How do I Put a Child's Name on a Credit Card?

Credit management is a vital part of financial security. With a great credit rating, you can qualify for advantageous loans and interest rates. This is, of course, true for credit cards. These revolving accounts, if poorly managed, can quickly overwhelm you with late fees, over-limit fees and high interest rates. Good credit management should start at a young age. If you have a child who has yet to establish credit, you can put him on your existing credit cards.

Instructions

1

Collect all the personal information for your child. This includes her Social Security number, date of birth, telephone number (if different from your number) and street address. You will need all this demographic info to put your child on your account.

2

Contact your credit card company. Make sure to speak with an account servicing representative. In most cases, customer service representatives cannot add authorized users on accounts.

3

Ask to place an authorized user on your account. Authorized users have access to the account credit line but are not responsible for making payments on the account. So long as you pay the account well, your child will reap the positive credit payment history under his Social Security number.

4

Give all the requisite demographic information about your child to the account servicing representative. If you actually want your child to use the card, too, then ask for a second credit card to be mailed to her (at her street address, if different from your address).