This question was triggered by a few comments on another thread, regarding adding high school or college kids as authorized users on credit cards. We did that, and it worked out well - they were able to use the card for emergencies or agreed-upon expenses, and when it was time to get their own credit checks, they were pleasantly surprised to find they had a good credit history that was older than they were.
My question - is there any downside to leaving them on the cards as authorized users, now that they are in their 20s and 30s? They no longer have access to the cards; haven’t used them in years. The only downside I can think of it that if somehow I should fall into bad credit (unlikely), it would affect them adversely. On the other hand, if I were to remove them now, would that make their credit history take a hit?
Any experts, or anyone who has had experience one way or the other?
D1 got off my Amex platinum because she no longer needed it and it had no adverse affect on her credit. D2 is still on my card because she enjoys the perks. My son in law asked to get on my card because I could take on one more person for free. He wanted to get free global entry membership and vip lounges at airport.
I kept both of my kids as authorized users on my card as young professionals - eventually each one, when they felt the timing was right, told me to take them off my account as they had credit more than sufficient for their needs.
If they come off the account it should only be a 5 or 10 point hit on their credit, if any (you aren’t closing the account).
Only downside I can think of is if they aren’t using the card, so aren’t paying attention to it, and the card is stolen or lost, it could take you a month or so to figure that out.
Good point, but in my case they haven’t had the physical card for ages, and even if they did, I think I have enough alerts set up that I would notice any suspicious activity.
Ah, hadn’t thought about that. It’s probably worth asking if they want me to remove them (I doubt they would ever think to ask). But I suspect in our case the positive bump from sharing my history outweighs any temporary hit from a big purchase.
I have adult children each on a separate card for any emergency. If I need them to charge something or they have an emergency it’s there. I sometimes have my daughter get things for me. No one has used it in a while tho. Hadn’t thought about impact of having or canceling.