Does being an AU for a certain time really help get a major card?

[MichLakes]

This is for the opposite of what you normally see.  It's an older retired relative that has used cash for years since everything has been paid off long ago. It's to the point they no longer have a credit file.  

I was thinking of putting them on one or two cards with perfect history in hopes they would be able to get their own prime card with a major lender in 6 months to a year. 

Does this work?  Something like the Citi Costco card would be ideal for the person. 

[SRT4kid93]

@MichLakes 

From my understanding only having authorized user cards and not having any of their own would be very little help. Banks can very easily tell the difference between a regular and AU card on someone's Report and they do not take AU cards very seriously at all. 

the biggest perk they offer is for the age metrics on someone's profile, so if someone had a very young profile, and they were added as an authorized user to a card that has been open for a very long time, it would tremendously help their average age of accounts and therefore help their score.

but when a company looks at the report, they know what to look for.  And they know what an AU card is. 

that is why people have to start with secured cards/entry level cards, and slowly build their profile on their own merits, not someone else's. But honestly it's not as bad as it sounds,

get them a secured card or low level card and in under a year they will be scoreable again with a good score 

[SpaceCityCCuser]

My son was an AU on 3 of my cards before he applied for his first card. They had an average of 12k credit limit on each card. He got a 4k starting limit on his Discover IT card with a stated income of 12k per year. I think the higher limits helped with his starting limit on his first card. He is also a student and he applied for the student Discover IT card. I think he would have been approved either way but the higher limit cards may have helped with his higher limit on his first credit card. Just my experience.

[Windchill92]

+1 on the increased account age. I was able to get NFCU's (are they considered a major lender?) cashRewards right out of the gate a few Benjamin's shy of $30k SL. Also, I have first hand experience getting denied from having a majority AU history and not individual...shoutout Citi. They can definitely tell AU or individual.

To @SpaceCityCCuser's point, I am confident that the NFCU limit (which I CLI'd to $35k) helped get me the almost $20k limit with Elan/Fidelity. Cards from Left --> Right in my sig were obtained in that order.

TLDR: Bottom line is, it helps...but not tremendously.