That conversation with my dad about authorized users changed my mind on credit building

Tbh I always thought adding someone as an authorized user was a scam to trick the credit bureaus. But my dad sat me down last week and explained how he put my sister on his Amex from 1998 with a $25k limit and her score jumped 80 points in 3 months. He said it works because the whole history shows up on her report like she earned it herself. I did some digging and Experian actually confirms the full account age transfers over. So I guess I was wrong about it being shady when it's a legit strategy for people with thin files. Has anyone else seen authorized user status actually help someone rebuild?

2 comments

2 Comments

walker.rowan24d ago

And my buddy did the same thing with his mom's old card and his score went from 520 to 680 in like 90 days. He was honestly shook when he checked Credit Karma.

skyler_white24d ago

Bro that's wild, but what if his mom's oldest card was actually dragging down his average age of accounts?