I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[WVMomof3]

DD turns 15 this month, and I'm trying to figure out the best strategy to start building her credit. What are the minimum ages to add her as AU or open her own cards (realistically do they approve 18 yo for SW cards)? Should we add her as and AU to our oldest cards--no AF Hilton AmEx since 2001, Disney Signature Chase since 2003, Carnival Barclays 10+ years. Or put her on a card that gets higher spend (always paid off each month). I'd like to be able to start her on her own cards at 18 so she can start 'paying' her own travel expenses. Any good cards likely to approve first-timers and what are they looking for on the credit history?

I’m not sure if there is a min age for AU for Chase. If there is it is younger than 13 because that is Amex youngest age. 18 for their own card. I think a lot of our kids on this thread started with Discover. It seems to be the easiest for them to get. There is now a Chase student card that I believe you have to go in branch for it. Both of my DDs started with Discover at 18 and then got the Freedom Unlimited after about 6 months. I believe @wendow s DD got the Southwest as her 3rd personal card but I remember someone else’s teenager/20domething was denied it. So ymmv. I would def add them as AU now.

 

[Haley R]

I think I’m gonna go ahead and refer Dh for the capital one venture. We ended up paying $300 off my CIP today because we were getting close to the monthly limit. Capital one is the only company I’ve gotten instant approval with so we’ll see if Dh does too.

ETA: Also, I called them yesterday about the AF and I already had the credit applied yesterday. I was amazed how fast they applied it

 

[tink1970]

DD turns 15 this month, and I'm trying to figure out the best strategy to start building her credit. What are the minimum ages to add her as AU or open her own cards (realistically do they approve 18 yo for SW cards)? Should we add her as and AU to our oldest cards--no AF Hilton AmEx since 2001, Disney Signature Chase since 2003, Carnival Barclays 10+ years. Or put her on a card that gets higher spend (always paid off each month). I'd like to be able to start her on her own cards at 18 so she can start 'paying' her own travel expenses. Any good cards likely to approve first-timers and what are they looking for on the credit history?

My now 19 year old is an AU on my Disney Chase and has been for 11 years! Since she was 13 she’s been an AU on 3 Amexes as well.

She has her own Cap1 and Discover cards and her credit score bounces between 790-800.

I’m a proponent of making children early AUs- it doesn’t mean they carry it around necessarily and it seemed to help her credit score.

 

[Haley R]

Yay instant approval for DH!

 

[mgarbowski]

DD turns 15 this month, and I'm trying to figure out the best strategy to start building her credit. What are the minimum ages to add her as AU or open her own cards (realistically do they approve 18 yo for SW cards)? Should we add her as and AU to our oldest cards--no AF Hilton AmEx since 2001, Disney Signature Chase since 2003, Carnival Barclays 10+ years. Or put her on a card that gets higher spend (always paid off each month). I'd like to be able to start her on her own cards at 18 so she can start 'paying' her own travel expenses. Any good cards likely to approve first-timers and what are they looking for on the credit history?

AU rules and practices differ by issuer. For example, with Amex the AU can be as young as 13, which is when my younger daughter got her Plat. Some issuers have no age minimum, and I think BofA wants 18, but sometimes waives it. They report AUs differently as well. Some, I believe, do not report AUs at all to the bureaus, but most do. I'm reasonably sure Amex does. They also differ on whether they report the entire credit history under the AU's name, or just starting from the date the AU is added. Best to pick a card with a longer and clean payment history just in case. I do not believe amounts count as much as just having a regular payment history. I have not yet looked into having either daughter get her own card yet so can't help you there.

 

[striker1064]

Yay instant approval for DH! For those of you that have done capital one, adding me as an AU shouldn’t count against my 5/24 right? I did it for DH when I applied for the card and didn’t even think about it

It almost certainly will. Even Capitol One biz cards count against 5/24 as far as I know.

 

[Haley R]

It almost certainly will. Even Capitol One biz cards count against 5/24 as far as I know.

Oh wow really? Crap. I didn’t put my social in when I did the AU. Does that make a difference? All I had to put in was my name and phone number

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Oh wow really? Crap. I didn’t put my social in when I did the AU. Does that make a difference? All I had to put in was my name and phone number

They will find you and they will put it on your credit report... (most likely). Will this significantly hurt your 5/24 status? Where are you on that right now?

It might make sense to call back and cancel that AU vs sacrificing a slot.

 

[Haley R]

They will find you and they will put it on your credit report... (most likely). Will this significantly hurt your 5/24 status? Where are you on that right now?

It might make sense to call back and cancel that AU vs sacrificing a slot.

No it shouldn’t be a huge deal. I’ll be at 2/24 so not bad at all. I need to change Dh’s because he was an AU on mine and I didn’t put that on my spreadsheet. Now I know I guess.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

No it shouldn’t be a huge deal. I’ll be at 2/24 so not bad at all. I need to change Dh’s because he was an AU on mine and I didn’t put that on my spreadsheet. Now I know I guess.

Report back and let us know if it shows up in a few months. Unfortunately most card issuers seem to have their ways of connecting these AU cards back to you. Glad it won’t really hurt you a ton though!

 

[Haley R]

Report back and let us know if it shows up in a few months. Unfortunately most card issuers seem to have their ways of connecting these AU cards back to you. Glad it won’t really hurt you a ton though!

How do I check if it shows up? I’ve been tracking manually and I might be wrong what our counts are. Should I have him call and cancel the AU?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

How do I check if it shows up? I’ve been tracking manually and I might be wrong what our counts are. Should I have him call and cancel the AU?

You’d see a new account appear on your Experian account or Credit Karma account etc. I use a free Experian.com account to watch my 5/24.

It’s up to you if you cancel it but I always avoid AU cards under all circumstances. Awhile back (years) I added an AU with Amex using my middle name on my wife’s card and no SSN and it eventually showed up on my personal report. Since then I’ve always been very cautions but my 5/24 status is SUPER important to me! I view each of those slots as pure gold

 

[Haley R]

You’d see a new account appear on your Experian account or Credit Karma account etc. I use a free Experian.com account to watch my 5/24.

It’s up to you if you cancel it but I always avoid AU cards under all circumstances. Awhile back (years) I added an AU with Amex using my middle name on my wife’s card and no SSN and it eventually showed up on my personal report. Since then I’ve always been very cautions but my 5/24 status is SUPER important to me! I view each of those slots as pure gold

Dh said he already has an Experian account so he’ll check. I need to make one for myself. Can you check as much as you want?

He’s calling now to cancel the AU card. I’d rather it not be counted against me if possible. Now that I’m asking, what about a Hilton Amex personal card? I think I might have an AU on that card of his too.

ETA: Phew he called and they got it removed so no AU for me on the capital one. Dh is 4/24 with 2 dropping off this year.

 

[LYSE]

Not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread but just a quick fyi: Dvc loan payments code as travel on Chase cards, even though the CSR is getting ruined I had the wife sign up for the specific purpose of getting 3x points and using the travel credit when paying off a contract for 28k, we got the signup bonus 3x points and the travel credit in one transaction..not bad!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Dh said he already has an Experian account so he’ll check. I need to make one for myself. Can you check as much as you want?

He’s calling now to cancel the AU card. I’d rather it not be counted against me if possible. Now that I’m asking, what about a Hilton Amex personal card? I think I might have an AU on that card of his too.

ETA: Phew he called and they got it removed so no AU for me on the capital one. Dh is 4/24 with 2 dropping off this year.

What was the open date on that Hilton card? Was it awhile ago?

I believe my Experian account will update once a month. I really like how they present things in their site lol.

 

[Haley R]

What was the open date on that Hilton card? Was it awhile ago?

I believe my Experian account will update once a month. I really like how they present things in their site lol.

The Hilton was 9/27/18 so it should drop off this year. Right?

I tried to make an Experian account but it says first month free and $19.99/month after that

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

The Hilton was 9/27/18 so it should drop off this year. Right?

I tried to make an Experian account but it says first month free and $19.99/month after that

You gotta find the right link on their site. They try to feature the paid links and trick you into picking one of those. Click around and try different links - you might find it then.

 

[Psychodisney]

Then why not do a CIP until he can get the csr? More urs and a low af.

I was thinking about that too. He'd need to come up with a "business". But that would be a nice chunk of UR for him.

 

[Haley R]

You gotta find the right link on their site. They try to feature the paid links and trick you into picking one of those. Click around and try different links - you might find it then.

That sounds like a lot of work lol. I’ll try to find it

 

[bernina]

That sounds like a lot of work lol. I’ll try to find it

Try this link:
https://www.experian.com/consumer-products/free-credit-report.html
I have their higher end monitoring for free, I think through DH's work, but this looks like the one I originally signed up with.