Hello. I have been building my credit for 2 months now and it is to my understanding that it takes 6 months of having a credit line in order to generate a fico score. Now my question is this: I read somewhere on these forums that getting added as an authorized user to a mature credit line would circumvent the 6 month waiting period, is this certain? I understand establishing credit takes time but I need a new car and do not want to wait 4 months to finally receive a fico score. I would appreciate the confirmation so thanks in advance! 
@Anonymous wrote:
Hello. I have been building my credit for 2 months now and it is to my understanding that it takes 6 months of having a credit line in order to generate a fico score. Now my question is this: I read somewhere on these forums that getting added as an authorized user to a mature credit line would circumvent the 6 month waiting period, is this certain? I understand establishing credit takes time but I need a new car and do not want to wait 4 months to finally receive a fico score. I would appreciate the confirmation so thanks in advance!
Yes, you can generate a FICO score from an AU tradeline (if it's counted, it might not be with FICO 8's anti-abuse measures) without having any of your own tradelines meet the requirement. You might be stuck on that, absolutely worst case you could simply get the car with whatever ugly interest rate a no file would get, and then refinance it in six months.
@Anonymous wrote:
Another question: if my grandma were to add me to her card how soon would it generate (provided its not flagged)? The dealership refused to finance me due to no fico score so that's out. My car has about 200k miles but I'm not here to complain about my problems...
As soon as it lands on the report you can generate a score. If you know what bureau they pulled, I'd get the AU, wait till it reported, and then double-check by the requisite FICO 8 score - if you have a score there, then go shopping again.
If you don't, try finding a different lender (walk into every local CU you qualify for and explain the situation and be prepared to wrap your arms around them by moving your financial life there... won't hurt you at all), or paying cash for a beater or looking into public transportation. Also try DCU if push comes to shove but I don't know how they look at limited files, but I do know your AU will count there absolutely since they're using the FICO 04 version of the algorithm for their underwriting... but I'd absolutely try to sort it out locally first. Going in and talking to someone in person solves all sorts of problems here just like everywhere else in life.
Actually, I'd do that anyway. Get financing for the amount you need from a local CU if at all possible, and then walk into the dealership and it's an entirely different conversation if you choose to have it since they'd have to try to beat the CU's financing, or you can just tell them no. CU will likely do better for you anyway than what you'd get from the dealer in your situation.
@Anonymous wrote:
Forgive me but what does the d stand for in dcu?
Oops abbreviation: DCU = Digital Federal Credit Union.
@Anonymous wrote:
Isn't that east coast? I live in California so I am not sure if I can just walk in.
No that's the fall back position; you can do everything online with them and anyone can get membership with a small donation, but you are looking for someone to help you out, therefore your first and best option is go make friends with a local CU. Personal relationships are arguably even more important in this day of Internet first business methods.
I simply use: http://credituniondirectory.net/California-credit-unions.html
and sort by Asset Size and go right down the list for ones I'm qualified for living in Los Angeles county in my case.
Or I just tried Googling "los angeles credit unions" and that picked up a bunch of local ones near me with a handy map sort. I prefer bigger CU's to smaller ones but anyone who's willing to play let's make a deal with you, is what you're looking for in this situation.