cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?

tag
jlitnns
Established Contributor

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?


@Anonymous wrote:
In response to CreditGuyInDixie’s question about AUs and their dating for accounts.

I can only personally vouch for Discover.

I’m AU on my dad’s Discover and it shows a 27yr history for me on my CBR.

My dad has had his account with Discover since October 17 of 1990 (only reason I know this exact date, is because of the date it shows on my CBR.)

He added me as an AU on it when I was 17 (2012-2013).

I am 22 y/o and my oldest tradeline is 27y/6mo (the Discover account that I’m AU on).

So my credit history is technically 5 years older than I am myself.

I can include a screenshot of my CreditKarma app if necessary.

This is pretty cool, I just added my 8 year old as an AU on a Chase card, just curious. I might do it for my other kids as well on 1 card (obviously, they won't be using it), just to see but this sure helps. 

 

Thanks for sharing! 


Message 21 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?


@jlitnns wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:
In response to CreditGuyInDixie’s question about AUs and their dating for accounts.

I can only personally vouch for Discover.

I’m AU on my dad’s Discover and it shows a 27yr history for me on my CBR.

My dad has had his account with Discover since October 17 of 1990 (only reason I know this exact date, is because of the date it shows on my CBR.)

He added me as an AU on it when I was 17 (2012-2013).

I am 22 y/o and my oldest tradeline is 27y/6mo (the Discover account that I’m AU on).

So my credit history is technically 5 years older than I am myself.

I can include a screenshot of my CreditKarma app if necessary.

This is pretty cool, I just added my 8 year old as an AU on a Chase card, just curious. I might do it for my other kids as well on 1 card (obviously, they won't be using it), just to see but this sure helps. 

 

Thanks for sharing! 


Wait, you can add an 8 year old as AU on a Chase CC? how's that possible?

Message 22 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?

AustinOK writes:

 

I’m AU on my dad’s Discover and it shows a 27yr history for me on my CBR.... I am 22 y/o and my oldest tradeline is 27y/6mo (the Discover account that I’m AU on).... So my credit history is technically 5 years older than I am myself.

 

It would be easy for FICO to write a few lines of code into its known AU anti-abuse module.  Something that would basically look at the consumer's age (in years) and subtract 17.  Call that Adjusted Age.  Then for any AU account (assuning it wasn't excluded altogether by the Anti-A detector) compare the AU account's age with the consumer's Adjusted Age.  If the AU account age is older, use the consumer Adjusted Age.

 

Bottom line, if you added a 30 year old account to your 19 year old son's profile, it counts as a 2 year old account.  (Since he's two years older than 17.)  Add that 30 year old card to a kid who's 17 and 2 months old, and it counts as a 2-month old account.  Add it to a kid who's 16 and it it is deleted from FICO's consideration altogether.

 

That would completely solve the problem of children getting an outrageously inflated credit score, it would still help them at the beginning of their credit journey, and it would not affect married couples hardly at all, who are (for the most part) of comparable ages.

Message 23 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?

The savings rates at NFCU are not good currently.

 

I would open one at a credit union with better rates.  DCU primary savings is one such account.

 

Edit - I have my 8 y/o as AU on both my Chase and Cap1 card.  Will get Amex with custom (low) limit at 15 and actually give physical card to learn to manage credit.

Message 24 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?


@Anonymous wrote:

AustinOK writes:

 

I’m AU on my dad’s Discover and it shows a 27yr history for me on my CBR.... I am 22 y/o and my oldest tradeline is 27y/6mo (the Discover account that I’m AU on).... So my credit history is technically 5 years older than I am myself.

 

It would be easy for FICO to write a few lines of code into its known AU anti-abuse module.  Something that would basically look at the consumer's age (in years) and subtract 17.  Call that Adjusted Age.  Then for any AU account (assuning it wasn't excluded altogether by the Anti-A detector) compare the AU account's age with the consumer's Adjusted Age.  If the AU account age is older, use the consumer Adjusted Age.

 

Bottom line, if you added a 30 year old account to your 19 year old son's profile, it counts as a 2 year old account.  (Since he's two years older than 17.)  Add that 30 year old card to a kid who's 17 and 2 months old, and it counts as a 2-month old account.  Add it to a kid who's 16 and it it is deleted from FICO's consideration altogether.

 

That would completely solve the problem of children getting an outrageously inflated credit score, it would still help them at the beginning of their credit journey, and it would not affect married couples hardly at all, who are (for the most part) of comparable ages.


For what it's worth, this was totally unintended. My father is definitely not a "credit guru", just pays his bills on time. The only two cards he ever carried was the Chase Ink Business (I don't think Chase offers this specific card anymore, maybe rebranded as the Chase Ink Cash??) and an old school Discover More that was carryover from the Sears/Discover deal.

 

He just added me as a user on both of those accounts so that I'd have the two cards for us to maximize our cash back instead of him missing out on cash back for my purchases. I spent a lot in high school (or at least, I felt like I did, for a high schooler without a job at the time)... but that's another story.

 

When I got into credit myself, reading here and such, is when I learned of that. I was like... "Whoa. My age of my oldest account is older than I am. How is that possible???" and then saw that it was his Discover.

 

I thought that it was pretty neat initially. But the initial intention wasn't for score boosting, moreso just to simply have cards in my wallet as we were never really a "cash household". Not since like 2005.... Just have $20-100 in wallet in the event that somewhere doesn't accept cards for any reason.

Message 25 of 31
jlitnns
Established Contributor

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?


@Anonymous

Wait, you can add an 8 year old as AU on a Chase CC? how's that possible?


I guess so, I recently read on a thread here that most CC's have an age limit but Chase and I think Cap1 (I don't remember), but there were 2 that don't. So I thought I'd try it. I logged into Chase online and added him, got an email the next day saying I added him. I haven't seen a card yet. That was close to a week ago.


Message 26 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?


@Anonymous Wait, you can add an 8 year old as AU on a Chase CC? how's that possible?

Yes, Chase will add any age as an AU to their cards; AUs credit card number is same as the actual owner's. Synchrony allows the same, at least for the Marvel card and still has the same number. Cap1 will also allow AUs at any age, but does issue a different number.

Amex and Disco will not add an AU until they are at least 14 years old

Message 27 of 31
Gmood1
Super Contributor

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?

Yup, I added my then 2 year old, now almost 4 year old to Chase, Capitol One and Citi with no problem at all.
Her credit age will be 7 years older than she is. As long as it helps her down the road, I see nothing wrong with it.
She's had a bank account with Navy Fed since she was 1 year old.
Message 28 of 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?

Do CC issuers expect that an AU Card will be used every so often -- or they close it for inactivity?  E.g. once a year?

Message 29 of 31
Gmood1
Super Contributor

Re: Should I open minor membership for my child at Navy Federal?

@CGID
No they stay open. As long as the account sees activity. All of the cards stay active.
Some of them allow you to add without sending a card. Capitol One and Citi give you the option.
Message 30 of 31
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.