[Donjuansito]

My situation is similar to the other poster, but I am the trusting husband.

I trusted my wife and made her authorized user in 5 credit cards which I had stopped using a few years ago. She took this opportunity to charge over 70K on them and now my credit is ruined.

I am trying to clean it up, but it's unfair that I get stuck with this bill when I had no part of it. I have proof of all she charged up, except for the cash advances which I have no idea what she did with that.

Most say that I cannot do anything about this b/c "I" authorized her. There has to be some fairness in the system, no? She had all bills sent to HER online, so I was not aware she was doing this to me.

Yes, you will say I was 'stupid', but I was just trusting. Never thought she would do me this way, and more surprisingly, that she would refuse not to pay anything simply b/c she knows "I'm" the one 'screwed'.

I was advised to seek a divorce attorney and she would be held responsible for it (which I can't afford) and was also advised to take her to civil court on each of the balances... they range from $850 to $16K on EACH card.

Any advice will be appreciated. I may lose my home b/c I refuse to declare 'bankrupt'. That's not the type of person I am.

Thank you,
Don

[LawResearcherMissy]

Hi Don,

I'm afraid that since she is merely an authorized user, you're on the hook unless you choose to take harsher action. An authorized user has permission to use the credit card, but is not responsible for any of the debt.

I know you don't want to, but your best option is to seek the advice of an attorney immediately. If you intend to try to salvage your marriage as well as your credit, you might want to start with the Consumer Credit Counseling agency in your area before seeking an attorney.

Good luck.

[Donjuansito]

Thank you for the information and the reply.

Yes, I am getting an attorney because everywhere I go, I get the same thing.

Funny how she's "authorized" to purchase, but isn't "obligated" to pay what SHE took.

Thanks again,
Don

[aardvarc]

It doesn't seem fair, but that IS what ALL of the credit card company fine print says.

Just as a note, FICO will be changing how they calculate credit scores coming summer/early fall of this year. Accounts where a person is an authorized user will no longer figure into the FICO score. This will be a blow to the credit scores for people like students who are authorized users on their parents accounts and are currently able to benefit collaterally.

On the other hand in your particular situation, it likely means that while those balances will all go under YOU, she will be basically "rid" of them - so her credit score could go either up or down, depending on how much credit is in her name, how many other accounts she has and the balances on her particular accounts. If she doesn't have credit of her own, only piggybacks on yours, she'll suddenly end up with no credit (she will lose all prior history too which is a major factor in credit scores), which is usually worse than having bad credit. If her credit is limited, one strategy to "even things up" might be for her to open new accounts in her name ASAP, and take advantage of the common zero interest for balance transfers that often come along. Not only would those balances come off of you, but they will help her to begin to build a better rating for herself before the new score changes take effect and chop her ability to get credit in the future. Otherwise, you'll end up holding the bag of debt and she could end up credit-less.