Becoming an authorized user on a secondary tradeline typically helps you build credit by piggy-backing off the primary account holder’s responsible use, and you can get this benefit without applying for or in many cases even using the credit card on your own.

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On-time payments, low utilization and substantial age on the card by the primary cardholder will be added to your credit history and boost your score over time.

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Becoming an authorized user on a secondary tradeline also lets you avoid having to apply for a card on your own (resulting in a hard inquiry), which is a major benefit if you currently have bad credit or no credit history at all. As a result, you can often get added as an authorized user to a card with better rewards or benefits than you could get otherwise (however you will not receive any rewards or benefits personally from the card beyond the improved credit score).