What worked for me and a new credit profile

[omgitsMatt]

A few years ago I did this for another siblings with zero credit history and I repeated again these last few months for another sibling also with no credit history. This might come in handy for anyone doing this for a family member.

1.) First I opened up a 5 yr shared pledge loan with NFCU, then paid it down to less than 7%.

2.) Then I added them as an authorized user on my oldest account, a 9.5k CC that carried no balance. I then raised the balance to about 2%.

3.) I waited for the AU card and loan to both report their updated balances and confirmed they updated via Credit Karma (just used CK to verify the updated balances)

I've done this once before prepandemic but as we all know the lending market has evolved a lot and it seems to be a little more difficult to obtain credit at the moment for some

The first brother I got them a 2k Blue Cash Preferred Amex, 2k NFCU cash rewards and a 200 secured card with Navy in one day.

This time, I got the second brother three cards in one day again just slightly different balances.

1k Blue Cash Preferred Amex

500 NFCU Platinum

200 NFCU nRewards secured card

There's a couple advantages to this method in my opinion. One would be no HPs usually for CLIs in the future. Second, all the accounts age uniformly which makes it easier to keep track of. Third, you get TWO NFCU cards same day, instead of wwaiting a few months in between apps and the secured WILL unsecure if treated properly. Finally, you got three revolving accounts that will always be useful and will all grow into 5 digit revolving lines of credit in time.

I'm not a big fan of accounts that are bucketed and useless after a few years like Cap1 and/or secured cards that don't unsecure.

This might be difficult to replicate without NFCU's secured loan setting the foundation, but should be easy to replicate for anyone who can take advantage of NFCU

Just wanted to share my results for anyone that might be interested in copying them

[keekers]

Good stuff. I'm taking a similar path with my teenagers. I have them both as AUs on my cards since they were opened. When they turn 18 I'll have them do the SSL loan with NFCU and likely a secured card to start.

[ptatohed]

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@keekers wrote:
Good stuff. I'm taking a similar path with my teenagers. I have them both as AUs on my cards since they were opened. When they turn 18 I'll have them do the SSL loan with NFCU and likely a secured card to start.

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Wait, you can add someone under 18 as an AU??

[keekers]

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@keekers wrote:
Good stuff. I'm taking a similar path with my teenagers. I have them both as AUs on my cards since they were opened. When they turn 18 I'll have them do the SSL loan with NFCU and likely a secured card to start.

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Wait, you can add someone under 18 as an AU??

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Yes; depending on the issuer.  Discover, Chase, NFCU and Cap One I can confirm.

[Hex]

I like it. The only thing missing is diversification but Navy is a solid lender so it probably doesn't matter. Thanks for sharing your strategy. 

[omgitsMatt]

Follow up just as all the accounts finally reported across all three bureaus.

Experian FICO 8: 813

Equifax FICO 8: 778

TransUnion FICO 8: 783

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Hard Pulls:

Experian, 1

Equifax, 0

TransUnion, 4

Navy, 3k Secured Loan, 95% paid, opened December, 2022

Amex, 1k CC, opened 2/18/23

Navy Plat CC, $500, opened 2/18/23

Navy Secured, $200, opened 2/18/23

KeyBank AU CC, 9.5k, opened 5/1/13

Edit,

AZEO, 2% balance on the Amex $1k CC

[805orbust]

Yep, this works. My 23, 21, and 19 year olds were AU's on my Chase, Disco, and Amex cards since about 2017. All 3 were in the 780's when submitting their first apps... still are actually.  If only my parents knew this back in the 80's.  😉