All Forum Posts by: Charlie Prior

 Har dee har har!  Good one, Chris!

Hello, everyone! I'm new to this Forum (in fact this is my first post). I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

In case you haven't heard of Clark Howard, he has a call-in radio show all about personal finance, including credit, how to save money, how to make money, and how to not get ripped off. He has a website where you can email him, find the stations he's on, and listen to podcasts of his shows.

I recently called in with a question, and about a week later I was talking to a client in another state and he said, "I heard you on the radio. I heard your question and thought "I know that voice'". He listen's to Clark's podcasts.

I imagine many of you have already heard of Clark Howard, but for those of you who haven't, I recommend checking him out. You might get hooked like I am. 

Mark, if they have the cash to give me such a deposit, they undoubtedly don't need this kind of help.  There is absolutely no way for them to get any information that would enable them to use my account or learn my identity.

 Yes, Kyle, an AU will be able to see the name of the credit card company, but they will not see any other info, i.e. my name, the account number, or have any of the security information the credit card company requires in order to even talk to someone trying to discuss my account.  Even if they got past that hurdle (which they CAN'T)  any correspondence, especially a replacement card, would be mailed to my address, not theirs.  You mention risk, but there really is none.  The only possible negative is if you get carried away and add too many AU's on a given card or take them off and put new ones on too quickly, the issuer could warn you or even close the card account.  Your credit history would still count in calculating your score.  Obviously you would then need to use alternative cards for your personal purchases.  The key is to not get greedy and overdo it.  The way I look at it is even if one of my cards would be closed by the issuer (which I firmly believe will NOT happen), there is no damage done to my credit, and  whatever money I've made up until then is money I wouldn't have had.   

I hesitate to go into any more detail here.  If you want to discuss privately, please add me as a colleague

 Scott, do I have your permission to discuss this with you privately?  You can add me as a colleague or email me

I add someone as an AU on my card.  They pay me a fee for doing so, because they need a higher credit score because they're applying for a loan, a lease, a job, etc.  On the next statement date on my card, when the card issuer reports to my CRA's, it is also reported to the CRA's of the AU.  This decreases the AU's credit utilization and shows an aged card.  

Because I contacted my card issuer and added the AU, and because a new card with the AU's name on it is mailed directly to me (my card issuer doesn't ever get the AU's address), I just cut it up.  The card issuer can never charge anything on my card account.  When the credit issuer reports my card credit limit, card balance and date the card was opened to the AU's CRA, the AU's credit report never shows the account number, or even my name or any other personal or credit information.  So there's absolutely no way the AU can get any of that information.

I hope this explains how this works for me.  Best regards to all of you.

I understand your concerns.  Here's how this works for me.  First of all, my attorney assures me that this is a legal loophole. I have 3 authorized users on each of my 3 cards at any one time. There's no risk because I never divulge my personal information or any credit information to anyone whatsoever. The AU never gets a card or any other information about my account, so there is no way they can put anything on my card or access my account.  Again, he doesn't know my DOB, SSN, mailing address, or anything about any of my credit, including the accounts he's a AU on.  It doesn't cost me anything to do it, and I'm making passive income of $750 monthly. That's why I wish I had more cards so that I could increase my income exponentially.

One of the benefits of having a low credit utilization is the ability to make a little side income by adding authorized users to your cards, regardless of your credit score.

 Hello!  Like your parents, I used to have high credit utilization on my credit cards.  I actually paid the balances in full every month, but by the time the next statement came around, my charges since my last statement made the balance reported to the credit bureaus too high again.  I came up with a little trick to fix the problem, and I've been selling the information as an e-book for a small fee.  Because I joined this forum with the agreement to not self-promote, I'm giving it to forum members for free.  I've set up a website from which to download it.  I won't name it here so as to not violate the rules, but if you private message me, I'll be happy to share it with you.

One of the benefits of having a low credit utilization is the ability to make a little side income by adding authorized users to your cards, regardless of your credit score.  

Good luck with your credit score!