Adding My Daughter as an Authorized User

[EW800]

Hi All, 

I am hoping to add my daughter (19) as an AU to at least one credit card account, in hopes of helping her build her credit a bit more.  She currently has a student loan that is 100% in good graces and a US Bank credit card with a NON-secured CL of only $500.  I know she needs to have another good trade line or two.  

I am wondering if it makes any difference which credit card I add her to as an AU?  Am I correct that some CCC's report AU and others do not?  Obviously I want to add one that will truly benefit her.  Here are my options:

Capital One:  It has a perfect record, PIF every month, usually before statement cut.  CL of $8.4K.  This account is about 12 years old.  

Discover:  It has a perfect record, PIF every month, usually before statement cut. CL of $11.7K.  This account is about 10 years old.  

Citi Card: It has a perfect record, PIF every month, usually before statement cut. CL of $5K.  This account is about 10 years old.  

Amex: There has one 30-day late on this account from 2 years ago (I am trying to GW it off).  PIF every month.  The account is about 9 years old. 

Barclay:  Perfect record, but the account is only about 3 months old.  PIF every month.  CL is $7K.  

As far as adding the one with the best history and would give her the most AU benefit, can you tell which the best candidates would be?  

Thank you!  

[gen-specific]

FICO 08 model no longer uses co-signers to let people "piggyback" off someone else's credit history

Some institutions may be using an older model, for now, but as soon as they switch, any perks from inheriting your credit history vanish

I wouldn't suggest using this as a "strategy" any longer

If you want to be the guarantor on her card because you think she will shoot her credit score in the foot really early on by not paying, then sure, go ahead.

[canusa11]

Worked for my 20yr old daughter. I added her to my cap one,discover & barclays. After they reported, cap one gave her a card. She tried before and was no go. Then she was able to get a freedom a few months later for 2k! She does bank at chase so not sure if that made the difference. So add her to those cards,  it will do wonders for her AAOA. I did notice they all listed her as an AU. YMMV

[CreditDunce]

FICO 08 discounts AU users, but legitimate AU's still count for a little.

I would add her to your Amex account to establish her MSD.   She will end up with a new AE TL on her credit report.  It will not have your AE history.

Then pick one or two of your CC's with 10 years of history.   Add her.  If it doesn't show up in 3 months, try a different CC.  Most big banks will report AU's.  However, sometimes CRA's might not be able to match the AU account to her for whatever reason.

[Chris123nTx]

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@CreditDunce wrote:

FICO 08 discounts AU users, but legitimate AU's still count for a little.

I would add her to your Amex account to establish her MSD.   She will end up with a new AE TL on her credit report.  It will not have your AE history.

Then pick one or two of your CC's with 10 years of history.   Add her.  If it doesn't show up in 3 months, try a different CC.  Most big banks will report AU's.  However, sometimes CRA's might not be able to match the AU account to her for whatever reason

I put my daughter as an AU on my Amex BCP.

I really like the way that I set her credit limit and can easily change it as I see fit.  

I generally keep it around $1000 but when she has taken road trips I will up it to $5000 or so. It is easy to keep track of her spending on line and is just a good card for her to have. I don't think the late you had would matter at all for her.

I have a limit of $20K on card, and if she were to need to apply for credit on her own, I might consider upping her to the full 20K for a month or two.

Although I trust her completely, I figure there is no point in giving someone enough rope to hang me with - just in case.