I am trying to clean up my credit and raise my fico score because I plan to buy a house next year. I read about what they call piggyback to raise your score. My son is 19 and has no credit. My question is if he gets a secured credit card and adds me as an authorized user will this help or hurt me? Thanks

If you are looking to increase your credit score, you can open a secured credit card under your name instead of adding yourself as an authorized user on your son's credit card. Most banks will approve you for a secured credit card. You can open a credit card with like, let's say, $500 deposit which will give you a card with $500 credit limit and then all you have to do is make small purchases using this card which you think you can pay off before the due date. Your credit score calculates the payments made on time and they count the past recent months. So if you make payments on time every month for one full year, this will really help you increase your score. Keep in mind, one late payment you make on this account and you will not achieve that increase in fico score so be on top of your monthly payment and make sure you don't go your credit limit and make only the purchase amount that you think you can pay off when the bill comes.

Hope this helps