cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Authorize User – Teenager

tag
MzChrissy
New Contributor

Authorize User – Teenager

Hi MyFICO Community. My teen turns 18 in a few months and I want to add him as an authorize user to my credit card to start him off but had a few questions… (1) Can you add a 17 year-old as an authorize user? (2) Would I do more harm than good adding him to my account (all in good standing, no late payments, all under 10% utilization and over 2yrs old)? (3) I’m thinking of adding him to either my Navy Federal $50k or Discover Card $8.5k limit. Do both NFCU and Discover report authorize users to the credit bureau? (4) … or, should I just not add him to any cards until after he’s out of college? Any help/advice would be appreciated
Current Score:
Goal Score [Dec. 2021]:

Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

NFCU Platinum $50k | BlueNile $22.5k | Macys AMEX $20k | Citibank (AU) $19k | NFCU LOC $15k | AMEX Platinum $13k POT | Apple (Goldman Sachs) $12k | Amazon Store Card $10k | PayPal Credit $10k | Discover IT $10k | SoFi MasterCard $9k | Nordstrom Visa $6k
11 REPLIES 11
simplynoir
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Authorize User – Teenager

(1) Yes

(2) It should be fine based on what you described. After adding your teen to your card(s) it should take six months for scores to generate

(3) Yes

(4) If you want to start his credit history with a boost it will help. What depends here is if you're looking to boost his credit profile or are you actually giving him the cards

Message 2 of 12
sxa001
Valued Contributor

Re: Authorize User – Teenager

You can add him at 17 to most cards.  Some have no minimum age, Discover advertises 15 years as the minimum age. 

If the card is in good standing, low util as mentioned it won't hurt him.  I don't have kids, but if I did what I likely would do is add them as it would help them and monitor their spend closely.  I would also encourage them to get a student card to start building non AU history.  


Message 3 of 12
addicted_to_credit
Established Contributor

Re: Authorize User – Teenager

My DGF put both her son and daughter, 14 & 17 at the time respectively on both her Amex and Navy flagship card. She was able to also set limits on their cards so they didn't have access to the TCL which was very nice.  I think the minimum for Amex is 150 and the minimum for navy federal is 100. About a month after the daughter turned 18 she apped for her own navy card and was approved for a 3k limit at 9.xx apr - not bad in my humble opinion for a first credit card ever for a kid. Navy has been good to her and us, so we have no complaints. 


undefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedMy ImageMy ImageMy ImageMy Image
Message 4 of 12
FinStar
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Authorize User – Teenager


@addicted_to_credit wrote:

My DGF put both her son and daughter, 14 & 17 at the time respectively on both her Amex and Navy flagship card. She was able to also set limits on their cards so they didn't have access to the TCL which was very nice.  I think the minimum for Amex is 150 and the minimum for navy federal is 100. About a month after the daughter turned 18 she apped for her own navy card and was approved for a 3k limit at 9.xx apr - not bad in my humble opinion for a first credit card ever for a kid. Navy has been good to her and us, so we have no complaints. 


That would be an awfully long time to become eligible as an AU!!  😄

Message 5 of 12
addicted_to_credit
Established Contributor

Re: Authorize User – Teenager

@FinStar , it definitely would... I'll clarify though 😁. Minimum CL for Amex and Navy AU's is 200 and 100 respectively according to the DGF!


undefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedMy ImageMy ImageMy ImageMy Image
Message 6 of 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Authorize User – Teenager


@simplynoir wrote:

(1) Yes

(2) It should be fine based on what you described. After adding your teen to your card(s) it should take six months for scores to generate

(3) Yes

(4) If you want to start his credit history with a boost it will help. What depends here is if you're looking to boost his credit profile or are you actually giving him the cards


@simplynoir No it should not take six months for the score to generate.

The minimum requirements are that the person not be on the Social Security administration's death list, that the person have one account at least six months old and at least one account that has updated in the last six months. 

As long as OP's card was opened more than six months ago and has updated in the last six months, teen should have a score upon it reporting. If it is caught by the anti-abuse algorithm, I don't know what will happen, but he'll still have mortgage scores even if that were to theoretically to stop version 8+ scores.

 

The exception of course is American Express which will put the account opening date as the date the teen is added as an authorized user. But with most issuers that's not a problem.

Message 7 of 12
simplynoir
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Authorize User – Teenager


@Anonymous wrote:

@simplynoir wrote:

(1) Yes

(2) It should be fine based on what you described. After adding your teen to your card(s) it should take six months for scores to generate

(3) Yes

(4) If you want to start his credit history with a boost it will help. What depends here is if you're looking to boost his credit profile or are you actually giving him the cards


@simplynoir No it should not take six months for the score to generate.

The minimum requirements are that the person not be on the Social Security administration's death list, that the person have one account at least six months old and at least one account that has updated in the last six months. 

As long as OP's card was opened more than six months ago and has updated in the last six months, teen should have a score upon it reporting. If it is caught by the anti-abuse algorithm, I don't know what will happen, but he'll still have mortgage scores even if that were to theoretically to stop version 8+ scores.

 

The exception of course is American Express which will put the account opening date as the date the teen is added as an authorized user. But with most issuers that's not a problem.


Ah, I confused the card opening times with people with no credit compared to the AU timeline here. Thank you for the correction

Message 8 of 12
Meanmchine
Super Contributor

Re: Authorize User – Teenager

I can only picture John Belushi and the rest of the Delta Tau Chi Fraternity with a $50k Visa

>3/2016 EX 644 CK-TU 642 CK-EQ 660 WalMart- 671.
>5/2023 All 3 reports 840ish (F8) F9s = 850 but my app finger is still twitching
Message 9 of 12
MrT_521
Regular Contributor

Re: Authorize User – Teenager

I don't know the requirements for all credit cards, but I know what I did personally. Smiley Happy I added my 15-year-old son as an AU to my Capital One Quicksilver and my HSBC Cash Rewards Mastercard.

 

This isn't a credit card, but I tried to get him a Schwab debit card, but Schwab told me that they cannot add a minor (<18).

Personal Cards

Business Cards

Debit Cards

FICO 8 Scores (as of Dec 14, 2022)


Message 10 of 12
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.