So my wife and I have gotten approved for many cards over the last three months and every time I apply for a card I always add my wife as an AU and she always adds me as an AU when she applies. It started out cuz at first I had a short credit history and couldn't get approved for many cards so she was adding me as an AU to help build my credit. Now I am able to get approved for most of the cards she gets approved for (just with smaller CL's).

I just had a though after my last application. Is there any drawback to adding an AU card? Because I realized that now that I am getting a lot of the cards she has I don't really need to add her as an AU on mine since she has the same card in her own name. I was just on auto pilot filling out the applications and I got in a routine always adding an AU.

Depends on the condition of the tradeline and how it reports its open date. If the tradeline has high utilization, negative history, etc then it can hurt. If the tradeline reports as opened when the person was added as an AU then it will drop AAoA. If you're automatically adding each other as AU's on new cards then you're definitely dropping each other's AAoA's. That said, AAoA is a relatively minor factor.
http://www.myfico.com/crediteducatio...yourscore.aspx

If you're looking to build credit you can't rely on being an AU and need to build your own tradelines.

Oh that makes sense about the AAoA. I know about AAoA but I failed to consider it when adding authorized users. At first my wife added me as an AU to build credit but now I can rely on my own tradelines as I have several cards in my own name. Recently I've just been adding AU so we can both put spend on the cards but I guess it would behoove me to be a bit more selective of which cards are actually worth adding an AU.

Any other factors that could be negatively affected by adding too many AU's? One thought I had was all the AU's accounts showing up as new accounts on the credit report and would that lead to an issuer being more likely to decline an app because of too many recently opened accounts even though they are AU accounts?

They aren't new accounts.

When I look at my credit report it does show the account on the report but it specifies AU. So does the fact that it specifies AU mean it's technically not a new account?

Yes, they show up on an AU's credit report. What is the opened date listed for that account on that CR?

If it's the date that you were added as an AU then I'm wrong - it counts the same as a real opening of an actual account. If it's the date that the account itself was opened (which could be years - heck, decades - before you were added as an AU) then you're fine.

This is very old data, but at one point I had a credit history to four years before I was born. My parents had made me a authorized user on one of their cards, but that was the mid 1980s so things could have changed.

Yeah, I would think the extra new accounts on the credit report, even as an AU, isn't helping your score or chances of approval. And it will certainly impact aaoa. I think the weight of aaoa is relative to your history and the bank you are applying at rather than saying it's universally minor. Getting added as an AU on a couple family accounts gave 10 pts on my fico at only 2 and 12 years as an example, after opening a couple new accounts. My wife and I aren't gonna AU until at least a year after opening for the same reason.

My partner and I usually just add the other as an authorized user. Maybe it's hurting the average age of accounts, but with both of us opening so many so often that number is going to stay pretty low, anyway.

also on manual review through recon line I have had them question why so many accounts even though they are au accounts.

I added my boyfriend as AU to my CSP. On his credit report, it shows the CSP and the CL is same as mine. Is that normal?
Does it mean that if I add someone as AU, his total CL will also go up the same amount as mine?

Yes, It really hurts the average age of the credit cards if you only have a little credit history.

for amex sync, dont authorized users enable you to double your amex sync bonuses since they would be on two cards instead of one or am i mistaken?

does adding an AU while opening a new CC count as an inquiry on AU's credit report?

It does not