I did this for my son when he turned 18. A month afterwards we checked his credit score, and it was 798. You don't have to do it when they are babies, you just have to do it on a card that you've had for a longtime. I had that card at that time for 17 years with a perfect payment history and a high credit limit which I paid off every month.
I love this advise for parents that know how to handle credit. My mom did something similar and it backfired. I'm not in my late 30s and JUST barely recovered from the bad snowball she started.
Shows how messed up the system really is and how those less privileged get even further behind at no fault of their own. The child needs parents who know about this, and who has (and maintains) a good credit score of their own. It's also really messed up how a parent could essentially ruin a childs credit score without their consent.
My parents did this and it’s amazing! They gave me the card for emergencies and if I needed to pick them up something. When I turned 18 I had an over 800 credit score already. Definitely doing this with my kids in the future!
I knew about this a long time ago. Truth is, you need trustworthy parents who actually set out to do this...not parents who use your pristine good credit to ruin it before you even turn 18. A lot of people have experience with the opposite. You might not even have student loans, but from the moment you turn 18 your good credit is already shot.
I should warn you that this may come with a caveat. This did hinder me getting a mortgage. The bank we loaned with saw I shared a credit card with my mother and said that I didn’t have enough “solo” credit. Fortunately my hubby had a decent score from paying off his student loans so we had to take it out completely in his name and mark my entire bread winner salary as “secondary income” to him. This may not happen to you, but I figured I’d warn ya just in case.
This works for poor folks too. I'm a child of a single parent household, father skipped on child support, grew up on state assistance. I was added as an authorized user in case he neglected to feed us or abandoned us when we were in his care. Mom was ON TOP of her finances. My credit score is amazing now thanks to her card's age and history.
My grandmother wasn't rich but she did this for all of her grandchildren. I am in my 40's and I am blessed because of her intelligence. 💞💞💞💪🏾✊🏾👑💯🤲🏾🤲🏾🤲🏾
This is a scary dangerous slope tho...theres people who have used their kids names as identity theft and the kid when they get older have no way of using ANYTHING credit wise because it was so screwed up with stuff.
I did this for my sister. As soon as she turned 18 and got a card in her name, she went on a shopping spree and maxed out the card 🤷🏽♂️. She has no credit card today.
You don’t need to have them on the credit line from when they’re a baby. The thing that matters is the amount of time the credit line they’re on has been open, not how long they’ve been on it.
My mom did this when I was a teenager for me. By my early 20s I had a top tier credit score.
“You won’t believe how I got rich”
As the comments have confirmed, this can REALLY backfire if your parents aren’t on top of their credit.
I did this for my son when he turned 18. A month afterwards we checked his credit score, and it was 798. You don't have to do it when they are babies, you just have to do it on a card that you've had for a longtime. I had that card at that time for 17 years with a perfect payment history and a high credit limit which I paid off every month.
Mom did this for me… I was 22 but it still worked because her credit score is in the 800s. I was able to purchase my first house with nothing down.
Me from a country that doesn’t use credit scores: “Interesting…”
I love this advise for parents that know how to handle credit. My mom did something similar and it backfired. I'm not in my late 30s and JUST barely recovered from the bad snowball she started.
Shows how messed up the system really is and how those less privileged get even further behind at no fault of their own. The child needs parents who know about this, and who has (and maintains) a good credit score of their own. It's also really messed up how a parent could essentially ruin a childs credit score without their consent.
This makes me feel a type of parental neglect I didn't know I received.
My mom messed up my credit before I was out of high school. Who'da known good parents do it the other way around.
My parents put stuff in my name as a kid, but did it because they already messed their own credit up. lol
My parents did this and it’s amazing! They gave me the card for emergencies and if I needed to pick them up something. When I turned 18 I had an over 800 credit score already. Definitely doing this with my kids in the future!
I knew about this a long time ago. Truth is, you need trustworthy parents who actually set out to do this...not parents who use your pristine good credit to ruin it before you even turn 18. A lot of people have experience with the opposite. You might not even have student loans, but from the moment you turn 18 your good credit is already shot.
I can confirm this is true. I added my sister (because I wanted to give her a card for emergencies) and voila, she had a 750 score at age 19
I should warn you that this may come with a caveat. This did hinder me getting a mortgage. The bank we loaned with saw I shared a credit card with my mother and said that I didn’t have enough “solo” credit. Fortunately my hubby had a decent score from paying off his student loans so we had to take it out completely in his name and mark my entire bread winner salary as “secondary income” to him. This may not happen to you, but I figured I’d warn ya just in case.
This works for poor folks too. I'm a child of a single parent household, father skipped on child support, grew up on state assistance. I was added as an authorized user in case he neglected to feed us or abandoned us when we were in his care. Mom was ON TOP of her finances. My credit score is amazing now thanks to her card's age and history.
My grandmother wasn't rich but she did this for all of her grandchildren. I am in my 40's and I am blessed because of her intelligence. 💞💞💞💪🏾✊🏾👑💯🤲🏾🤲🏾🤲🏾
This is a scary dangerous slope tho...theres people who have used their kids names as identity theft and the kid when they get older have no way of using ANYTHING credit wise because it was so screwed up with stuff.
I did this for my sister. As soon as she turned 18 and got a card in her name, she went on a shopping spree and maxed out the card 🤷🏽♂️. She has no credit card today.
You don’t need to have them on the credit line from when they’re a baby. The thing that matters is the amount of time the credit line they’re on has been open, not how long they’ve been on it.