Does being an authorized user on someones else account affect my aunts credit?

Ok recent circumstances are forcing us to buy a house and all the realtors we contact tell us we need to be "pre-qualified " due to COVID-19 to be able to seriously start looking at them (like physical showings and such)

One hitch to said "prequalification "is my aunt who does the physical shopping for her daughter who has physical and mental problems …has cards with her name as an “authorized user” whos not responsible for payment on the card

all of the Home financing weasels we’ve met so far say she should take her name off of them

Do we actually have to go through all of this?

I am an authorized user on two of my mother’s cards, and the weeks where she makes a large purchase on credit on one of them, my credit scores dips as I have less available credit and a higher percentage used.

wow ok looks like i will be calling some people tomorrow … and lots of online shopping for the holidays

Are you saying that your aunt is an authorized user on your cards? And, if so, are you asking about her credit or yours? I’m not clear on if you’re trying to clean up your credit report or you heard this and are asking about her credit cards/credit reports and it has nothing to do with you?
In any case, being an authorized user on will affect your score, yes. My parents needed a loan but had to do some serious work on their credit first. I made each of them an authorized user on two of my cards that have very high limits and have a balance that’s nearly always zero. In both cases it gave them each a healthy bump in their score. And, before anyone says it, I never even gave them the cards. I just destroyed/threw them out when I got them. Of course, if I maxed those cards out and/or stopped making timely payments on them, their credit would fall as well.

Yes. You and/or your wife got the credit card based on your credit history. This isn’t like a co-signer situation where you’re just backup guarantor for the loan. ALL the responsibility is yours and/or your wife’s.

The advisers advice is good and reasonable. Your Aunt could run up a debt to her limit (I hope you at least have a dollar limit on her use), that neither she or you could pay.

If your Aunt really needs a credit card and can’t get her own unsecured card, point her getting a secured credit card where the amount of money she puts into the account is the amount available, which will help her build up her credit.

If she can’t do that, she can get a prepaid credit card that you can help refill is necessary.

I think nightshadea is saying that his aunt is buying the house? And his aunt is an authorized user on her daughter’s card, if I’m understanding him correctly. He’s wondering if that will affect her credit and her ability to buy a house. Or I could be wrong, maybe they’re buying it together.

Thats what i was trying to ask … all my aunt does with it is occasionally goes shopping with it when her daughter needs something and has to make the occasional call for he daughter over when an an issue arises

also to clarify my cousin had the card for a few years before she put her mom on her card because… she became housebound

Still a bit confused, but I think I get the situation.

Bottom line is when buying a house, every bit of credit boost is good. Higher credit score = better loan rates. Every bit helps.

The same thing I mentioned above applies as I think I understand it to be that your Aunt is the authorized user on the card. Which means she has no responsibility whatsoever to pay her daughter’s card charges. From the lender’s perspective, this is a risk.