Pro tip: check your authorized user status before it hurts your score

I was talking to my daughter last weekend about her plans to buy a house next year. She mentioned her credit score was stuck around 640 and she could not figure out why. Turns out she was still listed as an authorized user on a card her ex-boyfriend added her to back in 2019. That card had a $5,000 limit that was always maxed out and he was late on payments 3 times. She had no idea being an authorized user could even hurt her that much. I helped her call the card company to remove herself and within a month her score jumped 45 points. Has anyone else found unexpected damage from an old authorized user account like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesley8015d ago

Man I always thought being an authorized user was totally harmless, but this changed my mind completely.

webb.jordan5d ago

Yeah I heard syncing payment history can actually hurt your own score somehow.