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My parents never made me an Authorized User

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User

You will not get much sympathy from me - Your parents provided the essentials to live.  To be honest, the tone of your post is one of entitlement, gimme-gimme-gimme, instant gratification through zero work...which isn't exactly endearing.

 

With that said, I am glad that you are mindful of your credit rating.  The thing is - you have to earn your way to a high score else you truly never appreciate the effort, the diligence, the time spent on obtaining it in the first place.

 

I understand that you want a good car loan rate, but your first car shouldn't be necessarily be a brand new, luxury car.  The % may be higher than you wish, but the monetary difference may not be much higher if the car is inexpensive.

 

On a side note, I am speaking from personal experience - My parents paid cash (and check) for everything including their house and car(s).  I wish I had the wealth to do that but I don't - so I learned how to play the credit game, read all the fine print, and made sure I didn't make any stupid financial decisions.

Message 11 of 20
Subexistence
Established Contributor

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User


@Revelate wrote:

@Subexistence wrote:

@tacpoly wrote:

 

You can easily establish your own credit.  It just takes some time making sure you never miss any payments.  The cool thing about being 18 is that you have bucketloads of time.  Use your Discover for things you need and pay it full everytime.  You'll have a great credit score soon enough.

 

So stop blaming your parents.  Stop blaming your credit union -- if they really suck as much as you say, take your money elsewhere.  Stop blaming your Aspire Visa credit card -- if it's really that bad, close it.  Stop being so negative.  You're too young to be bitter -- life hasn't even kicked you in the teeth yet. 

 


My time is not abundant at all. I have so many credit related things I must accompish before I graduate. I need to get a card in 2 years and car insurance depends on credit score. That's why it's essential to get as high a credit score as possible during the 2 years I have. I also need to get my lifelong credit cards ike chase freedom and citidouble cash at least 2 years before I buy a house so that their inquiries don't raise my loan.


Couple of random points.

 

I'd be way more worried about the APR on the auto loan than insurance rates, and scores (if they're even used at all, California flatly forbids the pulling of credit for an insurance decision for example, your state might be similar as so much of this is state by state both for banking and insurance) are going to not affect prices as much as your being ~20 at the time.

 

So your local CU is suboptimal or maybe you didn't ask the right question if you put 2K down on a Discover secured card according to your other thread.  Unlike what some other poster in said other thread said, if you have cash laying around I don't know why you don't shortcut things with a couple quality secured cards and secured loan reindeer games... other than student cards most unsecured starter cards kinda sorta suck and the lenders that issue them have no upside longer term.

 

Citi DC is on the downswing in popularity and 2% is so common today I'd caution against anyone making that a goal card.  Also products do get changed and cancelled, focus more on lenders than individual products (which is something I had to remember yesterday when it came to my recent Chase Sapphire Reserve fun).

 

Inquiries only affect score for a year, as long as you're inquiry free for the 12 months leading up to a mortgage you're as clean as possible.

 

Finally, it is not your parents fault they didn't add you as an AU, hardly anyone really does: the state of credit education in the United States (and probably everywhere else too) is simply abysmal.  That's the bigger problem.  I'm starting to think I won't ever have children but if I did, and on the assumption I educated them about credit (which would certainly be on the table) I'd add them as an AU sure, but it's not that big of a deal as you think if you have a couple years of runway... couple tradelines can get you to an 800 FICO 8 score in 2 years; that won't be your underwriting hurdle.


My apologies for not mentioning a detail about myself. I'm certain I'm going to be able to down payment a used car for myself. I've been saving up ever since I was 10 and have accumulated thousands of dollars from the numerous jobs I have had during my lifetime. 

 

I super agree with you about the secured cards.

 

Can you explain why citi is going downhill? I need a good cashback card for all categories.

 

I guess that means during the first 3 years of college, I gotta apply for all the credit cards I'll ever get.

 

I don't know what to think of the AU thing.

 

I admit I've never been school educated on credit.

 

I hope my inquiry issue doesn't prevent me from reaching the goal of 760 in time. I've been trying to keep my utilization super low, pay back on time, etc just to achieve my goal.








Starting Score: Ex08-732,Eq08-713,Tu08-717
Current Score:Ex08-795,Eq08-807,Tu08-787,EX98-761,Eq04-742
Goal Score: Ex98-760,Eq04-760


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Message 12 of 20
Subexistence
Established Contributor

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User


@tacpoly wrote:

@Subexistence wrote:

@tacpoly wrote:

 

You can easily establish your own credit.  It just takes some time making sure you never miss any payments.  The cool thing about being 18 is that you have bucketloads of time.  Use your Discover for things you need and pay it full everytime.  You'll have a great credit score soon enough.

 

So stop blaming your parents.  Stop blaming your credit union -- if they really suck as much as you say, take your money elsewhere.  Stop blaming your Aspire Visa credit card -- if it's really that bad, close it.  Stop being so negative.  You're too young to be bitter -- life hasn't even kicked you in the teeth yet. 

 


My time is not abundant at all. I have so many credit related things I must accompish before I graduate. I need to get a card in 2 years and car insurance depends on credit score. That's why it's essential to get as high a credit score as possible during the 2 years I have. I also need to get my lifelong credit cards ike chase freedom and citidouble cash at least 2 years before I buy a house so that their inquiries don't raise my loan.


The cards you have (aspire visa, discover secured) are enough to establish a great credit score in 2 years, provided you always make your payments on time.  There's no need to freak out over it.  If you don't have any lates, in 1 year, you can apply for one of your goal cards and as long as your income supports it, you'll get it.  Not being added as an authorized user by your parents isn't that big of a setback.   

 

If you plan on buying a car and a house in two years, credit shouldn't be your primary focus -- that takes care of itself as long as you are never late with payments.  Heck, most of my friends had very few credit cards and never saw their credit scores until they applied for a mortgage and they were all in the 800s.  Your focus should be on saving enough money for down payment.  I don't care what your credit score is, but if you have no means to pay for it, you'll have a hard time buying a house. 


Hopefully everything goes like you said.








Starting Score: Ex08-732,Eq08-713,Tu08-717
Current Score:Ex08-795,Eq08-807,Tu08-787,EX98-761,Eq04-742
Goal Score: Ex98-760,Eq04-760


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

History of my credit
Message 13 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User

My parents never made me an authorized user, either. In fact, they did everything they could to discourage me from getting any credit cards at all. Talk about a late start!

 

I also have extra inquiries from the days before I understood various things.

 

As long as you follow the advice here, you'll be fine. No panic. 2 years is plenty of time to buld up credit, so long as you can hold yourself back on apping.

 

Thankfully, we are not in a world where if your parents didn't add you as an AU, you're at a huge disadvantage. You can go out there in the world, all on your own, and get yourself a nice credit score. Smiley Happy It takes patience, the first 18 months or so drove me nuts when I focused on score, so I tried to distract myself with other things and just let it build in the background.

 

Good luck!

Message 14 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User

In my family, my parents added me as an authorized user on their Amex gold card when I was 15 and did the same with my brother and sister. I had 10 years of perfect credit before I even opened up my own Amex account. I used the card since I was in school that entire time and parents were supporting me. It was very helpful. 

Message 15 of 20
Subexistence
Established Contributor

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User


@Anonymous wrote:

In my family, my parents added me as an authorized user on their Amex gold card when I was 15 and did the same with my brother and sister. I had 10 years of perfect credit before I even opened up my own Amex account. I used the card since I was in school that entire time and parents were supporting me. It was very helpful. 


I wish the other posters would see the difference between your situation and my situation








Starting Score: Ex08-732,Eq08-713,Tu08-717
Current Score:Ex08-795,Eq08-807,Tu08-787,EX98-761,Eq04-742
Goal Score: Ex98-760,Eq04-760


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

History of my credit
Message 16 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User


@Subexistence wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

In my family, my parents added me as an authorized user on their Amex gold card when I was 15 and did the same with my brother and sister. I had 10 years of perfect credit before I even opened up my own Amex account. I used the card since I was in school that entire time and parents were supporting me. It was very helpful. 


I wish the other posters would see the difference between your situation and my situation


Oh, we see the difference. We just don't believe it's something anyone should be entitled to.

 

It's kinda like the notion (tradition?) of parents buying your first car as a bithday or graduation gift or whatever. Is it nice? Absolutely! Does it make life easier? You bet! Are your parents depriving you if they decide not to? .....no. No, they aren't.

 

Lots of us got our start without the help of AU by parents, myself included. The initial struggle before you have a credit history and the difficulty before your score gets good is understood. We even empathize with it, so long as you don't act like you ought to be entitled to a free pass. Lot's of life is like this, and the sooer you accept that, the easier to swallow it will be.

Message 17 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User

It's your parent's right to add or not add you as an AU. I never got added as an AU. You just need to look at things with a different perspective. You should be greatful that you aren't added as an AU because you can build up your credit on your own.  I know this sounds cheesy and cliche, but you'll appreciate it a lot more since you earned it yourself. I didn't get my first credit card until my mid-20s. You are way ahead of me. You're young and have plenty of time to build up your credit. Just keep at it and the doors will open for you. Smiley Happy

Message 18 of 20
MrsCHX
Valued Contributor

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User

Woah. I have kids who are 17 and almost 19 and if they told me they resented me for not making them AUs I would laugh before lost it on them.

 

Welcome to the real world kid. 

 

Establish yourself. Yep, you're going to have to pay higher car insurance for awhile. That's real life. You're probably going to pay inflated interest rates for awhile. ALso real life. You aren't "owed" a home purchase at 22, 24 years old. Real life. 

 

You have time because you're what? 20? It'll be fine. Chill.

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Message 19 of 20
blondy250
Established Contributor

Re: My parents never made me an Authorized User

Not a productive thread at this point, locking it. --Rev

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Message 20 of 20
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