Adding 18 year old as authorized user on credit card - yay or nay- for building their credit score

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you Google? According to Experian, "As an authorized user, the credit card account is reflected on your credit report, which can help you make progress toward building a robust credit history."
https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-credit-card-authorized-user/#s3

My google has told me the opposite.

I talked to my bank in person and got confirmation that after kid turns 18 being on a CC as authorized user builds the credit history because the bank has to report it to the credit bureaux. My oldest, now 18, has been on my cc since age 14. The yougest who is almost 15 will be soon. Just adding that since my oldest had AHDH and not the best records with not losing things i did keep the card the first years and give it to her only when she was going to store and so on and did not let her keep it in school. After junior year i just let her keep it and there were no issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll have to look into it. I added my son when he was 16. He's been used it through high school and college and he just graduated from college. He doesn't have any credit cards of his own yet and uses a debit card for his personal charges. I'll report back on whether it made any impact on his credit.

PP here. OK, I just ran a credit check on my son who has been an authorized user on my card since he was 16 (22 now). He has a credit rating of 756 and it shows a total debt of $11K (which is our current AMEX balance). I guess he does have credit!! This was not what I expected to find.

So your debt is reflected on his report? That may not advantageous when he needs a car loan on his own, as his debt to income ratio will be affected by your debt.

Percent utilized is probably great though. Being current on payments over a very long period of time and having a low utilization percentage is much better than being debt free

That's why they get their own card, in their own name, And Don't Use It. Or buy college books at the bookstore once a semester and pay it off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SAH mom here on dual credit cards with husband. It’s not building any credit for me at all.

You should have your own cc.

[Anonymous]

I would get them their own card, with a low limit. Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll have to look into it. I added my son when he was 16. He's been used it through high school and college and he just graduated from college. He doesn't have any credit cards of his own yet and uses a debit card for his personal charges. I'll report back on whether it made any impact on his credit.

PP here. OK, I just ran a credit check on my son who has been an authorized user on my card since he was 16 (22 now). He has a credit rating of 756 and it shows a total debt of $11K (which is our current AMEX balance). I guess he does have credit!! This was not what I expected to find.

So your debt is reflected on his report? That may not advantageous when he needs a car loan on his own, as his debt to income ratio will be affected by your debt.

Exactly. Also, way to infantilize your adult children. DH and I were never on our parents' cards and (gasp!) were able to buy houses and cars, and have always had excellent credit.

Someone had to have co-signed for you to get you started. It's easier to do when your kid is at home, or still under your guidance. I grew up afraid of debt. All cars were paid for with cash (so low budget end of their life vehicles) A friend of mine got me started on a small credit card when I was 22, just to build up credit. My sister had a credit score of ZERO at age 30, where I had to cosign an auto loan for her, and then encourage her to refinance under her name only a year later. These are life lessons that need to be taught, so you might as well start the conversations and process when they are at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll have to look into it. I added my son when he was 16. He's been used it through high school and college and he just graduated from college. He doesn't have any credit cards of his own yet and uses a debit card for his personal charges. I'll report back on whether it made any impact on his credit.

PP here. OK, I just ran a credit check on my son who has been an authorized user on my card since he was 16 (22 now). He has a credit rating of 756 and it shows a total debt of $11K (which is our current AMEX balance). I guess he does have credit!! This was not what I expected to find.

So your debt is reflected on his report? That may not advantageous when he needs a car loan on his own, as his debt to income ratio will be affected by your debt.

Exactly. Also, way to infantilize your adult children. DH and I were never on our parents' cards and (gasp!) were able to buy houses and cars, and have always had excellent credit.

My DH and I moved in together after school. When we went to buy a car, it had to be in his name because he had a credit history and I didn't. I had a higher income, but he'd been on his parents cards since he was 13.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the 18yo. Are they going to buy themselves a Ferrari or use the card wisely? My husband and I put our kids on our credit cards when they started driving. We didn't ever want them to break down somewhere and be unable to call an Uber or Lyft or buy gas. A nice advantage for us is that we could have them pick up groceries, etc., on our card when they were out and about. All four of my kids were very respectful in their use of our card and didn't use it for personal gain without our permission. Helping them get a healthy score was a major bonus when they graduated college and needed to start renting apartments, buying cars, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll have to look into it. I added my son when he was 16. He's been used it through high school and college and he just graduated from college. He doesn't have any credit cards of his own yet and uses a debit card for his personal charges. I'll report back on whether it made any impact on his credit.

PP here. OK, I just ran a credit check on my son who has been an authorized user on my card since he was 16 (22 now). He has a credit rating of 756 and it shows a total debt of $11K (which is our current AMEX balance). I guess he does have credit!! This was not what I expected to find.

So your debt is reflected on his report? That may not advantageous when he needs a car loan on his own, as his debt to income ratio will be affected by your debt.

Exactly. Also, way to infantilize your adult children. DH and I were never on our parents' cards and (gasp!) were able to buy houses and cars, and have always had excellent credit.

Someone had to have co-signed for you to get you started. It's easier to do when your kid is at home, or still under your guidance. I grew up afraid of debt. All cars were paid for with cash (so low budget end of their life vehicles) A friend of mine got me started on a small credit card when I was 22, just to build up credit. My sister had a credit score of ZERO at age 30, where I had to cosign an auto loan for her, and then encourage her to refinance under her name only a year later. These are life lessons that need to be taught, so you might as well start the conversations and process when they are at home.

You do not need to co-sign an 18yo’s credit card when that adult has a job.

Your anecdotes do not sway me in the least. Did I say have no credit till age 30? No, I did not. My once-18yo got a card and charges everything to it and pays it off every month. Has for 2 years, but I don’t know their credit score because it’s not my concern. I give DC a lump sum for college, so it encourages budgeting and planning. I do not pay rent or groceries or utilities directly.

Thus, I do not believe in infantilizing 20 year olds. I also don’t need to put a 13yo on my credit card because my kids had debit cards they learned to manage at that age. Doing everything for your kids means they don’t learn it themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SAH mom here on dual credit cards with husband. It’s not building any credit for me at all.

Nice trolling.

[Anonymous]

I’m pp and when my kid applied to college they put the fees on their own card. Same if they pick up groceries for me. I Venmo them back. But, they work and have savings. They’ve always paid for gas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll have to look into it. I added my son when he was 16. He's been used it through high school and college and he just graduated from college. He doesn't have any credit cards of his own yet and uses a debit card for his personal charges. I'll report back on whether it made any impact on his credit.

PP here. OK, I just ran a credit check on my son who has been an authorized user on my card since he was 16 (22 now). He has a credit rating of 756 and it shows a total debt of $11K (which is our current AMEX balance). I guess he does have credit!! This was not what I expected to find.

So your debt is reflected on his report? That may not advantageous when he needs a car loan on his own, as his debt to income ratio will be affected by your debt.

Exactly. Also, way to infantilize your adult children. DH and I were never on our parents' cards and (gasp!) were able to buy houses and cars, and have always had excellent credit.

Someone had to have co-signed for you to get you started. It's easier to do when your kid is at home, or still under your guidance. I grew up afraid of debt. All cars were paid for with cash (so low budget end of their life vehicles) A friend of mine got me started on a small credit card when I was 22, just to build up credit. My sister had a credit score of ZERO at age 30, where I had to cosign an auto loan for her, and then encourage her to refinance under her name only a year later. These are life lessons that need to be taught, so you might as well start the conversations and process when they are at home.

You do not need to co-sign an 18yo’s credit card when that adult has a job.

Your anecdotes do not sway me in the least. Did I say have no credit till age 30? No, I did not. My once-18yo got a card and charges everything to it and pays it off every month. Has for 2 years, but I don’t know their credit score because it’s not my concern. I give DC a lump sum for college, so it encourages budgeting and planning. I do not pay rent or groceries or utilities directly.

Thus, I do not believe in infantilizing 20 year olds. I also don’t need to put a 13yo on my credit card because my kids had debit cards they learned to manage at that age. Doing everything for your kids means they don’t learn it themselves.

Lol. The vast majority of people can't just give their kids a huge lump sum for college. So out of touch with reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 14yo and 17yo have been authorized users on our credit card for a couple years now.

This. Our two oldest are now over 18 and have great credit. Their only negative is length of credit history otherwise they’d both have 800.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted on a different thread. I added my son as an authorized user on my card when he was 16 or 17. He’s 18 now with a credit score just under 800. The only ding on his score is the length of credit history. My older son got the best rate available for a car loan when he was 21 or so.

This - our bank told us as a joint person on our card, he gets credit for all the usage and on-time paid bills

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh no. Kid gets their own credit card.

Well, I added my 21 year old to our card 3 years ago. His credit score is now 800. How does that happen if he is not benefitting from our credit history? He has no other credit history.

My 19-year-old got his CC a few months after turning 18. He has never been on our card. His credit score is 750+. He gets his bill and pays in full immediately.

At age 21, your child really needs to get a card in their own name. With a score of 800, it will be easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll have to look into it. I added my son when he was 16. He's been used it through high school and college and he just graduated from college. He doesn't have any credit cards of his own yet and uses a debit card for his personal charges. I'll report back on whether it made any impact on his credit.

PP here. OK, I just ran a credit check on my son who has been an authorized user on my card since he was 16 (22 now). He has a credit rating of 756 and it shows a total debt of $11K (which is our current AMEX balance). I guess he does have credit!! This was not what I expected to find.

So your debt is reflected on his report? That may not advantageous when he needs a car loan on his own, as his debt to income ratio will be affected by your debt.

Exactly. Also, way to infantilize your adult children. DH and I were never on our parents' cards and (gasp!) were able to buy houses and cars, and have always had excellent credit.

Someone had to have co-signed for you to get you started. It's easier to do when your kid is at home, or still under your guidance. I grew up afraid of debt. All cars were paid for with cash (so low budget end of their life vehicles) A friend of mine got me started on a small credit card when I was 22, just to build up credit. My sister had a credit score of ZERO at age 30, where I had to cosign an auto loan for her, and then encourage her to refinance under her name only a year later. These are life lessons that need to be taught, so you might as well start the conversations and process when they are at home.

You do not need to co-sign an 18yo’s credit card when that adult has a job.

Your anecdotes do not sway me in the least. Did I say have no credit till age 30? No, I did not. My once-18yo got a card and charges everything to it and pays it off every month. Has for 2 years, but I don’t know their credit score because it’s not my concern. I give DC a lump sum for college, so it encourages budgeting and planning. I do not pay rent or groceries or utilities directly.

Thus, I do not believe in infantilizing 20 year olds. I also don’t need to put a 13yo on my credit card because my kids had debit cards they learned to manage at that age. Doing everything for your kids means they don’t learn it themselves.

Lol. The vast majority of people can't just give their kids a huge lump sum for college. So out of touch with reality.

I wasn't clear...I give a lump sum every semester that covers housing/food/utilities. Spending $$ on kid. So, it's not huge compared to folks on this board, but yes, I've budgeted.