Anonymous
Post 06/24/2023 06:30     Subject: Re:18 year old credit card question
Anonymous wrote:You don’t want I’m to be authorized user on your cc because your credit limit will be much higher than what he needs. Also if card is stolen or he overspends then hard to deal with the headache. Not to mention that he can start establishing credit on his own credit card and learn to be responsible and pay own bills.


Some credit cards allow you to set spending limits for authorized users. Our AmEx card, for example, allows limits. We’ve made our kids (one in college, one in high school) authorized users on our AmEx card, but have set the spending limits pretty low (a few hundred bucks). And one benefit of having the kids be authorized users is that we get the miles/points from cc spend
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 20:00     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 18 year old is going to college in the fall, and I will open a bank account for him, which will come with a debit card. Do banks give teens credit cards easily, or do they have to first be authorized users on their parents' card?

Any advice is welcome, thank you.


At 18, they are no longer required to have a parent or guardian to open a bank account, why can't they open this bank account for themselves?



Any adult can open a bank account. But only a few student credit cards are available for non-working college students with little credit history. The question is, is it better to be an authorized user on a parent's credit card for a while, or take up one of those student cards?


Authorized user no question.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 20:00     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
Anonymous wrote:Most people I know make their kids authorized users on their account in the beginning. They will benefit from your credit rating (like my 20 year olds credit report says she has had a card for 24 years based on ours). Yes you do have to trust them to an extent. My kids knew when to use it and when they should be covering the costs.

My now junior just got her own card. I will keep her on mine until she graduates as we cover her groceries and travel still. She had no issue getting a student card from Cap One. She also considered discover.


All of ours are on our account as authorized users and have been since they've been about 15. Oldest is 20 and will be on it until she graduates. We did it so they would have great credit. The 20 year old has a great credit score. Her only "ding" is length of credit history otherwise she would have a perfect credit score. She will get her own card eventually but we are paying for everything until she graduates so I'm ok with her on it until then.

You can put a spending limit on each card if you're really concerned. We had to do that at one point in the young teens when they were just learning. The good thing is you can also see what they are spending.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 19:37     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 18 year old is going to college in the fall, and I will open a bank account for him, which will come with a debit card. Do banks give teens credit cards easily, or do they have to first be authorized users on their parents' card?

Any advice is welcome, thank you.


At 18, they are no longer required to have a parent or guardian to open a bank account, why can't they open this bank account for themselves?



Any adult can open a bank account. But only a few student credit cards are available for non-working college students with little credit history. The question is, is it better to be an authorized user on a parent's credit card for a while, or take up one of those student cards?


The answer is that it's always better for an adult to do things on their own whenever possible - this is particularly beneficial for a young adult. So, it's better for them to figure out and open their own bank account, it's better for them to research, apply for and try to get any credit card that they might be eligible for on their own. It's actually are REALLY beneficial exercise for them to get rejected for getting a card if they if they don't meet the requirements. After all this, it might be the only solution for the parent to help/co-sign or allow them use of their card but skipping all of this and going straight to the card for the a young adult and a disservice to them and to society overall.



You must be new here or from a long lost decade. That’s not how DCUM parents roll.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 14:52     Subject: Re:18 year old credit card question
Discover does special student credit cards. Got my now 20 year old one about 8 months ago, and DC now has a nice high credit score!
When you fill out the application for income, I believe they allow monthly parent contributions (towards rent, other living expenses, payment of cell phone, etc) to count as income. I conservatively entered something like 2K per month (when you factor what you spend on room and board!) + DC's summer earnings... it was enough to get a 1200 LOC. And then after 5 months Discovered up'ed the credit after responsible use, paying off the cc each month.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 13:09     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 18 year old is going to college in the fall, and I will open a bank account for him, which will come with a debit card. Do banks give teens credit cards easily, or do they have to first be authorized users on their parents' card?

Any advice is welcome, thank you.


At 18, they are no longer required to have a parent or guardian to open a bank account, why can't they open this bank account for themselves?



Any adult can open a bank account. But only a few student credit cards are available for non-working college students with little credit history. The question is, is it better to be an authorized user on a parent's credit card for a while, or take up one of those student cards?


The answer is that it's always better for an adult to do things on their own whenever possible - this is particularly beneficial for a young adult. So, it's better for them to figure out and open their own bank account, it's better for them to research, apply for and try to get any credit card that they might be eligible for on their own. It's actually are REALLY beneficial exercise for them to get rejected for getting a card if they if they don't meet the requirements. After all this, it might be the only solution for the parent to help/co-sign or allow them use of their card but skipping all of this and going straight to the card for the a young adult and a disservice to them and to society overall.



Why?
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 12:47     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 18 year old is going to college in the fall, and I will open a bank account for him, which will come with a debit card. Do banks give teens credit cards easily, or do they have to first be authorized users on their parents' card?

Any advice is welcome, thank you.


At 18, they are no longer required to have a parent or guardian to open a bank account, why can't they open this bank account for themselves?



Any adult can open a bank account. But only a few student credit cards are available for non-working college students with little credit history. The question is, is it better to be an authorized user on a parent's credit card for a while, or take up one of those student cards?


The answer is that it's always better for an adult to do things on their own whenever possible - this is particularly beneficial for a young adult. So, it's better for them to figure out and open their own bank account, it's better for them to research, apply for and try to get any credit card that they might be eligible for on their own. It's actually are REALLY beneficial exercise for them to get rejected for getting a card if they if they don't meet the requirements. After all this, it might be the only solution for the parent to help/co-sign or allow them use of their card but skipping all of this and going straight to the card for the a young adult and a disservice to them and to society overall.

Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 12:38     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 18 year old is going to college in the fall, and I will open a bank account for him, which will come with a debit card. Do banks give teens credit cards easily, or do they have to first be authorized users on their parents' card?

Any advice is welcome, thank you.


At 18, they are no longer required to have a parent or guardian to open a bank account, why can't they open this bank account for themselves?



Any adult can open a bank account. But only a few student credit cards are available for non-working college students with little credit history. The question is, is it better to be an authorized user on a parent's credit card for a while, or take up one of those student cards?
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 12:26     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
Anonymous wrote:My 18 year old is going to college in the fall, and I will open a bank account for him, which will come with a debit card. Do banks give teens credit cards easily, or do they have to first be authorized users on their parents' card?

Any advice is welcome, thank you.


At 18, they are no longer required to have a parent or guardian to open a bank account, why can't they open this bank account for themselves?

Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 11:40     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
Most people I know make their kids authorized users on their account in the beginning. They will benefit from your credit rating (like my 20 year olds credit report says she has had a card for 24 years based on ours). Yes you do have to trust them to an extent. My kids knew when to use it and when they should be covering the costs.

My now junior just got her own card. I will keep her on mine until she graduates as we cover her groceries and travel still. She had no issue getting a student card from Cap One. She also considered discover.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 11:38     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
I'd assume nothing as changed since we all went to college. Credit card companies will be offering give aways to apply for a credit card all over campus. It's easy to get a credit card with no cosigner.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 11:36     Subject: 18 year old credit card question

OP here. That's the point, PP. Establishing credit for a young adult who does not have his own job (he has special needs and needs to focus on college right now). Apparently I've read that the major credit cards don't allow co-signers any longer. I don't mind dealing with an authorized user on my credit card, given he's a very responsible, underspending sort of person, if that's the only option for him to start building credit early.

Has anyone been a recent co-signer on their non-working child's credit card, and if so what card? Because if that's an option, yes, I would prefer that. But failing that, I'll take the authorized user route.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 11:30     Subject: Re:18 year old credit card question
You don’t want I’m to be authorized user on your cc because your credit limit will be much higher than what he needs. Also if card is stolen or he overspends then hard to deal with the headache. Not to mention that he can start establishing credit on his own credit card and learn to be responsible and pay own bills.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 10:44     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
There's also a secured credit card option. If he is 18 and has a job at times, he should try for a secured credit card. Time for authorized user was when he was in high school.
He should open his own bank account and get that debit card.
Anonymous
Post 06/23/2023 10:36     Subject: 18 year old credit card question
My 18 year old is going to college in the fall, and I will open a bank account for him, which will come with a debit card. Do banks give teens credit cards easily, or do they have to first be authorized users on their parents' card?

Any advice is welcome, thank you.