topic Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts in General Credit Topics

FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

jamie123 — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 16:37:50 GMT

Just thought that I'd post this history here because it might help others...

When my son was 14 years old I made him an AU on my Walmart/MC. When he turned 16 years old I made him an AU on my BoA Rewards card. (We had to fill out a special form that BoA sent us by snail mail and we had to return by snail mail in order for them to report the BoA Rewards card to the credit bureaus.)

He turned 18 years old a few months ago and is a Senior in high school and will be going off to college next year. I told him that it was time to get his own credit cards so that he can establish credit in his name now.

We discussed applying for Student cards but thought we would straight up gamble and apply for the regular versions. We could always apply for the Student cards in a few months if he didn't get the regular versions.

He applied for a Discover IT and was approved with a SL of $1200!

He applied for the BoA Rewards card and was given the "under review, we will send you a letter in 7 to 10 days" response.

We figured 1 for 2 wasn't too bad. We will just apply for the BoA Student card in a few months, but lo and behold, the BoA letter he received stated that he was approved for the BoA Rewards card with a SL of $1800!

Now...If he can demonstrate a bit of responsibility he will be fine. I hope...

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 17:19:31 GMT

Awesome! Congrats to DS & you for helping him!👏

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

blindambition — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 17:22:22 GMT

Congrats to DS on his approvals and step into adulthood. Good luck!! It seems that you have coached him well. 🥳 @jamie123 wrote:
Just thought that I'd post this history here because it might help others...

When my son was 14 years old I made him an AU on my Walmart/MC. When he turned 16 years old I made him an AU on my BoA Rewards card. (We had to fill out a special form that BoA sent us by snail mail and we had to return by snail mail in order for them to report the BoA Rewards card to the credit bureaus.)

He turned 18 years old a few months ago and is a Senior in high school and will be going off to college next year. I told him that it was time to get his own credit cards so that he can establish credit in his name now.

We discussed applying for Student cards but thought we would straight up gamble and apply for the regular versions. We could always apply for the Student cards in a few months if he didn't get the regular versions.

He applied for a Discover IT and was approved with a SL of $1200!

He applied for the BoA Rewards card and was given the "under review, we will send you a letter in 7 to 10 days" response.

We figured 1 for 2 wasn't too bad. We will just apply for the BoA Student card in a few months, but lo and behold, the BoA letter he received stated that he was approved for the BoA Rewards card with a SL of $1800!

Now...If he can demonstrate a bit of responsibility he will be fine. I hope...

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

gingerflower — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 17:26:22 GMT

Thank you sharing great information especially for those who are heading of to college.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

AllZero — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 17:30:53 GMT

Congratulations on DS approvals!

Good on ya for helping DS on his credit journey!

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Iusedtolurk — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 18:15:36 GMT

@jamie123 wrote:
Just thought that I'd post this history here because it might help others...

When my son was 14 years old I made him an AU on my Walmart/MC. When he turned 16 years old I made him an AU on my BoA Rewards card. (We had to fill out a special form that BoA sent us by snail mail and we had to return by snail mail in order for them to report the BoA Rewards card to the credit bureaus.)

He turned 18 years old a few months ago and is a Senior in high school and will be going off to college next year. I told him that it was time to get his own credit cards so that he can establish credit in his name now.

We discussed applying for Student cards but thought we would straight up gamble and apply for the regular versions. We could always apply for the Student cards in a few months if he didn't get the regular versions.

He applied for a Discover IT and was approved with a SL of $1200!

He applied for the BoA Rewards card and was given the "under review, we will send you a letter in 7 to 10 days" response.

We figured 1 for 2 wasn't too bad. We will just apply for the BoA Student card in a few months, but lo and behold, the BoA letter he received stated that he was approved for the BoA Rewards card with a SL of $1800!

Now...If he can demonstrate a bit of responsibility he will be fine. I hope...

Congrats to his success and to your commendable handling of his initial credit journey.

Sounds like you have created a solid foundation for him to start from and now the ball is in his court.

A casual eye on the future workings of his account handling will insure continued success because pitfalls do come out of nowhere sometimes. Our brains do work a little differently at that age due to lack of experience.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

jamie123 — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 19:36:34 GMT

@Iusedtolurk wrote:
@jamie123 wrote:
Just thought that I'd post this history here because it might help others...

When my son was 14 years old I made him an AU on my Walmart/MC. When he turned 16 years old I made him an AU on my BoA Rewards card. (We had to fill out a special form that BoA sent us by snail mail and we had to return by snail mail in order for them to report the BoA Rewards card to the credit bureaus.)

He turned 18 years old a few months ago and is a Senior in high school and will be going off to college next year. I told him that it was time to get his own credit cards so that he can establish credit in his name now.

We discussed applying for Student cards but thought we would straight up gamble and apply for the regular versions. We could always apply for the Student cards in a few months if he didn't get the regular versions.

He applied for a Discover IT and was approved with a SL of $1200!

He applied for the BoA Rewards card and was given the "under review, we will send you a letter in 7 to 10 days" response.

We figured 1 for 2 wasn't too bad. We will just apply for the BoA Student card in a few months, but lo and behold, the BoA letter he received stated that he was approved for the BoA Rewards card with a SL of $1800!

Now...If he can demonstrate a bit of responsibility he will be fine. I hope...

Congrats to his success and to your commendable handling of his initial credit journey.

Sounds like you have created a solid foundation for him to start from and now the ball is in his court.

A casual eye on the future workings of his account handling will insure continued success because pitfalls do come out of nowhere sometimes. Our brains do work a little differently at that age due to lack of experience.

Yeah, I'm going to watch him like a hawk. He doesn't know how awesome it would be to be only 28 years old with 10 year old Discover and BoA cards.

When I was 18 I had zero guidance from my parents and pretty much winged it for myself. I did pretty well all in all but could have done so much better with a little guidance. Made some mistakes that probably set me back a bit but in those days we knew nothing about our scores. (I'm old!)

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

M_Smart007 — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 20:07:26 GMT

Congrats to DS and Good job as a parent OP!

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 21:37:50 GMT

Congrats, and thanks for sharing! My daughter is 14 years old and I've been wondering if I should go ahead and add her as an AU to one of my cards.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

imaximous — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 23:37:55 GMT

I’ve added all my kids to a couple of my cards since they were little but mostly for benefits.
2 of them are going to have cards many years older than they actually are on their reports once they start showing.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

jamie123 — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 01:12:57 GMT

@imaximous wrote:
I’ve added all my kids to a couple of my cards since they were little but mostly for benefits.
2 of them are going to have cards many years older than they actually are on their reports once they start showing.

You have to make sure that the lenders are reporting to the credit bureaus. With Walmart I had to call customer service and give him my son's birth date. With BoA I had to fill out a special form. Each lender has their own rules when it comes to reporting on minors to the credit bureaus. Call them to be sure.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 16:19:09 GMT

Congratz on the early start. I do think that even with AU accounts, an 18 YO just starting out will have better luck with Student versions versus regular, simply due to the fact several Lenders don't count AU in scoring.

That being said, with 12 months of responsible use he should be able to add more a little easier.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Openwater — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 21:26:16 GMT

That is awesome, congrats. I'm hoping to do the same with my kids once they are older. Cheers!

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

imaximous — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 03:07:00 GMT

@jamie123 wrote:
@imaximous wrote:
I’ve added all my kids to a couple of my cards since they were little but mostly for benefits.
2 of them are going to have cards many years older than they actually are on their reports once they start showing.
You have to make sure that the lenders are reporting to the credit bureaus. With Walmart I had to call customer service and give him my son's birth date. With BoA I had to fill out a special form. Each lender has their own rules when it comes to reporting on minors to the credit bureaus. Call them to be sure.

I'm planning to do that at some point but it's really too soon. I only added them for certain benefits that require that they have a card in their name. One of them is in elementary and the other one hasn't even started pre-school, so they won't need any reporting for a long time. Even the older one has many years to go before needing any credit. I'll make sure they start reporting when the time is right.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

seattletravels — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 03:47:55 GMT

Congrats to you for instilling good credit habits early on!

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

KLEXH25 — Sun, 22 Mar 2020 04:57:03 GMT

Great job!!! Congratulations on your combined successes. Now you just need to teach him how to budget and to spend / live within his means.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Anonymous — Sat, 30 May 2020 00:59:22 GMT

I'm thinking of doing this for my 15 y/o. Did you pull your son's scores?

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Anonymous — Sat, 30 May 2020 01:18:21 GMT

I added my teens to my CCs as well and when they moved out at 18, they had mid-600s credit scores. Easily got their own CCs (Discover IT student cards and Cap One were their firsts, then BoA), and within a year or two had 700+ scores. Now they have their own solid Amex, Chase etc cards. My 22 yr old is prepping to buy a house in about a year now!

Definitely a gift. My daughter is super irresponsible so I cut up her cards and never let her have them, but she still got the benefits.

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Anonymous — Sat, 30 May 2020 04:47:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I added my teens to my CCs as well and when they moved out at 18, they had mid-600s credit scores. Easily got their own CCs (Discover IT student cards and Cap One were their firsts, then BoA), and within a year or two had 700+ scores. Now they have their own solid Amex, Chase etc cards. My 22 yr old is prepping to buy a house in about a year now!

Definitely a gift. My daughter is super irresponsible so I cut up her cards and never let her have them, but she still got the benefits.

That's amazing! Thanks for your response!

Re: FYI Making Teens Authorized Users on Your Accounts

Appleman — Sat, 30 May 2020 11:59:45 GMT

My oldest daughter is in college. The Discover IT was her first card when she was a Freshman. They started her out at $1,500 and it has grown on its own to $6,750. It is her favorite card and she allows me access to her account to help keep an eye on things.

Also, make sure they have Auto-pay set up for at least the minimum payment to avoid any issues. Amazing she has a 781 credit score on Discover...