10/15/2026
Want to give your kid a real head start? You can start building their credit years before they ever apply for anything on their own.
The move: add them as an authorized user on one of your credit cards. Their history builds off your good habits — no spending required. The card can sit in a drawer. The goal is history, not swiping.
Here’s how to do it right:
1️⃣ Pick your best-managed card — low balance, always paid on time. Your kid inherits those numbers, good or bad.
2️⃣ Call your issuer and ask two things: What’s the minimum age to add an authorized user? Do you report authorized users to all three bureaus? If that second answer is no, pick a different card. This is the step that makes or breaks it.
3️⃣ Ask when reporting starts. Some issuers only begin reporting once your child hits a certain age — Amex at 18, Barclays at 16 — so the clock doesn’t always start the day you add them.
4️⃣ Add your child as an authorized user, then keep doing what you’re doing: low balances, on-time payments.
Two that make it easy: Chase and Bank of America both have no minimum age and report authorized users to the bureaus — so you can start early. Just confirm it’s still current when you call, since these policies change.
And why’s a mortgage person telling you this? Because the 18-year-old who already has years of credit history on file is the one who qualifies for a better mortgage down the road. You’re planting the tree early.
Save this and send it to a parent who’d want it.
