How much does authorized users account help when trying to build credit

[Anonymous]

I think you are a great parent, i wish everyone in this country who has children would teach their children about the importance of credit....

regardless, congrats to your son and nephew.

[Anonymous]

AU accounts help I think only if they asked for SSN when ur adding person and if it's same address (same address part I'm not sure) but I added my 10 year old son and 7 year old daughter to 5 of my accounts about 7 months ago and now they always getting pre qual from citi discover bofa chase. Think they should be good as long as I don't mess up. Can't add someone to Amex until they r at least 15 😜

[elim]

Congrats, That's a lot of credit to manage for a newb    :]     I would definitely stay as support system.

[Anonymous]

Chase gave my 18 year old son's best friend  (who isn't in school and has NO job) a $3500 card without any AU. They can't wait to get their hooks in them. I tried to stop him from applying until I was able to look into the best card to get, but he ran off to Chase after talking to me about (possibly) doing it. 

I'll add my son to my cards while he is in school so that he will be ready to fly on his own by the time he graduates. 

Congrats to your son, he has a great support system to get himself a wonderful start in life. 

[Berk]

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@Anonymous wrote:

AU accounts help I think only if they asked for SSN when ur adding person and if it's same address (same address part I'm not sure) but I added my 10 year old son and 7 year old daughter to 5 of my accounts about 7 months ago and now they always getting pre qual from citi discover bofa chase. Think they should be good as long as I don't mess up. Can't add someone to Amex until they r at least 15 😜

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Wow! 5 accounts and at such a young age. You are opening yourself up to a whole lot of fraud exposure in my opinion. Wouldn't 1 card each when they turned 18 give them the same results? I have two AUs on just one of my accounts and within 3 months they were well on their way to estabilshing a nice credit profile for themselves. At 6 months they had their own cards. It isn't my job as a parent to establish credit for them. Help them? Yes. Do all the work? No. Again, this is just my opinion. Both of them were at least 18 with jobs.

Better hope your kids don't trade one of your cards for a video game! 

[Anonymous]

So um a 7 year old and a 10 year old could go shopping with a credit card and so can a 15 yr old. What, I thought they had to be at least 18? No, wow, So what is the legal age to get them started as an AU and does that mean that they could use it or just be added to start learning about credit? My kids don't want to be added but it is good info to know.

thanks.

[Berk]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So um a 7 year old and a 10 year old could go shopping with a credit card and so can a 15 yr old. What, I thought they had to be at least 18? No, wow, So what is the legal age to get them started as an AU and does that mean that they could use it or just be added to start learning about credit? My kids don't want to be added but it is good info to know.

thanks.

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There is no legal age per se. It all depends on the bank issuing the card and, yes, just like they can use cash, they can use a credit card. Might be an issue if they can't produce valid picture I.D. but, come on, when was the last time you were asked to produce I.D. for a credit card purchase?