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I am an authorized user on my mother's account. Will it affect me if she misses payments? Will it hurt my credit?
- SHN
Dear SHN,
Not all creditors report authorized user accounts to Experian, so the first thing you should do is check your credit report to see if it is listed. You can request an annual credit report once every 12 months from each of the national credit reporting companies. You can also check your free credit report directly from Experian.
If the account is reported and there are delinquencies appearing on the account, it is likely that the delinquencies are affecting your scores. However, because you are not responsible for the debt, Experian will remove authorized user accounts that become delinquent.
The account may be removed automatically, but if you find it is still being reported, follow the dispute instructions provided with your report to contact Experian and request that it be deleted.
Or, contact the lender and ask to be removed from the account. When your name is no longer associated with the account, it will no longer be reported in your history with any of the national credit reporting companies.
Thanks for asking.
The "Ask Experian" team