This happened a while ago, and I am trying to understand it now.
During my teenage years, not sure exactly at what age, I was an authorized user on my parents' credit card account. The card had my name on it, but my parents paid the balance every month. At 22 years of age, I wanted to start building credit and got approved for a secured credit line from my credit union. I previously only had a checking and savings account with them. I never had any credit or loans before that. A week after I was approved for the card (credit limit of $500 lol), I checked my credit score out of curiosity with Equifax. It said 764.
Is this a result of being an authorized user on my parents' credit card (they both have credit scores), or is this the result of something else?
Credit score is 764, never opened credit card line
byu/lemontardd inpersonalfinance
Posted by lemontardd
7 Comments
Your parents are awesome and set you up for success
Yes, it’s because your parents made you an au. One daughter’s score is 748, one is 764. I’ve had both as authorized users since they were 13 on my cards
You can pull a free credit report from any of for three bureaus to see what’s affecting your score.
Yup. My son is in the 750s at 21 with no loans or CC. He’s been an authorized user for a couple years.
Did this after my older son graduated college with no loans or CC and had to take out a car loan (with cash in the bank) and open a secured credit card to build credit to buy a house.
Yes this is because your parents have good spending habits and the length of your account and the age of the account is old. When my stepson turned 13 I added him to my main credit card which we pay off monthly. I never told him and of course didn’t give him the card. He’ll turn 18 soon with 5 years of good credit card habits on his record.
Make sure you get a report and check, sometimes people use you ss be aware of it also
Yea, being an authorized user is the best way for parents to build their kids credit.