One of my granddaughters does not have a credit card, but does want one. She is working hard to recover from an ex trashing her credit score and still doing so. He is still trashing it because he has quit making car payments on his car; the trouble is that she also signed the loan document and has been told that she cannot get her name removed even thought they are no longer together and have not been for over a year. Her score just keeps going down because of his negligence or maybe vindictiveness - not sure which. Regardless, I have a Citi card with a low limit which I would be willing to add her as an authorized user (AU) (she does not wish at all to be placed as an AU on any of my higher limit cards). My granddaughter does not believe that will help here in any way to get a card in her own name in the future. So, I am turning here to you good people to ask if she is correct. If there is no point to being an AU, I will not add her. Please advise.
Yes it will help her. The longer the credit history the more of a positive impact it will make. I'm not sure if Citi back dates. Chase, BofA and Capital one do backdate. If you have a card with one of them along with 5/10 plus years of positive history. It will do wonders for her approvals in the future.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Gmood1 wrote:Yes it will help her. The longer the credit history the more of a positive impact it will make. I'm not sure if Citi back dates. Chase, BofA and Capital one do backdate. If you have a card with one of them along with positive history. It will do wonders for her approvals in the future.
Agree that the card if in good standing might help her (can't hurt) but if she has a lot of negative items on her reports the addition of a single credit card, its impact on her scores will be minimal. Adding someone as an AU is much more beneficial to someone who has limited or no credit history.
True, however I'm thinking more over the long term if she can keep the rest of her credit in check. Meaning no lates or future negative marks, it will have a positive impact.
I did this for my oldest daughter as well as GF. Both with multiple baddies reporting. Both of their scores jumped 40 or 50 points at the beginning.
From their I had GF add the SSL from Alliant.
Daughter already had student loans she's paying on as a installment loan.
I've watched both of their scores climb from the mid 500s to almost 700 in the last year and a half. That's with old late and missed payments still on both their reports.
Thank you both so very much for your thoughtful and thorough explanations. I will show this string to my granddaughter. Hopefully, she will agree to let me add her as an AU.
It will stay on their report.
After my granddaughter reviewed your statements, she quietly agreed to let me add her as an authorized user on one account. We reviewed and analyzed which would more than likely help her the most and selected one. I went to the website and added her. It will be very intereting to see what happens. Will try to remember to keep you informed. Again, thanks for all of your advice and thoughts.