Anonymous wrote:When I was in college, I got a lot of credit card offers and the low limit ones didn't require a co-signer. The perks sucked though and I am sure the terms sucked.

The one card I really wanted, the Volkswagon Visa rejected me and I didn't bother asking for my parents to co-sign for it. The new Beetle just came out and thought I would get a decent amount of rewards for it by the time I graduated.

Anyways, I didn't want a card from my parents account. Mainly because I didn't want them to know I was spending so much money of fast food, video games, and stupid shit.

I suspect that would be the same issue with my kids, but if they agreed, they would believe I would pay for their purchases.

I think having their own card, their own credit, and their own privacy and obligation to pay their own charges is what I would prefer to help with the adulting.

It clearly helped you

When I was in college, I got a lot of credit card offers and the low limit ones didn't require a co-signer. The perks sucked though and I am sure the terms sucked.

The one card I really wanted, the Volkswagon Visa rejected me and I didn't bother asking for my parents to co-sign for it. The new Beetle just came out and thought I would get a decent amount of rewards for it by the time I graduated.

Anyways, I didn't want a card from my parents account. Mainly because I didn't want them to know I was spending so much money of fast food, video games, and stupid shit.

I suspect that would be the same issue with my kids, but if they agreed, they would believe I would pay for their purchases.

I think having their own card, their own credit, and their own privacy and obligation to pay their own charges is what I would prefer to help with the adulting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For helping our 18 year old to build a credit score is it better to add them as an authorized user on my cc or have them get their own card?

It helps but give one with smaller limit and not one you use to pay auto payments so if they lose it, its not a headache. Do turn on notifications for transactions, it gives you an insight on their life choices. Don't intervene unless there is a big red flag.

You can set up separate spending limits per kid on your account. We started ours out with small limits ($300) when they were young teens and have increased it now that they are in college. We can also view our statement by person so it helps to see what they're spending. I turned off notifications because they became really annoying but I was never really worried about them going crazy with the cards-and they didn't.