Authorized User (AU) Account on a Credit Report

Definition

An authorized user can use someone else's credit card but is not legally responsible for paying it. Issuers may report the account on the authorized user's credit report too, coded to show that the person is an authorized user, not an owner.

Also called: AU, AU account, authorized user tradeline, authorized user account

What it means

An authorized user is someone the primary cardholder lets use a credit card account. The authorized user can make purchases, but, as Experian puts it, “Only the primary cardholder is required to pay the card’s balance.”

Many issuers report authorized-user accounts on the authorized user’s credit report as well as the owner’s. When they do, the account is supposed to be marked so that lenders can tell you are an authorized user and not the person who owes the debt. That designation is carried in the ECOA code.

Where it comes from

The CFPB’s 2012 report explains that when more than one person is tied to an account, the tradeline usually shows up in each person’s file along with their relationship to it, “such as authorized user.” The furnisher reports other people on the account, including authorized users, in a separate part of its monthly data file.

Reporting is up to the issuer. Experian notes that an authorized user’s credit benefits only if the card issuer reports authorized-user activity to the bureaus.

Common errors

Reported as an owner. The CFPB lists “attributing ownership to an account on which an individual is only an authorized user” as a known furnisher error. When that happens, a late payment or charge-off by the primary cardholder can look like your own debt, and collectors may come after you.
Still reported after removal. You were taken off the account, but it keeps appearing.
Never added. You weren’t an authorized user at all, which can point to a mixed file or identity theft.

How to dispute it

If you are wrongly shown as an owner, dispute with each bureau and state that you were only an authorized user and are not liable. If you want an authorized-user account removed, ask the issuer to take you off the account, then dispute any account that still appears. Keep the issuer’s confirmation.

When it can be an FCRA violation

Under Regulation V, accurate information must reflect “the terms of and liability for the account.” Reporting an authorized user as the person who owes the debt doesn’t meet that standard. If the bureau or the issuer doesn’t correct it after you dispute, that can be an FCRA violation. Simply having a properly coded authorized-user account on your report is generally not an error.

If you are still listed as owing a debt you were only an authorized user on, request a free case review; there is no fee unless we win.

Sources

Updated November 2026. This glossary is written by FCRA Attorneys from public sources. It is general information, not legal advice, and is not affiliated with any credit bureau or industry association.