<prompt> Human: I am 34 M with a wonderful wife and 1 and 12 year old. We are currently renting but really want to buy a house. Through most of my 20s I was heavy into opioids and destroyed my credit. Got off everything about 4 years ago, went back to school got a bachelors, got a decent job, and everything seems to be going well.We found a house we love and we applied for pre approval, we got denied. My wife who is a few years younger basically has no credit so we couldnt use hers. And most of our income comes from me. Some of the reason my credit bad is because of student loans, just got on income driven repayment, other reasons are hospital bills which I am working on but likely will have to make payments for a long time. And unpaid credit cards, which are mostly paid off. My mom offered to help by adding my name to her American Express Card to help build my credit. . She has great credit. She recently retired, but I am confident she has enough to always pay her credit card bills. I will never be using the card, she will just use it for things she needs then pay it off the next month. Was her putting me on this card a good or bad idea ?  <response>: This is much riskier for her than for you, and as long as youre both responsible, it will benefit you greatly without any downside to her.Basically the card will show up on your credit report but with her history this is true for most cards, but Ive heard some CCs dont report for authorized users. So if shes had the card for 10 years with all on-time payments, it will look like youve had the card for 10 years with all on-time payments.OTOH, if she stops paying on the card, that negative stuff will show up on both of your reports.Ifwhen youre removed as an authorized user, the card will disappear from your report like it never existed.As an authorized user, you are allowed to use the card to buy things. Anything you put on the card your mother is fully responsible for paying. As long as you dont abuse that, theres no down-side for your mom either. 