<p>My S alerted me to this story in yesterday’s Boston Globe. Right now he and I have a joint credit card he uses at school. I am going to have him open a couple of accounts in his name only. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/09/05/changing_history/[/url]”>http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/09/05/changing_history/</a></p>
<p>Such a coincidence as I called our banker today to inquire for my Junior daughter. She is authorized user on our card, but I never thought that would establish any credit. Banker said if I am cosigner for her on new card that we both get credit history. So we are going to open one of those cards before she goes abroad. Will leave frosh BU daughter on my card for now-no need for more temptation!</p>
<p>just be careful of where you get the kids cards. I got mine from Capital One when I was 16 and I actually still have it almost 9 years later (with an increased credit limit and it no longer is affiliated with my mom, the co-signing goes away at 18). My sister got one from a First Financial or something like that and her card was horrible - her and my mom spent a LOT of time trying to get it straightened out prior to cutting up the card. I guess one through the local bank would be pretty good. That’s what my sister has now and it seems to be working out alright for her. She likes that she can just log into the banks website and transfer funds from one account to her card and it’s paid off right like that. Every time I go in there they are asking me if I am interested in one… but I’m staying with my Capital One cards (I’ve since gotten another one) I know they probably have to ask, but I get annoyed sometimes ;)</p>
<p>This story is really interesting and current to our family. Our son is an authorized user for two of our credit cards, one for about 5 years and a newer one for about 1 year. Our kids both have debit cards with their checking accounts, but we wanted them to have another card for emergencies such as if the debit cards did not work or got lost. Our thought was not as much for building a credit historyas for emergencies. </p>
<p>My son is now working and recently got his own credit card as well as still having his old debit card. He has just been finding an apartment in a new city, as he is starting a new job next week, and needed to get his credit score report. We were surprised to see the account numbers and balances for our credit cards on his report, as we were unaware they would be counted on his credit history. I guess it is good that he has built a credit history, but it raises questions because we have very high monthly balances on our cards now (not warranting finance charges or late fees or anything), because my husband charges business travel on them and then gets reimbursed. It raises questions as to why someone with his income has such high balances on their cards. We are planning to take him off our cards as soon as he is settled in the new apartment and new job.</p>
<p>Also, we lent our son money to buy a car and he repaid us in full (with no interest, of course 
) Would he have been better off making car payments and then paying off in full when he had the money to do so, in order to build credit? We have never needed to take out a car loan, so I have no idea how much extra he would have paid.</p>
<p>Part of your credit report is having different types of credit, so it probably would help for him to have a car loan on there. I have heard that it doesn’t look as good when you pay it off right away (like instantaneously), but that was just from a co-worker. I paid my car off in less than 2 years. I know my credit card report told me to add different types of credit to raise my score, but it probably tells everybody that when they are young. I had two cards, one student loan, and one car loan on there. The only thing missing is a mortgage! But my score is something like 760 (as of about a year ago, I haven’t checked it since), so I must be doing something right. Prior to taking out my car loan it was like 660.</p>
<p>You are correct though about the high balances. That shows up on there as well, and it takes points off of your score for having such a high balance, however it probably helps his score that he has the card in the first place, so I don’t really know about that.</p>
<p>My son’s score was 718, which should be ok enough to rent an apartment. But we were wondering if it would have been higher without those high balances.</p>
<p>it may have had a little difference, but probably nothing significant. 718 is a pretty good score I think. I just googled it and this is what I found:</p>
<p>720 721 722 723 724 and 725 plus is considered an almost perfect credit score, 640 - 719 is a good average American credit score. A credit score of 639 or less is figured to be less or below average and any score less than a 575 is figured as a very bad credit score.</p>