How to build credit for a 23YO?.

[Junejer]

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@Creditplz wrote:

Hey everybody, my baby cousin just graduated from college last month.. 

he has 0 credit (ZERO), only had a bank account with WESCOM. I added him on my savor card as an AU and his fico generated at 705 today... he applied for a cap one card that was pre qualified and was denied (says stuff like he has no cc himself, and no balances, few payments). 

albeit I just got the savor card less then 6 months ago.. I was going to add him on my Amex plat that's been open forever... will this help him get his first card?. Most pre qualified tools only show secured.. and discover said no offers..

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DW and I decided to help our daughters out with their credit build, because we had to learn about credit the hard way. I put one DD on my CapOne card as AU and DW put other DD on her Target MC as AU. These are cards that we don't use normally, so allowed them to have cards, use them and pay for their purchases (we hawked those cards online to ensure nothing stupid was going on). We made them PIF except for $10, so something would report to the CRAs. We did this for about a year.

One daughter already had a car loan at a very high rate, but has refinanced now and saved about $90/month, she has a Chase Southwest card (she flies a lot) with a SL of $5K and her TU FICO is 792. Other DD just got her own PayPal MC and has a FICO of 767. In our case, the AU certainly helped to jumpstart their credit lives.

[HeavenOhio]

Now that @Creditplz's cousin has a card, there should be no need to apply for a secured card. Sitting tight for a few months should open up some options.

[Crowhelm]

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@Creditplz wrote:

Update: He applied for a WESCOM cc and received a $4k limit based on limited cc history and deposits.

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That is all he needs to start building credit. He should be good with this for at least a year or two. Somebody who never handled credit should never apply for multiple cards right away even if they can get them. How about a used car or truck loan? Does he need that? Another great way to boost your credit score. Stick with the credit union, for now, they are great to work with in most cases, unlike bigger banks.

[Creditplz]

I offered to add him as a co-signer on my next auto lease (DW is up for a new lease) he said yeah, he's excited since I told him after this lease he will have no issues getting any auto loan approval. 

DW is returning a GLS450, maybe to get a Gle coupe?.

anyways, he's a good kid, I'm happy he's building! Another card I added him as an AU reported and his score jumped to 755. 

I'll let him handle the whole card area now! 

[805orbust]

Yeah that totally works, we added our 3 to Chase, Amex, and Disco years ago. My oldest now has 2 of his own cards with $7500 and $9000 limits, "maybe" 2% utilization and my 2 cards and he's at 785. Better than me! (mild hatred ensues)

It's so great to be able to do it for them... my parents were clueless 😆