Money doesn't actually talk. We do.

Why Chase Won’t Talk to Me About a Card with My Name on It

There have been a handful of occasions when I needed to call customer service about my husband’s credit-card account. I’m an authorized user on that account and have a card with my name on it.

But representatives always ask me to hand the phone to my husband, so that he can give them permission to speak with me. Instead of trying to deepen my voice by a couple of octaves — which I’m always tempted to do — I simply put him on the line.

It’s a minor inconvenience, but it made me think: is there a way we can get around this? If he’s traveling, or simply down the block at the gym, I should be able to call up customer service if I have a question about a random fee — and vice versa.

Turns out the only way for each spouse to have full access is to open what’s known as a “joint account.” When we got married, we both added the other person’s name to a couple of our existing credit cards - as authorized users - in order to maximize cash-back rewards and whatnot. I didn’t pay much attention to what that all meant, but there are a few major distinctions between joint account holders and authorized users - one of which will change soon when Fair Isaac, the FICO credit-scoring factory, tweaks its scoring system.

Here’s the deal: Authorized users can charge to their heart’s content, yet they’re not responsible for paying the bill, nor can they make inquiries or changes to the account without permission from the primary cardholder. And, for now, credit-card accounts on which you’re an authorized user show up on your credit report and are counted in full by the FICO credit-scoring system.

That’s going to change when Fair Isaac implements its new formula: the shared card will show up on authorized users’ credit report, but it won’t be baked into their credit score. As it turns out, certain companies were selling these authorized userships, so to speak, which helped people repair their credit scores quickly without really earning the better mark. FICO is changing its system in order to try to eliminate such abuses.

Meanwhile, a joint account is much like a partnership. Each party is fully responsible for payment and each has access to the account, which shows up on both parties’ credit reports.

–Tara Siegel Bernard

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