“Dear Steve,
I’m an authorized user on my wife’s cards and they have high balances. If I take myself off as an authorized user, which I have, will these accounts fall off my credit scores? I’m considering putting her accounts in a debt settlement and not mine. Therefore taking the hit on one credit score in the family, not both.
Chris”
Dear Chris,
You should be able to be removed as an authorized user without any problem. Since you are just an authorized user and not liable for the debt they won’t give you much hassle to do that.
However, to be sure you are completely off you’ll need to ask to be removed this month and then wait 30-45 days and pull a copy of your consolidated credit report to make sure you are no longer being reported on the cards.
Before you jump for debt settlement, just keep in mind that while debt settlement sounds wonderful, you are most likely to get screwed and ripped off. What is the situation? Maybe I can help you find a better solution for it.
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Steve,
My issue is we’re living paycheck by paycheck. The minimum balances on our cards is $1800.00. I’m able to pay them and our other bills, but I can’t do much more than the minimum payments. I’m concerned because we have no savings and I want to make sure I can save for retirement.
The reason I was looking to clean up my credit by taking my wife’s cards off was so A. I could get more credit on mine therefore do low interest rate transfers or B. get some type of loan. I was looking at doing debt settlement for my wife since the majority of the cards are in her name. We have a house and cars so we really don’t need both of us to have great credit, but I’d like one of us to at least have a good credit score. Any advice you can give is appreciated. Thanks
Well if the issue is that you are living month to month then we need to work to reduce the debt. A debt settlement plan really isn’t going to be a big help. They sound magical but once you factor in what it will do to your credit, the collection calls, the lawsuits and the cost of a debt settlement program all you are doing is delaying a fresh start for years and heaping on a lot of stress and aggravation.
If you are only an authorized user on her cards then it makes sense to take you off and for her to contact a local bankruptcy attorney to discuss discharging the debt with bankruptcy. Bankruptcy will let you pay back nothing or a bit, protects you for lawsuits, prevents collections and the credit can be easily rebuilt afterwards.
This way your cash flow is improved, you can save once the debt is legally discharged, and you can begin working to improve your credit right away.
Steve