The action of adding your child to your existing credit card account won’t have any impact on your credit score. Nothing on your credit report indicates whether your credit card is used by authorized users or just the primary account holder. Yet your credit could be impacted if your child makes charges on the account.

Do authorized users build credit?

Being added as an authorized user on another person’s card may help you establish a credit history or build your credit. Yet cardholders and authorized users’ on-time, late or missed payments will be added to both parties’ credit reports, so it’s important that cardholders and authorized users see eye to eye.

At what age can I add my child as an authorized user on my credit card?

Your ability to add your child as an authorized user on your credit card depends on their age and your bank’s rules. Children who are 18 and older can be added as an authorized user without issue. But some banks may not allow children under a certain age to be added as an authorized user.

Does being added as an authorized user hurt credit score?

Authorized user accounts must show up on your credit report to affect your credit score. Once the authorized user account is part of your credit history, it can benefit your credit score as long as both you and the credit account holder use the account responsibly.

Can a credit card issuer report a child as an authorized user?

At that point, whether or not there is a credit history to display for the child depends on whether the issuer has been reporting the child’s account to the credit bureaus in the child’s own name. While many card issuers do report authorized user accounts, some do not.

Can a child be added to a credit card?

Does adding a child to a card help them build credit history? Adding a child as an authorized user to an adult’s credit card could provide a foundation for the child’s credit history, but the ploy could also backfire if the parent is not a responsible card user.

How to add your children as authorized users?

You can typically request to add an authorized user online or by calling your credit card issuer. If your account is open and in good standing, the bank will issue another credit card with the authorized user’s name on it. It’s up to you whether you actually turn the card over to your authorized user to make charges or tuck it away for safekeeping.

Do you have to have a credit check to be an authorized user?

A credit check is not required to become an authorized user on someone else’s card. Yet banks and card issuers will often report the full payment history of the card, including the names of each individual card user, to the three main credit bureaus: Equifax(R), Experian(R) and TransUnion(R).