Supplementary cards and their effects on the supplementee's rating

Stephen_C.

I currently have my own credit card, but it's only a student card. Whilst my rating is slowly increasing as my credit limit is raised and the age of my account increases, would I benefit from getting a supplementary AmEx card from my parents?

I have done some searching and some people seem to think that it doesn't affect the person giving the card, however the person receiving gets the card added to their credit report and hence a potential improvement in rating.

Anyone have a definite answer?

Thanks!

Buzby

Not in the slightest. The responsibility (and debt) is only the concern of the Primary cardholder.

Stephen_C.

So the people in this thread are wrong, or it works differently outside of the UK.

Our son has a supplemental for our Amex plat since he was 16. It has given him the ability to establish credit and get his own card.

AFAIK historically, supplemental cards essentially add the credit history of the main account to the holder of the supplemental card. They do not and never have change the credit history of the primary holder in any way.

My partner is a supp on my Amex Plat, which shows up on her credit report as an Amex account opened the same year I opened my first Amex account (long before she was added as a supp).

izools

Stephen_C. wrote: »

So the people in this thread are wrong, or it works differently outside of the UK.

Yep, they're wrong and / or it works differently outside the UK.

Second cardholders get diddly squat about the account on their credit file as it isn't their account.

pqrdef

Since you don't necessarily know what the balance is, what the limit is, or what payments are being made, it would be a breach of privacy for this information to be given to you via your credit report.

DunPin

With American Express supplementary cards do actually help the secondary card holder get their own AMEX at a later date, at least this is how I've understood it when I talked to an AMEX representative.

However it doesn't help the secondary cardholders credit profile, just the internal AMEX profile.

Stephen_C.

DunPin wrote: »

With American Express supplementary cards do actually help the secondary card holder get their own AMEX at a later date, at least this is how I've understood it when I talked to an AMEX representative.

However it doesn't help the secondary cardholders credit profile, just the internal AMEX profile.

Interesting, that's what I was wondering myself. I do plan to get an AmEx card in the future, but it's not even worth trying with my current status.

InsideInsurance

AmEx historically held supplementary cardholders equally liable for the debt along with the primary cardholders but this has since been stopped. It could be that historically, along with this, they therefore reported to CRAs/ created a financial link etc but certainly in recent years they haven't even when the liability existed.