My son is 19 and has worked for the same company (union job) for almost 3 years.
When I rebuilt my credit, I put him on mine listed as an AU to establish him some credit (and actually get him a number going on the credit reporting agencies since he was non-existent with them until then). His credit shows the same cards listed in my signature line and over 60k CL. I only give him access to the AMEX card in his name and he is VERY responsible with it. He charges his weekly expenses (gas and food while working and a little shopping here and there) and pays his balance off each week on payday and repeats the following week. He has definitely showed his responsibility with usage and payments.
His FAKO credit scores have really came up over the last year (reporting around 747 with most of them-of course I don't know what his real scores are and have never pulled them) and I would like to see him obtain some of his own cards in just his name now.
What's a good starting point to look at cards for someone his age, work history, and only being an AU on my card?
@Anonymous wrote:capital One QS and Chase Freedom with those 700+ FAKO scores
get approved and start removing your cards from AU once approved in six months
I was afraid you would suggest a capital card. I seriously hate that company, but do know that they usually approve easily with little or no credit. My daughter is also an AI on my cards and she kept getting preapproval letters from capital so she finally applied and got approved for their normal lousy $300. She'll probably be stuck there for years to come. Is the QS any different and better with the CLI's?
I didn't realize that Chase Freedom would be one to try for. Will they look at his credit and wonder since he is already an AU on my Chase Freedom and deny him?
May I ask why should I remove him after 6 months? That doesn't sound like a long time to establish your own credit.
@B335is wrote:
Amex. The backdating will be priceless in years. Start with one of the charge cards like PRG he can always downgrade after a year when AF kicks in.
Will AMEX even consider someone as young as him with only being an AU? I did think about that and knew about the backdating, but wasn't sure with his age.
What is PRG and AF?
@BluePoodle wrote:Barclay Sallie Mae with 5% on Gas/Groceries/Amazon. My Daughter was accepted for her first card with them for $3.2K and she is 19 too. She had a TU score a little over 700 and an EX score at 661. She was an AU on 3 of my cards at the time with an income of about $11K annual and 2 yrs worth of student loans. Since opening her own card, her scores have jumped: TU 715 and EX 698.
Wow, that's a nice starting limit with them at 19 years old. That's awesome. I should probably get him to try Barclay for sure (which is also one of the cards he's an AU on).
@BluePoodle wrote:I would have him try the introductory offer with EX and see what his real FICO scores are. That is what I did with my daughter then I just kept it for two months for her and cancelled it later. But as long as he has a decent score of mid 660's I think he would be ok for the SM. I would also consider Amex's ED or BCE if you want to get him in on Amex for backdating. I do think he would get accepted there too with his AU history and of course he would get a card that grows quickly and be backdated from when you added him as an AU. Let us know what he decides to do and what his limit is.
Oh, I agree I think the Cap1 student card or the Discover student card would give pretty small CL's but if by chance he does not get accepted to the others, he can always go back and apply to one of these. Since he is so young, the extra HP's shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Thanks for the info and advice.
Since he's not a student, would he even qualify for any type of student card?
I know he wants to try for a few different cards all at once so that they'll all fall off at once, so is an app spree going to hurt at this point?