My friend as an authorized user on my card

[jables87]

I have a Capital One credit card that has been charged off. My friend who is listed as an authorized user of this card checked her credit report today and saw that this negative information is appearing on her equifax credit report. I contacted the cc company about this and they said they will have her removed as an authorized user which will in turn remove this information from her credit report. However, my friend called equifax and they told her that 'the damage was already done' and that even if the information was changed/removed, it would not help to improve her credit score. This doesn't seem right. Is there anything else that can be done to help her out of this situation?

[Admin]

The good news is "Authorized" users have no legal responsibility and if you request the creditor to remove your friend from your account as an authorized user, the creditor is obligated to completely remove her from your account and completely delete the account from her credit report. The person you spoke to at Equifax is an idiot and does not know what they are talking about. If for some reason Capital One fails to delete the item (which may be the case) all of the laws are in your favor and removing it should just be a matter of some simple follow up with them. We have seen many situations where the creditor fails to remove the authorized user from the account and it continues to report to the credit bureaus. If this is the case, have your friend contact us; we specialize in removing questionable negative information with Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.

[jables87]

Thank you for the reply. If I could ask a follow up question then for my friend who is convinced that her credit score is unrepairable because of this, if the information is removed entirely from her equifax credit report, does the credit score automatically correct itself to the appropriate rating?

[Credit Expert]

Credit scores fluctuate every day. When an item is removed the score will change. If the authorized user account is removed FICO will not calculate it into future credit scores, so tell your friend she has nothing to worry about. If she happens to be a "JOINT" account holder, then it's an entirely different situation and she would be responsible and they can continue to report it for another 7 years.

Since she is an "authorized user" she has no legal responsibility for the account and according to the FCRA and FCBA they legally cannot continue to report the authorized user account.

Here is an article about piggybacking that may shed some light for you: [link]http://www.expert-credit-advice.com/building_credit.htm[/link]

Capital One however is notorious about re-reporting authorized users even though they should not. If they don't resolve the problem, either call me to help with the problem or file a complaint with the FTC or state attorney general.

Visit my website: [link]www.CreditAgenda.com [/link]for more info.



Hope that answers your questions, if not; chime in and let me know!