Credit Card for young adult? Suggestions

[Thumper99]

Hello I went to the main "I Love Credit Card" post but most of the recent stuff is vaccine talk for some reason. I'm really hoping to have some advice for getting a college student started with a credit card of her own. She currently uses our Southwest card as a cardholder on our account but I want her to start earning her own credit rating. She gets the Discover Card offer for students all the time in the mail but we applied and got rejected. Not sure how much she has to make to get a small credit amount on the Discover card but she only works a very small part time job at a grocery store as she is a full time student. How do I get her a card on her own? She is over 21 but single and living with us while she begins grad school. Is there a better option or card to try for? Should/can we use our income to get her the card? Thanks for any help!

 

[WVMomof3]

Hello I went to the main "I Love Credit Card" post but most of the recent stuff is vaccine talk for some reason. I'm really hoping to have some advice for getting a college student started with a credit card of her own. She currently uses our Southwest card as a cardholder on our account but I want her to start earning her own credit rating. She gets the Discover Card offer for students all the time in the mail but we applied and got rejected. Not sure how much she has to make to get a small credit amount on the Discover card but she only works a very small part time job at a grocery store as she is a full time student. How do I get her a card on her own? She is over 21 but single and living with us while she begins grad school. Is there a better option or card to try for? Should/can we use our income to get her the card? Thanks for any help!

We are a friendly bunch over there, if you ask a question it will get answered. This question has been asked a lot and the overwhelming answer is usually to start with Discover. They are usually the easiest to get as a first time card holder. We will also tell you to make them an authorized user on your card if possible, to help boost their credit score (only if you have great credit). It sounds like you have tried both of those. Do you know what she put for income? I believe if they are over 21 you can add your income, at least however much you feel you give her in a year. I know my DD got rejected her first try but she put her rent payment down that I was paying. I asked her why she did that and she said well they asked. lol So I think her income was less than her rent payments. She tried again a few months later and got the card, with a very tiny limit, but it was fine to start with. DS just got the card no problem, I have no idea what he put for income but he only made less than $1000 with his campus job.

 

[cvjw]

Both of my boys got their first credit card in their own name thru Wells Fargo. They got a checking account, savings account and a credit card. This is a special bundle for students. Wells Fargo is excellent at raising their credit limit when they show they can handle credit.

 

[stsomewhere]

My daughter was on my Citi card when she turned 16 yrs old. One of the problems that we ran into was that she was not registered on any credit rating services. She bought a new car and my husband co-signed for her. She was able to get a Citi card in her own name with a $5000 limit when she was 19 yrs old.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Another vote for Wells Fargo. We got DD17 set up with a savings account, checking/debit account, and they told us to come back when she's picked her college, they'll set her up with a college credit card.

Keep in mind, you may want to still have on your card so she has access to your credit line. This is particularly important if she is far from home or hopes to do a semester abroad--think in terms of "Could she get an emergency plane ticket if needed."

In fact, my older DD25 STILL has a joint credit card with me. She has a separate card as well, but she lives 800 miles away, and charges her plane tickets home on the joint card. It's also tied to her Uber account for some reason, but I'm okay with that--she rarely uses it (has a car), and I'd rather she be safe. I'm not going to quibble with a $20 Uber charge (or a plane ticket home).

 

[MouseLover]

My dd was successful with Capital One while in college. She just had occasional part-time income.

 

[_19disnA]

I would try to have her get a credit card from whatever bank she does her checking/savings. They are more likely to provide a card to someone who has an account with them. Even with a minimal limit like $500, it is a place to start. Perks associated with credit cards discussed on those other threads relate to people who spend enough to actually make the perks mean something. For someone's first credit card, the idea is more about building a credit history, paying on time, etc.

 

[Soarin4us]

Try the Visa Petal card.

 

[MrsPete]

I helped my kids get a credit card and a checking account when they started their senior years in high school. For that first year /while they were still in high school I monitored their usage, made sure they understood how to balance their accounts, etc. I encouraged them to use their cards instead of cash so they'd learn. At first their credit cards only had -- I think -- a $300 limit. We kept my name on their accounts for their their first couple years of college so I could deposit money here in our hometown /they had access to it in their college town.

I'm so glad I did that: neither of them had a minute's trouble managing money in college.

Their accounts are through our state employee's credit unit. Two reasons: they both chose to go to state schools, and SECU ATMs were available on their campuses. They had savings accounts through the SECU since they were small children, and I wanted them to maintain their connections to that credit union -- they offer the best rates /best customer service. I've told them that keeping that early-early checking account all their lives will be a good financial choice.

 

[EACarlson]

Is she on your SW card as an authorized user or just using your card? Did Discover offer a Secured account? The secured account is one of the better ways to get started. You deposit an amount in a Discover savings account, that is your credit limit, show you can use it responsibly and after six months they start looking at you for graduation to a regular unsecured account and a credit limit increase.

 

[Music City Mama]

She currently uses our Southwest card as a cardholder on our account but I want her to start earning her own credit rating.

My daughter was on my Citi card when she turned 16 yrs old. One of the problems that we ran into was that she was not registered on any credit rating services.

Hmmm, I had asked about this many months ago on some other post. My DS is an authorized user on my Citi card, but they never asked for his social security number so I don't know how it can help his credit rating. Other posters reassured me that it somehow matches him up to you, but it does make me wonder if it's helping his credit at all. I guess I could pull a credit report on him at some point and see.

 

[stsomewhere]

Hmmm, I had asked about this many months ago on some other post. My DS is an authorized user on my Citi card, but they never asked for his social security number so I don't know how it can help his credit rating. Other posters reassured me that it somehow matches him up to you, but it does make me wonder if it's helping his credit at all. I guess I could pull a credit report on him at some point and see.

Once my husband registered her on a credit reporting site, it took a few days but she was able to get a credit rating of 710. She had to send a copy of her drivers license. It all started when she was trying to get a Sephora credit card and it came back saying that they could not verify her information. It listed people with her name but different address out of state. My husband wanted to check on it so she would not run into issues later in life.

ETA; I don't think I added her social security number to get her a registered user card on my Citi card. Her friends were trying to get their first credit cards and had credit rating around 400. So I am sure that she benefited from being on my account.

 

[bbsearchlight]

Our kids just got their first credit card with the capital one journey card which is specifically tailored for people building their credit (and it also gives 1% cash back which is very good as most credit building cards don't have any rewards)

https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/journey-student/

 

[yeahdisney]

The kids got a State Farm one. Later our bank said they could get one there but it cost $25 to apply. So we went with free.

 

[elgerber]

Our kids just got their first credit card with the capital one journey card which is specifically tailored for people building their credit (and it also gives 1% cash back which is very good as most credit building cards don't have any rewards)

https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/journey-student/

My dd started with the Journey right out of high school. After about year and a half, Cap One upgraded her to the Quicksilver at 1.5% cash back. She didn't ask them to, they sent her a mailer and offered it.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

So the trick is add her as a user to your card. You dont have to give her the card. Use that card at least once. All of your credit history will be hers.
And she can get her own at a good rate.
We did this with all of our boys it works.

 

[leahgoogle]

So the trick is add her as a user to your card. You dont have to give her the card. Use that card at least once. All of your credit history will be hers.
And she can get her own at a good rate.
We did this with all of our boys it works.

We added our son as a user on our Disney credit card and there was a page that popped up that said they will be reporting to his credit report.

 

[OKbyme]

So the trick is add her as a user to your card. You dont have to give her the card. Use that card at least once. All of your credit history will be hers.
And she can get her own at a good rate.
We did this with all of our boys it works.

This is very interesting. When DS applied for the student Discover Card, he was able to use his $30,000 scholarship on the application. We always thought that had a lot to do with it. However, I had added him on my Chase amazon card as he was going far from home. My credit rating was in the 800's at that time, so maybe that had more to do with the approval.

I will also add, when he graduated and went to buy a new car, 0% interest, my husband co-signed, but the dealer told my son he had a personal credit rating in the high 700's. Told him whatever he's doing to keep doing that, as that was an excellent credit score for a 22 yr old. We pay off our credit cards in full every month, and have always told our kids to do the same. He did that all through college.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

This is very interesting. When DS applied for the student Discover Card, he was able to use his $30,000 scholarship on the application. We always thought that had a lot to do with it. However, I had added him on my Chase amazon card as he was going far from home. My credit rating was in the 800's at that time, so maybe that had more to do with the approval.

I will also add, when he graduated and went to buy a new car, 0% interest, my husband co-signed, but the dealer told my son he had a personal credit rating in the high 700's. Told him whatever he's doing to keep doing that, as that was an excellent credit score for a 22 yr old. We pay off our credit cards in full every month, and have always told our kids to do the same. He did that all through college.

We were told this by our credit repair company... and it worked wonders. We rarely use credit and it was hurting us. So we were added to a family members card. And then we added our kids to ours a few years later.

 

[atxbound]

My DD just turned 18. She has been an authorized user on 4 or 5 credit cards for 7 or 8 years. Her credit karma score is around 780.. She just opened a discover student card with a 5000 income and was approved for a 1500 credit line without a cosigner(!). We do a lot of credit card & personal finance education in our house so she will continue to use it responsibly. The main things we stress is that credit is a tool, used appropriately it helps but used incorrectly it can cause lots of long lasting harm.