AMEX authorized user to establish credit for child

ambitiouscat79 · ‎11-02-2021

Hi!

I've been considering and looking into getting my kids (13 and 10) started on their financial journey (since it took me well into my 30s to even care and severely trying to get on solid ground)...

I read that 13 was the minimum age for AMEX but when I noticed as I was starting to add her the statement "Plus, you can help them establish credit if they're over 18." Is the age where they will establish is 18 (is it because they ask for more info such as ssn if kids are over 18)?

Any other advice or recommendations would be appreciated as well!

simplynoir · ‎11-02-2021

@ambitiouscat79 wrote:
Hi!
I've been considering and looking into getting my kids (13 and 10) started on their financial journey (since it took me well into my 30s to even care and severely trying to get on solid ground)...

I read that 13 was the minimum age for AMEX but when I noticed as I was starting to add her the statement "Plus, you can help them establish credit if they're over 18." Is the age where they will establish is 18 (is it because they ask for more info such as ssn if kids are over 18)?

Any other advice or recommendations would be appreciated as well!

The reason why AMEX makes that distinction is because while they will start generating a credit report if you add your 13 yr old daughter now she won't have a credit score til they are legally 18 yrs old to have one so they can apply for credit products in their own name. For the time being you can help them start building credit so when they reach of age there will be some solid history there

One thing to note with AMEX is that if you add your children to your AMEX card they will NOT inherit the history of your card; it will be as if they were just added i.e. a new account opened the month/year you put them on your account as an authorized user. For example if you have a card opened back in 2010 for instance their credit report will reflect the AU account age opened as of November 2021 not 2010. Most other issuers let AUs acquire the entire history of the card from age of account to payment history. This is just a quirk of AMEX, but fortunately if you add her it will have five years of aging which will help

ambitiouscat79 · ‎11-02-2021

Thank you, this makes so much sense - thanks for helping connect the dots!

While there are other cards that I have that I believe she meets the age requirement on, all with good history and some with longer histories such as Capital One, I think 5 years of history is more than enough to get off on the right foot , and as she gets older I can actually hand her the card (ie in high school) for emergency use or to learn how to use responsibly with the spending limit feature they have for AU...

Just wanted to make sure the time counted for something - thanks again!

simplynoir · ‎11-02-2021

If there one thing AMEX has over most other banks is the amount of control the primary has with authorized users. From setting a limit that a person is comfortable with lending out that can be changed at any time to locking the card when it's lost/stolen/not in use, to different card numbers so if they need a replacement for whatever reason it will not affect the primary's card at all. Plenty of tools to work with helping your daughter out

rostrow416 · ‎11-03-2021

While the Amex quirk regarding the account history is noteworthy, if it's an actual card you plan on handing over to your kid to use, I don't think you should have any second thoughts. The ability to set up authorized user accounts and set limits is awesome.

I'm in the same boat (mine is 13) and I'll probably be adding her to mine as well and eventually giving her the card in a couple years to have instead of carrying cash.

ambitiouscat79 · ‎11-03-2021

Thanks for sharing and confirming I'm on the right track and train of thought around this! Hopefully they will appreciate this and I wish my parents had known enough to do the same ... but information or forums like this weren't as readily available previously