It is important to keep credit cards open and active in order to constantly feed positive information into the credit report. Ask a relative to add you on as an ‘authorized user’, also known as ‘piggybacking’, to their credit card(s). An account that has been open for years, balance is low, and always paid on-time, is preferable.
‘Piggybacking’ came under major scrutiny in summer of 2007, and Fair Isaac, Co. was going to remove it from the scoring model. However, the authorized user account cannot be excluded from the scoring model under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, so it is here to stay…in some cases it is a great tool if you wish to establish credit and/or boost your scores.