AU Credit vs Charge for Credit Building

[Anonymous]

Hey all! Long time lurker, first time poster! You guys are awesome here and finally cannot find enough of a clear answer on this.

I want to help my brother just out of high school build his credit for moving out in a year or so. He is currently looking for his first job. He has no debt or plans to issue debt. I wanted to be a nice brother and help him with his credit.

Originally, I planned to put him on my 6 month old QS and sock drawer it until he could make his own payments on it. I currently don’t use it anymore as I recently obtained a Amex Gold that I generate spend on. I was thinking of putting him on the gold for better AU control that Amex has.

I blew up my credit four years ago with a Dillard’s card in college (Paid CO) and rebuilt with years of installment loans (car, student loans) before Cap took a chance with me. Now I’m at 670 FICO with Exp. I always PIF now that I have a decent income. So I want to really help him where I failed.

TLDR:

Would a low uti basic revolver be the tried and true method or give him a more premium charge card to help build from the getgo? I’m sure it’s an interesting topic to start from zero for a lot of people and what to do.

Thanks!!!

[simplynoir]

Purely from the viewpoint of wanting to help someone get their scores off to the right start it's the CapOne QS hands down. Even for it's relatively young age it's better than nothing and assuming everything is fine with the card (payment history, decent limit, etc.) your brother will inherit all the history with card. AMEX does not backdate AUs and with it being a charge card will not have a credit limit to report to the bureaus. Creditors don't differentiate between "premium" cards and "regular" cards it's all the same to them when they take a peak at your reports.