Floating Credit?
 

so i have a coworker here that wants me to put him on my credit for like 6 months, to see if his credit goes up. and he will front me about $300/mo.. I read up on this on their websites, but i dont know how it really works, and if it would be a good idea for me..
i mean i could put him on a credit card that i have had for a while, but i wont ever let him know which one so he wont get the idea of getting the card so he could spend it.

what are the pros and cons about this???

Tell him to get his own damn credit card.

There are plenty of secured cards out there, plus most banks will offer their customers a card regardless of credit score.

Tell your friend to read this: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=67686

Two words: Hell Fuckin' No! (It's three but who's counting)

He doesn't pony up, who pays? You! You have to either dig into your pocket to pay his charges or your credit report suffers.

He can get a secured Visa from his bank that'll keep him on a short leash until he has sufficiently established his credit and he can work his way up from there.

With the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, banks are taking a closer look at credit once more. Don't let him be the reason you can't qualify for a mortgage years down the road.

Absolutely not. His options are simple: get a checking account and savings account and always keep a decent amount of money in each (to show your stability), get a cell phone and make all his payments on time, always pay for car insurance and other insurance perfectly on time, get a shitty little $250 limit credit card (anyone can get one of these) and use it lightly but regularly. Don't charge more than you can pay off, always pay on time or a bit early, don't charge more than 30% off your credit card unless it's an absolute emergency and you pay it off during the next billing cycle in full.

Building credit is actually extremely easy. Just be sure that you always are aware that when you're spending money, you have the currency to back it up. Be aware that when you slide your c/c, you're spending money.

or even why you get a shitty interest rate. the difference between .25% - 1% doesn't seem like alot until you are paying a mortgage but it can mean the difference between getting the house you want at a price you can afford or being a renter.

this is a way of looking at it that someone pointed out to me on another forum:

The safest way of doing it is adding your friend without giving him any information about the card itself (you keep the physical card). Obtain a security deposit from him which is nothing since your putting your excellent credit on the line.

Well what this does is, lets say you are a consumer with excellent paying history meaning always on time payments, since his name is on your account, this will mirror on his credit history. Any Recent history will over shadow and push bad credit or no credit to the next page. It does not erase bad credit but it pushes it back further.
So when a credit history is pulled on an individual most often its just the first or two pages that is paid for by the inquirer.

There is no advantage to you unless he fronts at least 50% non refundable security deposit. Usually the limit of the card.
It also works both ways, if you fuck up on your payments it will also reflect on him LOL.

Nothing illegal about this. You will see offers from your credit cards to add someone for no charge all the time.

Just remember, you keep the physical card and account # or even better yet shred it once you get it. He doesn’t need it. Control all access to your credit card online.

Nothing wrong in helping a friend but treat your credit cards like a business. Demand some money upfront and negotiations can begin. You can legally bind him to a promissory to pay note in any event he goes around your back and uses it. And that is where the security deposit comes into play. You cancel his name out from your cards and use the money to pay what he/she has charged.
But if you practice due diligence then you minimize your risk.

One of many tecniques in getting good credit fast.

/end

There is no way of getting good credit fast.

Your payment history will not be mirrored on his credit score. Should you decide to add him to your account, the reporting agencies will start tracking payment histories for him from the first month he was added to the account. Past payments from you will not appear on his report, only future payments.

Nothing is ever 'pushed back'. The only things that can take a bad credit history off are time and a successful dispute of a delinquent account (debt collectors, creditors, etc. have 30 days from when you make a disputed claim to prove the account is yours and that it is in delinquency. Others have said it worked for them. I've tried it and it never worked for me). Bad accounts are never overshadowed. Should he apply for a loan/mortgage/credit card, everything is taken into account. His FICO score, the number of accounts he has, the credit limit of his cards and how much of it he needs to pay off, how many times he's applied for credit. None of it is overlooked. When I applied for my mortgage, the loan officer was grilling me about over a forgotten cell phone bill that I failed to pay off four years ago. None of it is overlooked.

If he has enough money to leave you a deposit, then he has enough money to open up a secure line of credit to establish his credit history.

On a side note, not that I'm paranoid or anything, but it's not that difficult for him to find out what account you placed him on. All he has to do is pull his own credit report and it'll be right there. Then he can call up the bank and request a replacement card and now he can go willy-nilly with your plastic. Not that he would, just that he could.

There is no way of getting good credit fast.

Just an opinion, no hard facts, but I say absolutely not! There is way too much on the line for you and virtually nothing to lose for him. Bad, bad idea. Run away from it.

I can't see this benefitting you in any possible way

ok. i was leaning towards not letting him, since i JUST didn't feel right about it, but now you all helped on remembering that this doesn't benefit me in ANY way.

I could help out my sister even. lol. shes has ok credit but from what i was told. i have outstanding credit.

but thanks.. i "broke" the news to him and he sounded sad, and i told him that i did put in on a few forums and he was running off at the mouth, about how i got outside influences, and how he has known me to always think for myself. i told him i made up my mind when he asked me i just held off becuase i thought it was a good discussion, since it was new to me.
and then said, "ok dood, let it go, you made your bed now lay in it."

lol.

well tell him the FTC closed that little loophole anyway so your credit score won't bump his up. You could have done this with no danger to yourself (guys the man was asking to be added as a user of the credit card, but was NOT asking for the card itself), but it wouldn't have helped because the FTC has put a stop to it.

Not to sound like a complete ass, but let him climb out of his own hole. It's how you learn lessons. I screwed up my credit badly, ended up filing bankruptcy (still on my report for another 2 years). I learned my lesson, started fixing my own credit and even with the bankruptcy on there I have >680... not perfect by any means, but great for having that giant black mark. Bad credit happens, it sucks, but you can move on. Being a rider on someone else's credit (i.e.- not being the primary credit holder) won';t help as much as getting a secured card of his own and using it. If he can give you $250-500 he can get a secured Visa.

Sorry Buddy, but I gotta correct a few things here :D

This has no impact on your credit score - at all.
This also has zero impact on your credit score, unless you are so delinquent that a judgement is filed against you and the account is sent to collections - in which case it is a negative impact
Again, no impact whatsoever on your credit score or history
Good advice! :D
This is complete and utter BS. In fact, it isn't even possible to purchase less than the full credit history - there is no way to specify the number of pages you get. Additionally, regardless of the number of pages you have, your score takes into account all tradelines present on the report, even if you have a lender who, for reasons I can't even fathom, decides to only look at the first two pages. As a side note, depending, I guess, on the size of paper it's printed on, you're looking at probably 20+ tradelines per page, so having a few extra accounts on there probably wouldn't even knock it back a page anyway...

Yeah, definitely tell him to STFU and stop being a whiny bitch, and to get his own damn Secured Visa.

Also, like QuasiMondo said, all he has to do is request a copy of his credit report and he can find out which bank's account you added him to. Then he can call up that bank and request a card... and then YOU'RE in a world of shit.

I'm quite glad you didn't "help" him out.

His bad credit can bleed through onto your good credit a little in just those 3 months. Trust me on this, I have worked in the banking business for nearly 7 years. While this does not make me an expert, it does give me experience in the field. Best of luck to you.

thanks all! i did kick him to the curp with his idea. i ended up standing on the point of " it doesnt benifit me in any way, and he's using me."

he is "upset" about it. i told him to stop being a sissy. lol

Good choice, remember, peole will not give him credit for a reason. Their reason should be good enough for you. :)

They are changing the whole credit score thing, so any good you would have done anyways will not happen.

Article

There was another great article (I will post it if I can find it), but they plan on re-adjusting all credit scores when this goes in to effect.

here's an example of what the difference 1.5% interest makes

The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is typically at least 1.5 percentage points lower for someone with a credit score of 760 to 850 than for someone with a score of 620 to 639. On a $216,000 loan, a borrower with a top-tier score would pay $232 less per month -- a saving of $2,784 per year -- than a borrower near the bottom, according to MyFICO.com.

NOT A THREAD-JACK:

Those less able to pay are always forced to pay more.
It's mysterious but true.

Advise your friend to avoid credit altogether.

Friend? I think not. You can only lose with this situation. There are so many ways for this "friend" to improve their credit without bringing you into the picture. One of those is time.

What if you co-sign a loan for a car with this person and then they leave you in the lurch? You will be responsible for the entire thing and then have to take him to court to get the car - while your credit goes in the shitter.

On the other hand if you can afford the lose and want to help out a co-worker then go for it - but only if you can afford to not see the money because these things never end well.

(36 years of experience talking and many friends as well as my self have been to kind to people we thought were friends).

mmm I'll show the "Quote the wisdom of the exceptionally financially sound dead grandfather card" here

"NEITHER A BORROWER NOR A LENDER BE"

This includes lending your "credit"

I'm going to have to disagree with you - to quote myself from another thread, credit - good credit - is becoming necessary...