Credit Cards Credit Cards 101 How to Remove an Authorized User From Your Credit Card By LaToya Irby LaToya Irby LaToya Irby is a credit expert who has been covering credit and debt management for The Balance for more than a dozen years. She's been quoted in USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, and the Associated Press, and her work has been cited in several books. learn about our editorial policies Updated on May 9, 2021 Reviewed by Khadija Khartit Reviewed by Khadija Khartit Khadija Khartit is a strategy, investment, and funding expert, and an educator of fintech and strategic finance in top universities. She has been an investor, entrepreneur, and advisor for more than 25 years. She is a FINRA Series 7, 63, and 66 license holder. learn about our financial review board In This Article View All In This Article Removing an Authorized User Removing Yourself Payment Responsibility What About a Joint Cardholder? Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Photo: © Peter Cade / Getty Images An authorized user is a person who has permission to use your credit card account, but not responsibility for making the payments on the account. You may have added a child as an authorized user on your account to allow them to jumpstart their credit or to give them a way to make credit card purchases. There comes a time when authorized users must be, or maybe choose to be, removed from the account, especially if their credit card use is hurting your credit score or vice versa. You might even opt to remove an authorized user to avoid paying an additional fee for having another person on your account. Process to Remove an Authorized User Removing an authorized user from a credit card is pretty easy. You can call the credit card issuer at the number on the back of your credit card and request that the authorized user be removed from the credit card. If you have multiple authorized users but are only removing one, make sure you specify which user you’d like to remove from the account. You can follow up your request with a letter to prove that you made the request. For example, you can write “Per our phone conversation on 7/17/2020, I would like to remove Jane Doe’s authorized user status from my account ending in 1234 effective 7/17/2020.” Note Credit card issuers often have a specific address for receiving letters. Check your credit card statement for your credit card issuer’s address for correspondence. Send the letter via certified mail if you’d like confirmation that the credit card issuer received the letter. You may even be able to easily remove the authorized user through your online account or the card issuer's smartphone app for some issuers. Log into your account, and look for an option to manage users. Once the authorized user is removed from the account, they'll no longer have access to make purchases using their credit card. The primary account holder can keep and use any rewards that were accumulated on the account. It's helpful to let the authorized user know that you’re removing them from the account, so they know not to try to use their card. Otherwise, they could be unpleasantly surprised with a declined transaction after trying to use that credit card to make a purchase. Removing Yourself as an Authorized User If you need to remove yourself as an authorized user, you may be able to get yourself removed by following the same process—by making a call to the credit card's customer service. In some cases, the card issuer may require the primary account holder to make this kind of change to the account. If this isn't possible, and the credit card company won’t remove you without the primary account holder’s permission, you can at least use the credit report dispute process to have the account removed from your credit report. That way, the account history will no longer affect your credit score. File a dispute with the credit bureaus if the account continues to show on your credit report even after you've been removed. You can have the account information removed from your credit file. Payment Responsibility The primary cardholder is solely responsible for paying back any purchases made by the authorized user while they were listed on your account. Your credit card agreement overrides any verbal agreements you had with the authorized user to pay their share of the credit card bill. Note The authorized user doesn’t have any legal responsibility for the charges they made to the account. What About a Joint Cardholder? There is no process for removing a joint cardholder from a credit card account. Joint cardholders apply for and hold the credit card together. Both parties are equally responsible for the credit card balance and remain on the account for as long as it's open. If joint cardholders no longer want to share a credit card, they must pay off the balance or transfer it to a credit card held by just one of the account holders. Once the balance is taken care of, the account can be closed to prevent further purchases. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) How does being an authorized user work? You will get a credit card in your own name, but it will be attached to an account held by the primary cardholder. You will be free to charge on the card. It adds to its balance, but you will not be legally responsible for paying that balance or even your contribution to it. Your own credit score will be negatively affected if the primary cardholder doesn't make payments. Their score can be affected as well if you run up the balance. How old do you have to be to be an authorized user on a credit card? The age requirement can vary by card. Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union requires that you be at least 15 years old, but it's age 16 with Baxter Credit Union. Typically, the older you are, the more likely it is that you'll qualify. What are some other alternatives to adding my child as an authorized user to my card? You might consider helping them apply for a student credit card, which can be easier to qualify for, or a secured credit card. As the name suggests, this one involves placing a deposit with the lending institution that can be used to pay off any unpaid balance if your teenager defaults. You could also cosign for them on a card. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Capital One. "What is an Authorized User?" Capital One. "Want to Add or Remove Other Users on Your Credit Card Account?" Capital One. "Co-Signers vs. Authorized Users: What's the Difference?" SaverLife. "Should I Add My Child As an Authorized User on My Credit Card?" BCU. "Credit Cards—Adding an Authorized User." Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union. "Credit Card Authorized User FAQs," Page 1. Capital One. "How Old Do You Have to Be to Apply for a Credit Card?"