Today we address a question we received from one of our readers.

“Hi, back when I was in college, I was listed as an authorized user on my dad’s credit card account. I almost never used the card, since it was only for absolute emergencies. With all the hub hub about credit history recently, I signed up to see my annual free credit history and noticed that my dad’s credit card account shows up on my credit history file. Is the credit card company going to hold me liable for any debt accrued on that card? Will the status of the credit account affect (either positively or negatively) my credit history status and credit score? I have been out of college for a few years now. Should I request to have the credit history agencies remove this account from my history? Thanks for your answers. Sincerely, Annie.”

Annie, thank you very much for your questions. First of all, we’d like to point out that listing a child or dependent on a parent’s credit card account as an authorized user is a common practice. However, even as a common practice, most people don’t know what effects it can have on debt responsibility and credit score and history.

As an authorized user on the credit card account, Annie will not be liable for any debt accrued on the credit card account. This is in contrast to a joint account holder, where both the joint account holders’ credit history will be considered for the application, and both account holders will be responsible for the debt accrued on the credit card account. When applying for a credit card account, the credit history and status of any authorized users listed are not weighed. This can be an advantage of using the authorized user status, where a younger person may not have the credit history to qualify for a credit card.

Although the authorized user’s credit history will not be used in evaluating a credit card application, the credit card account itself will be listed in the credit history. This has the double possible effect of being an advantage in help building a positive credit history when the account is kept in good order and paid off each month; if the account accrues debt and is not well maintained, however, it can ruin the credit history file for the authorized user even if he or she is not liable for any of that debt at all. This feature of the authorized user is a double-edged sword in this manner.

Now that you are out of college and on your own, Annie, we do suggest that you should no longer need to be listed as an authorized user on your dad’s account. Have your dad contact his credit card company to remove you as an authorized user. As always, make sure to follow up to see that the credit card company did what you asked. You should also verify that this change in status is correctly reflected on your credit history history.

If you need to see what is your credit score and what is in your credit history, visit our list of free credit history and credit monitoring services.