How bad does this mess up my credit?

So, I'm 50 years old, I own my home, have a great job and make a nice amount of money. I have a few different credit cards, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover Card. A few months ago, I decided I would sign up for a new Visa Card with Bank of America. At the time, my son (15) was bugging for a debit card thing and the fees were too high, so we had a family talk and I put him on my new credit card account as an authorized user thing and they sent me my card plus a card for him with his name on it. The rule I set up with him was that he had to pay his bill, whether he chooses to do minimum payment or pay in full. Over the last few months he's only bought small things like shirts and video games at the mall, no big deal. He always had the cash to hand me for it and the bill was always paid in full. Now, last month, he decided to go to the mall on a bit of a spree, a $600 spree. End result is, he doesn't have enough money to pay for the stuff, but he does have enough to do the minimum payment. On my card that shares the account with him, I haven't purchased a thing because I prefer to use my AMEX card. So anyway, since he can only pay the minimum payment this month and will only pay as much as he can (probably minimum) until it is paid off, how bad will this mess up my credit score? All the other cards I have are always paid in full and bills are never late, this is the only card of mine (even though my son uses it) that will have a minimum balance. Again, how much is this going to mess up my credit. I refuse to pay for his stuff, I made him get a job. I'm trying to help my daughter apply for college loans because she's going to college next year, will this mess things up when we go to apply for loans? Help! Thanks

Having a $600 balance on one card will not mess up your score significantly as long as the minimums are paid on time and the credit limit is not exceeded. You should immediately take the card from her and remove him as an authorized user. If the minimum payment is not made, or is paid late, or the credit limit is exceeded, that will severely harm your credit score.

In short, the only way your credit rating will be adversely affected by this is if a payment is made late. If paid on time there should not be much difference to your credit score.

I don't think very much.. Gurl just last month my ex girl had our card $6,000 in debt..

It just needs to be paid on time and pays as agrees. When I checked my credit report, it shows up the name of credit issuer, balance due, credit limit and whether the card holder is paying as agree or not. If it is not, it will be listed under negative accounts which highly impacts your credit score. Make sure he pays the payment due. Minimum is okay as it keeps it on time, but the more the easier to pay off balance. On another note, it's bad to close accounts with balances due before paying them off. That affects credit score too. Tell him if he can't pay the minimum balance due, no more shopping sprees ! Hope I helped.

Here is the rule from fico. For top scores never let the balance go up over 30% of your available credit. If you hit 70% of your limit you start destroying your score. Your score is affected. Having him as authorized does not affect his credit at all. Now, here is an afterthought. I am not sure if that 30% is from all your available balances combined or if in a single card. (I have always thought in any single card - but not sure). If you have a daughter going to college just make sure all your cards have a complete 0 balance before applying. Also, I hope you know to hide money by paying down your mortgage. Money in taxable accounts has to be reported to financial aid. /

As stated, as long as the minimum payment is made, it's fine. Just take the card away until its paid. We gave our son a credit card them he was 16 and was fine with it until he decided to buy others stuff we were not aware of until it was too late. He's been in and out of trouble for the past 10 years. How much did it cost us? Over $200,000 and he still feels he did nothing wrong. I have another son who is the complete opposite of his older brother.

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