give it to them. Its a very reasonable way to help a friend out without cosigning and really putting your credit on the table.
I do not think it is a good idea to "comingle credit" with anyone. Yes, theoretically you will not be harmed if you do not give them the card to use, but guess what? In many cases you might be asked to let them use the card, then they mess up, then guess what, there goes your credit and the friendship. Just not worth it, in my opinion.
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I would advise you to remove them from your credit card. Bad idea. Let them get their own card. Worst case, they have to get a secured card. If they can't scrape together $500 for a secured credit card, you certainly don't want them on yours.
you're going to need to elaborate on why its a bad idea b/c adding someone to your credit doesnt mean they get to use the card unless you give it to them. Its a very reasonable way to help a friend out without cosigning and really putting your credit on the table.
I do not think it is a good idea to "comingle credit" with anyone. Yes, theoretically you will not be harmed if you do not give them the card to use, but guess what? In many cases you might be asked to let them use the card, then they mess up, then guess what, there goes your credit and the friendship. Just not worth it, in my opinion.
Easy, just say no. You're already doing them a favour by letting them build up the credit, but the agreement doesn't/shouldn't include letting them use it.
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I would advise you to remove them from your credit card. Bad idea. Let them get their own card. Worst case, they have to get a secured card. If they can't scrape together $500 for a secured credit card, you certainly don't want them on yours.
you're going to need to elaborate on why its a bad idea b/c adding someone to your credit doesnt mean they get to use the card unless you give it to them. Its a very reasonable way to help a friend out without cosigning and really putting your credit on the table.
I do not think it is a good idea to "comingle credit" with anyone. Yes, theoretically you will not be harmed if you do not give them the card to use, but guess what? In many cases you might be asked to let them use the card, then they mess up, then guess what, there goes your credit and the friendship. Just not worth it, in my opinion.
its not really comingling credit - and the simple case of them asking to use the card the answer is no i shreaded it already and move on with your day. This is probably the largest impact one can make to a friends credit without any negative side effects.
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I would advise you to remove them from your credit card. Bad idea. Let them get their own card. Worst case, they have to get a secured card. If they can't scrape together $500 for a secured credit card, you certainly don't want them on yours.
you're going to need to elaborate on why its a bad idea b/c adding someone to your credit doesnt mean they get to use the card unless you give it to them. Its a very reasonable way to help a friend out without cosigning and really putting your credit on the table.
I do not think it is a good idea to "comingle credit" with anyone. Yes, theoretically you will not be harmed if you do not give them the card to use, but guess what? In many cases you might be asked to let them use the card, then they mess up, then guess what, there goes your credit and the friendship. Just not worth it, in my opinion.
Being asked to use the card is a different question entirely than adding them as an authorized user. "No way in hell" would be my response to that.
Shred the card immediately, problem solved. It doesn't exist for them to use it.
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The more I think about this, the more I think I would exercise extreme caution.
Especially if the person knows personal information (like a family member who might just happen to know your social security number, for example.)
Once you have someone listed as an authorized user, I don't think it would be that hard for them to call up and have the company mail them a fresh card without your knowledge . . . particularly if they know enough of your personal details to get past security questions. Would this be fraud? Well, you authorized them to use the card, so from the CC companies perspective it is not fraud for them to obtain and use the card. That means you would be on the hook for any charges. Technically they are probably only supposed to let the primarily account holder change addresses, etc., but my experience is that, in practice, they will do quite a bit for an authorized user over the phone.
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IIRC from other threads, Murse would be adding her mother as an AU. While her mother hasn't always made the best decisions about money, she isn't someone Murse would be concerned about doing something fraudulent. That said, being aware of what her security questions are is a good point from Zamboni.
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You might be able to set it up so that only you have access to account info, or just put in fake (but known to you) responses to the security questions.
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You might be able to set it up so that only you have access to account info, or just put in fake (but known to you) responses to the security questions.
^This is a very good idea anyway.
I'll probably start doing this.