The Freedom From Debt Blog

Until recently, “piggybacking” on someone elses credit card was a legitimate and easy way to help increase your credit score.  The term piggybacking refers to when a person with poor credit is added as an authorized user on an account held by someone with a high credit score.  The authorized user then gets a boost by benefiting from the account holder’s good credit history.

Many people were able to help friends and relatives establish or improve their credit through the use of piggybacking.  However, more recently, the practice began to be abused by credit repair companies.  Many companies began matching up credit card holders with authorized users and renting out  authorized user spots, often for several hundreds of dollars per spot.  As this practice began to attract more publicity, many worried that FICO scores could be easily manipulated.  However, credit card companies did not do much to address the issue.

With the legitimacy of the FICO score being called into question, Fair Isaac & Co decided to act, announcing a change in the FICO scoring formula that would make authorized users totally irrelevant.  As a result, piggybacking will become a totally ineffective practice.

These changes, however, will not be immediate.  Fair Isaac plans to introduce the new formula at one credit bureau this month, and it will then be rolled out elsewhere over the next 12 months. 

Related Posts:
FICO 08 – Credit Score Changes Coming
Credit Scores Affect More Than Credit Card Interest Rates