@JoeRockhead From the Federal Reserve (https://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2010/201023/201023pap.pdf )
"The Federal Reserve’s Regulation B, which implements the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act, requires that information on spousal authorized user accounts be reported to the credit bureaus and considered when lenders evaluate credit history. Since creditors generally furnish to the credit bureaus information on all authorized user accounts, without indicating which are spouses and which are not, credit scoring modelers cannot distinguish spousal from non‐spousal authorized user accounts. This effectively requires that all authorized user accounts receive similar treatment."
I can assure you that when I added my Peruvian wife to my accounts as an authorized user, she immediately got a very favorable credit score, qualifying her for a Capital One Quicksilver Card (and she didn't even have a social security number, only an ITIN). There was no six-month waiting period. It was instantaneous.
@RSX wrote:I can assure you that when I added my Peruvian wife to my accounts as an authorized user, she immediately got a very favorable credit score, qualifying her for a Capital One Quicksilver Card (and she didn't even have a social security number, only an ITIN). There was no six-month waiting period. It was instantaneous.
perhaps this is why your son didn't immediately show up as an AU - since you already have one - which would cover the spousal part
i am not sure the answer to this, but i also dont know what difference it would make for your path forward
are you looking to report the CC companies to someone, to try and resolve this (your) confusion?
Why would I be "looking to report the CC companies to someone" when I'm not sure the CC companies are the problem?
Nor do I agree that "you already have a spouse in their system" is an explanation because, for all they know, I divorced and got remarried.
Experían says:
https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/does-your-child-have-a-credit-report/
This seems to indicate that something could have been on his report, but nothing is there....
Anyway, he has Credit Karma on his phone now, so if something does show up, we'll know. But, it's still a mystery to me why nothing is there.
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/prescreened-credit-insurance-offers says
"Credit bureaus don’t keep credit files on minor children, but if you suspect an identity thief used your child’s information for fraud, submit an opt-out request for them. Send a written request to each of the credit bureaus. Your request must include your child’s full name, address, and date of birth. Include a copy of your child’s birth certificate, a copy of their Social Security card, and a copy of your driver’s license or other government-issued proof of identity."
So maybe the CRAs have been receiving reports but they've just been discarding the information because the child was underage?
As I said, I sent a copy of the social into the big 3 because I wanted them to have it in their system so that when my son signed up for the Experian app or Credit Karma, the social would be in the system, everything would match, and there would be no hitches. I didn't expect Experían to write back and say, "We have no file." As I said, I thought that was a stupid answer. "Thanks. We'll create a profile for him" would have been a better answer.
Bankers Online shows that someone asked about reporting credit information about minor children, and the consensus seemed to be that it depended on the state. Yet, Arizona does not have any additional credit reporting laws. So, again, I'm mystified.
But, as I said, I added him to three more credit cards (my wife's) just a day or two ago, and I hope that this will generate a profile of some sort regardless of whether it will take 6 months to see a score because the score isn't the point.
Your answer would tend to imply that my decision (to add him to new credit cards) is the right approach — now that he's 18, it is reasonable to think that credit issuers are more likely to report now than they were a month ago.
Well, the goal is to have him get credit, in the form of a car loan. And he was offered a car loan... at 28.99% APR, a rate I considered excessive.
@ForwardLooking wrote:Congrats on your son's 18th Birthday. My suggestion is to slow down and encourage your son to start building credit organically and slowly rather than trying to jumpstart as an AU and piggybacking on your credit profile. This does not work the way it used to and there are good reasons for this.
This is just not true. On February 1, 2004, I left the United States, and did not return until 2017. All of my credit, the good, the bad, and the ugly was gone. I had no score of any kind. I obtained an authorized user card, which posted to my credit profile in October.
So, although I don't know how FICO 9, handles authorized users, I do know how FICO 8 does. Last I checked, that was still a fairly popular scoring model.
In conclusion, I don't understand why everyone is trying to dissuade me from helping my son, but I'm still going to do everything in my power to help him short of co-signing for the car. That I will not do.