Are Authorized Users/Additional Cardholders Responsible for Debt?

[ferdilverdil]

My father added my mother to some of his individual accounts as an additional cardholder/authorized user. After his death, is she legally responsible for any remaining balances?

I know she didn't sign any credit card applications, I do not know if he gave her SSN on the applications. These accounts have appeared on her credit reports.

I have since added my mother to one of my credit cards as an additional cardholder/authorized user without her even knowing I was doing so. I only gave her name to the credit card company, no signature and no SSN.

It would seem that if a person could be held financially responsible for another person's debt, they would need to sign some sort of agreement, right?

[Gonetodocs]

After his death, is she legally responsible for any remaining balances?

It would seem that if a person could be held financially responsible for another person's debt, they would need to sign some sort of agreement, right?

I am really interested in the replies on this topic and hope it grows so I can learn more about it. I don't know if she is legally responsible for the debt however I do know that regardless the CA will do their damnest to collect.

As a mortgage banker/broker we have used this process as a technique in raising credit scores or creating a deeper credit history. i.e. add an authorized user (person with minimal history or bad pay history) to selected accounts of a trusted friend or family members good pay history with more than 24 months depth. All of a sudden (usually within 30-45 days) these creditors report the additional SSN# to the Big three with all of the pay history and it shows up on the new authorized users credit report.

My experience has been that if OC does not ask for the SSN# (when adding the authrorized user) the pay history will not report to the Big 3 and vice-a-versa. I can't see how they could since they do not have the information they need to report but I guess stranger things have happened.

We haven't ran into any of these issues with a death of the original borrower:cry: however I can only imagine that with the debt validation process accurately executed it could be extremely difficult for the OC to prove that your mother owed this money.

Anyway,

I am sorry to hear about the passing of your father and hope someone else can provide even better info to help deal with this issue.

As well, I look forward to hearing everyone else's opinions on this issue.

[christian7759]

It is from my experience that Authorized Users are only responsible for the charges that THEY incur to the actual credit card. So basically whatever you buy your responsible for. If husband adds wife as an AU, then wife would be responsible for her charges, but wouldn't be responsible for husband's.

However this typically varies from creditor to creditor so it would be a good idea to check what the creditor's policy is on AU's... Some creditors put all the responsibility on the primary cardholder, while other creditors like AMEX and BofA issue different account numbers to AU's.

But what it all boils down is that if a debt goes bad and the AU skips town, then more than likely the Primary Cardholder would be held responsible...

I hope this helps...

Chris