After several years of marriage, the female co-author of this column had a rude awakening.

The credit card, which she used most often because of its frequent flier miles, was not a "joint" account. This, despite the fact that she long shared payments monthly with the other author of this column. Rather, she learned, she was an "authorized user" of the male co-author's account.

She first realized this when there appeared to be an error on the account's monthly statement. (We won't say whose error it was).

Upon calling the credit card's toll-free number to learn why a monthly card balance failed to correspond with her calculations, she received this humiliating response: "Can you put your husband on the line?"

The representative refused to provide any information about the charges without the male co-author's permission. It was a humiliating experience.

But is being an "authorized user" truly as terrible as it sounds?

Not necessarily.

Becoming an authorized user once was a great way for persons with no credit, often nonworking spouses and students, to build a credit history. Unfortunately, this strategy no longer is as effective as it once was.

That's because Fair Isaac Corp., the primary credit score provider, has stopped factoring the credit history of authorized credit card users in its credit scores. There was just too much fraud surrounding this feature. Yet Fair Isaac's credit scores often are one of the most important considerations lenders use in qualifying potential borrowers for credit. Credit scores also can impact the interest rate you receive on a loan or credit card. So if you expect to borrow money, your objective is to try to keep your credit score as high as possible.

There's no guarantee that a lender will report the credit history of an authorized user to the credit bureaus either.

"The Fair Credit Reporting Act does not stipulate what must be reported to credit reporting agencies," confirms Federal Trade Commission spokesman Frank Dorman, "only that whatever is reported must be accurate and include the date of delinquency on the account."

Nevertheless, there still may be an attractive reason to become an authorized user on someone else's account. It could prove a way to obtain the convenience of a credit card without a credit check. This still may be important for a nonworking spouse or a student with no credit history.

Of course, the primary account holder is risking his or her own credit history and score with this arrangement. So before permitting someone to become an authorized user on your account, you had better be sure the authorized user is reliable and that any debts charged by you both can be repaid.

Bankruptcy attorneys and divorce lawyers we've talked with typically prefer their clients to be "authorized users" rather than joint account holders.

That's because a joint account holder can be held responsible for the account's debts -- even if he or she never initiated them. So if you have a joint credit card or loan and are getting a divorce, try notifying your lender in writing that you will not be responsible for any more debts on your account.

Consider that stay-at-home spouses with no other credit may have a problem qualifying for a credit card or loan in the future -- even if they are authorized users on a credit card. Persons in that situation may wish to consider applying for a credit card to begin building a personal credit history. The easiest way often is to obtain a store credit card and pay it off monthly.