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good for you for helping your family, a lot of people forget about sticking together as a family anymore! yes add him as an AU, if you two live near each other you could just hold on to the cards and give htem to him to hold when hes traveling etc when he might have an emergency. The AU will help him but not by a ton, probably start off with some Capital One card and maybe a Bank of America Secured card.
Hi,
My little sister is graduating from college this coming May and is in the same boat your brother is. I was myself when I also completed my 4 year degree. The first thing to do is to get an idea of that range of FICO score he actually possess. just because he has no credit cards doesn't mean that he was ever hit with collection sutdent loans or such.
Then, have him apply for a Bank of America secured credit card. He would have to learn and get familiar with credit utilization ratios, minimum monthly payment that has to be made on time EVERY MONTH, ect.
After 6 months or less Bank of America will graduate him to a secured credit card and the deposit would be paid for.(If you really wanna help him you could help fund the secured card to your loss if he fails).
Credit is very important and I would not recommend adding him to your card. Some things are better learned.
Joining this forum is free and there is an array of information available to anyone who is in the process of building credit.....
That's is just my opinion regarding your question and best of luck!
He could get turned down with a credit union. My sister was becasue she had no history. We had to go woth Bank of America and it is the only bank that graduate members after 6 months and refund the money put as a deposit. the other secured card are only to establish credit and when you had enough and and to apply for an unsecured card in order to get your money back you start back at 0 in regard to your history and if you close that secured card, there goes your oldest card being reported as close.
Be wise and just don't have him open any secured credit card.
Add him as an AU on an Amex card. If you trust him, you can even let him hang onto the card. I was added as an AU on my dad's 18 year old Chase card (I was 6 at the time), ungrateful me wishes it was an Amex
If you'd prefer him to pull himself up by his own bootstraps, go with a secured BoA card that would graduate. Once his report shows up (6 months), that card should graduate. Discover likes clean and thin files, have him app for one of those. Try his hardest to get in with Amex to establish the MSD. I think charge cards are easiest to get.
Really appreciate all the advice, lots of great ideas!! I think I have a pretty good idea now of the path he should take, I'll talk to him about it and set up a game plan. Again, thank you for all the help!!
@b1gr3dmachin3 wrote:Really appreciate all the advice, lots of great ideas!! I think I have a pretty good idea now of the path he should take, I'll talk to him about it and set up a game plan. Again, thank you for all the help!!
I am currently doing this with my sister, she doesn't understand why yet but she is in the process of understanding. I've added her to my Ring, Freedom, and BCE. So far only 1 card is reporting on CK(CreditKarma) and she has a FAKO score of 719 with 0 mos of credit. Insane with no other credit history.
Make sure to hit the Kudos button (Stripe and the Star) for all the people who you feel helped you! I'm sure they'd appreciate it!
Thanks for all the good information! I'm actually working with my sister to try and get her credit back in order but I really need her to go pull her credit reports so I know what I'm dealing with. I know she has some student loans, not sure if they are in repayment or not, and she does have a US Bank CC that she got when at a PBR event in addition to two store cards, but I have no idea on her payment history with them.
I just added her as an AU to my Discover and I'm planning on holding on to the card for the foreseeable future. Sad, but I don't trust her not to go wild with it.
It's best to get them started on their own credit if they can. There are lots of good secured cards out there he can start out and build with, especially Bank of America's.
I helped my wife gain credit. I added her on my Capital One account. After a month she got approved for Discover IT for $1,500 on her own.