Additional Card Holders

selector_2

Hi,

Do additional card holders of credit cards register on their own credit records?

Scenario
My fiance has moved back to the UK from the US and therefore wondered if it would be easier to just add her as an additional card holder to my Virgin card. The problem is that she hasn't lived in the UK for over 3 years so know it may be hard to obtain one. A benefit of having her as an additional card holder means we can both earn airline miles under one yearly fee.

My concern about adding her as an additional card holder is whether it would improve her credit rating at all?

Cheers.

Clariman

I am fairly sure the situation is as follows ....

With a credit card, only one person is liable for the debt and that is the card holder i.e. you. If your fiancee has an additional card on the same credit card account, then you are liable for all card purchases - whether she makes them or you. Therefore, her credit record is irrelevant to the card issuer, so I don't believe the card will show on her records. It is your debt not hers.

One other point to note, is that it is possible that your credit files may be linked. This could happen if you have a joint bank account or a joint mortgage i.e. where you are both liable for the mortgage or an overdraft. In that case, I think they may be allowed to see both your and her information on a credit search.

Clariman

Fatboy_NSS

You certainly can add your partner as an additional cardholder. However this wouldn't make her liable for the debt on the account, and therefore woudn't make her show up on the credit checks. This is because, on a credit card only the 1st holder is liable for the debt, unlike on a normal bank account where all holders are jointly liable. You could probably add her on as a 2nd holder to your current account, but she would find it hard to get an account on hr own until she had 3 years of checkable (ie UK) address history.

selector_2

Thanks.

She does already have a bank account from when she was last in the UK. Her employer had a special arrangement with NatWest which allowed her to open a bank account straight away but has been open for less than 3 years. As I am with the Halifax I wanted her to have the same bank with me so we can transfer money instantly so we ended up setting up a joint account as the Halifax were not sure she woud pass credit checks on her own. This account does come with a credit card but by the sounds of it this is linked to myself rather than my fiance.

Frustratingly she did have a credit card with the NatWest when she was last over for around 12 months but cancelled it when she went back to the US. I am conscious she needs to build up her credit rating again. Would it make sense for her to reapply to NatWest for a credit card again given they gave her one before? Is it worth getting credit reports from Experian first?