My bro added me as an authorized user on his amex gold card so i can build up credit. I was wondering what is the best strategy to take with this card seeing that it is not a revolving account but rather an open account. I have confirmed that the card can be used as a vehicle to build credit, . I have also been dutiful in paying off recent derogatory accounts, on top of that i have disputed inacurate info(pending decission) but i have one account that i reached a settlement agreement with the collections agent but reneged on it. Now my second question is 2 fold. 1. Since i have paid off charged off accts is that good or bad because accordinf to a report of positive thing on my credit, those charged off account appeared. And 2. Does settling help and does reneging on a settlement give the collection agency the right to rereport the debt on my credit. And just out of curiosity has anyone out here raised their credit score 200+ in a span of three months?
Any and all help is welcome
This is referred to as "piggybacking" and it was a common practice for many years. But just recently, Fair Issac Corp (the company that issues credit scores) announced they will no longer take into account activity as an ‘authorized user’. Here’s an article that covers the details:
http://www.asapcreditcard.com/blog/creditnews/no-authorized-user-piggybacking
The changes are scheduled to take place in September. So you don’t have much time to take advantage of this loophole.
Hope this helps. GOOD LUCK!
They closed that loophole, and it no longer works.
You can’t build up credit by being an authorized user on a card. Only as a joint account holder b/c you are not responsible for the payments, your brother is.