Adding My Cousin as AU on BOA CC

[Anonymous]

Hi all - I'd like your input to take into consideration when making this decision.

I'll try to make this short (if there's anymore info I can give to help better answer, please let me know)

I'm interested in trying to help my cousin build her credit by adding her as an AU on one of my CCs.

As of right now, she has no credit history and it's been just crazy for her to try to get student loans (

She's a college freshman, just turned 19 in Jan. I'm also helping her to open a Secured Card.

She won't be directly managing any of these accounts so she won't be able to mess them up.

I would add her to my NFCU Rewards CC but from what I've been reading, it seems they don't report for AUs

So the next best thing:

My oldest CC is a BOA Worldpoints $2000 CL - $0 Balance at this time.

Card was opened in 10/2006. On MyFICO Report it shows I had one 30 days late 1 time (Feb 2008).

Under the "what's helping your score" part of the report it shows that:

You've recently been paying your bills on time. While you have missed payments in the past, you have recently been paying your bills on time, which has helped your FICO score. Staying current with your bills will continue to help your score. Your most recent late payment happened 3 Years, 1 Month ago

Would this be a good move for her, since she currently has no credit history?

Can I even do this? Does the relationship of the person matter? All the searches I found, showed spouses, children as AUs

Will the one 30-days late hurt her ? I can't imagine so since she currently has no credit history...

Would it be better to just open the Secured Card alone?

Thanks for your helpful comments,

[DI]

Yes, it would be a positive thing to add to her credit files if you pay your balance in fill each month and miss no payment.  And she can be added as an AU.  The relationship doesn't mattter.  The good thing about BOA is that they report the accounts on the AUs reports within days.    I'd hold off with applying for secure cards if it comes with annual fees. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response.

I have another question: Is there a limit to how many people can be an AU on my CC?

[Anonymous]

I added someone to my account, but I was never asked to give the AUs SSN. Does this mean it doesn't report to my AU's CRA?

[Anonymous]

I added my cousin last night and the representative I spoke with only asked for her name. I asked him if he didn't need anymore information and he said that's all he needed. She has a BOA checking account as well so hopefully it will be easy to identify her and it will report for her. Now I'm thinking I should call them and ask.

But I've seen posts on here where people have stated that only the name was provided and it does report on the AUs CR.

[DI]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I added my cousin last night and the representative I spoke with only asked for her name. I asked him if he didn't need anymore information and he said that's all he needed. She has a BOA checking account as well so hopefully it will be easy to identify her and it will report for her. Now I'm thinking I should call them and ask.

But I've seen posts on here where people have stated that only the name was provided and it does report on the AUs CR.

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It's best to go to BOA's website and add AU's where they ask for SSN, Date of Birth and Phone Number.  To me, if they don't ask for the SSN it may not get placed on the AU's credit reports. 

[DI]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I added someone to my account, but I was never asked to give the AUs SSN. Does this mean it doesn't report to my AU's CRA?

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I'm not sure how it works when they don't ask for SSN.  Submit the request via BOA's website.  BOA certaily reports AUs to the CRAs.  I just did it a week ago and the account appears on the AUs credit reports. 

[laz98]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would add her to my NFCU Rewards CC but from what I've been reading, it seems they don't report for AUs

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ours reports just fine.

[IOBA]

Usually the AU will show up on the credit reports if both people have the same address.

Can your niece make her "address" as yours?

[Anonymous]

In case anyone else is planning to do this. I did add my cousin to my BoA CC and it started reporting on hers in about 4 weeks (at least that's how long I waited to check because I wanted to give it enough time). It really helped her score too.