 TITLE: How Long Should I Stay on My Parent’s Credit Card Account? CONTENT: When Is It Time to Leave Your Parent's Account?\n-----------------------------------------------\nBefore deciding whether to leave your parents' credit card accounts, there are a few things you should consider. It may be time to remove yourself from the accounts when you've built up enough credit to qualify for your own lines of credit, which will help you build a credit history. The length of your credit history is a factor in determining your credit score; getting started early can make it easier to get approved for future borrowing or help you nab you lower interest rates.\nYou should also wait until you're financially stable enough to make all your payments on your own and know how to use a credit card responsibly. You'll no longer have your parents on the account to fall back on if you miss a payment or drive up debt. Charging more than you can afford on credit cards will work against you if it hurts the credit score you're trying so hard to build.\nOne downside of asking to be removed from a parent's card is that the credit account may be taken off your credit history. This could have an impact on the length of your credit history, which is a factor in your credit score. But building a positive payment history of your own could work to improve your credit score more than the loss of the authorized user account would bring it down, so the tradeoff is generally worthwhile. END