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question about credit

post #1 of 13
10/19/10 at 11:30am
Thread Starter 
i had a family member who was having some money troubles, so i ended up helping him out a little bit. i paid his cell phone bill for a couple of months and he would pay me back in cash.

well we did that, it all worked out, i'm glad i could help him out.

BUT, here's the kicker: i was using one of my credit cards to pay his cell phone bill. i did it for a few months in a row, and now the AT&T bill shows up as one of my bills/payments on my creditscoretracker from discover card.

i'm just curious -- is his standing with AT&T now going to be reflected on my credit? the phone and contract is in his name -- not mine -- i just paid the bill for a few months while he was hard up.

i'm just curious if it would affect my credit in any way if he...i don't know, just defaulted on the contract and owed AT&T money or something. i don't think that will happen but i'm just covering all my bases.

thanks guys.
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post #2 of 13
10/19/10 at 11:49am
I'm shocked you were able to actually use a Discover card somewhere.
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post #3 of 13
10/19/10 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 
it was my first credit card, i wanted to start building credit early. it worked.
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post #4 of 13
10/19/10 at 12:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramuman View Post
I'm shocked you were able to actually use a Discover card somewhere.

What is wrong with Discover card? I try to use mine all the time as they have excellent customer service. I use it for all online purchases as their dispute department is great if I have to dispute something.
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post #5 of 13
10/19/10 at 12:18pm
I'm not sure what "creditscoretracker" is, so I can't tell you if it would/should appear there. However, if the At&T account remained solely in his name and all you did was pay the bill, there's no reason the AT&T account should ever show up on your credit report.
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post #6 of 13
10/19/10 at 12:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by forex View Post
What is wrong with Discover card? I try to use mine all the time as they have excellent customer service. I use it for all online purchases as their dispute department is great if I have to dispute something.
I just like to joke with a friend who tries to use it at restaurants and more often than not gets denied.
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post #7 of 13
10/19/10 at 12:49pm
Absolutely not. His standing with ATT in no way will affect your credit. Don't worry.
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post #8 of 13
10/19/10 at 12:51pm
If his account info indeed shows up on your credit report, you must contact the credit companies and have it removed. You absolutely do not want to have someone else's payment history show up as yours...a recipe for disaster
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post #9 of 13
10/19/10 at 1:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramuman View Post
I just like to joke with a friend who tries to use it at restaurants and more often than not gets denied.

And here I expected a reference to Big Pete's House of Munch.

Quote:
Peter: "Good evening, welcome to Big Pete's House of Munch, how can I help you?"

Customer: "Yes, do you accept the Discover card?"

Peter (behind podium): "Ha! Hey Lois, 'Diamond Jim Brady' over here just asked if we accept Discover card!"

Lois (from kitchen): "OOOOH, they're in an exclusive club called 'anybody!'"

Peter: "Yeah! No, no no, I don't think so. You know, I would rather take two live chickens than your fly-by-night credit card. I would rather take a jar of pennies that's value is less than the amount of your bill."

Customer: "Well you don't have to insult me!"

Peter: "No, no no, you're gonna stand there and listen to all the funny things I would take instead of your credit card."
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post #10 of 13
10/19/10 at 4:26pm
I can only assume this creditscoretracker is something Discover has internally but I don't imagine it has anything to do with what's reflected on your credit bureau reports
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post #11 of 13
10/19/10 at 4:36pm
As others have said, if you were just making payments for him, it shouldn't be on your actual credit reports. You can check to make sure it isn't by obtaining yours for free once every 12 months: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp Don't use that site with the singing pirate guy in the commercials as that's just another gimmick to make you pay for what the federal government already mandates you should have for free. (If you want your actual score though, then by all means go to the singing pirate)
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post #12 of 13
10/19/10 at 4:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michigan Planner View Post
(If you want your actual score though, then by all means go to the singing pirate)

NO

If you want your actual score you have to get it from myfico.com - this is the only site that will give you your "real" fico score.
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post #13 of 13
10/19/10 at 5:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjakapeanut View Post
i had a family member who was having some money troubles, so i ended up helping him out a little bit. i paid his cell phone bill for a couple of months and he would pay me back in cash.


Question to our resident lawyers: isn't this theft by conversion?

To the OP, I would look into that but I have no idea what that service you are using is. Why not go to the FICO and Equifax websites and get your free annual report? See if it's on there.
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