Friend turning 18 soon what's good advice

[Anonymous]

I have a friend turning 18 in December and I want to make sure they start out well, not like me I screwed up bad and have been rebuilding for 4 years now.

So I've read a lot of posts that say Discover specifically likes thin files. My question is: What would you recommend to start with?

Do you think Discover would approve her right away she'll have nothing in her credit file when she applies.

[austinguy907]

Everyone is different with each lender.  Don't have her go apply for 50 cards right off the bat.  First thing is to figure out what her scores are or if she even has one.  If her parents have her as an AU that might generate a score.  Once you have that figured out then of course you have an idea of what she might qualify for.  It's to be expected for most people turning 18 that they have a lower income than most.  I would say with a limited profile to start out with Cap1, Discover, or something that might match up with her on www.creditcards.com/cardmatch or check the pre-qual sites and see if something pops up at the reg places like BOA, Chase, CITI, Discover, AMEX, Cap1, etc.

[Anonymous]

She's been in the foster care system so no chance of being an AU. So there's no way she'd even have a score. Her income is about 18k a year she just started college this Fall.

How would she get a card match with no credit score or information on her report?

[thummel]

You can forget checking pre quals if your under 21 as they won't show up from my own experience. Getting a card with no history or report is harder but not impossible. I got lucky when I started with no history and capital one gave me a platinum at 500 bucks. Ymmv though.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
She's been in the foster care system so no chance of being an AU. So there's no way she'd even have a score. Her income is about 18k a year she just started college this Fall.

How would she get a card match with no credit score or information on her report?

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She should try for a student card or a secured card.

Once she has one or the other of those, & builds history, she'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anyone have experience with Discover and a thin file or no history?

[Anonymous]

Speaking from personal experience, what I think might help is having a checking and savings account at a bank like Citibank for example and then speaking with a banker in the branch about opening up a student credit card for your friend. The bankers might have some leeway, and might be able to guide you in the right direction if you explain her situation to them.

Reason I mention Citibank is because my brother and my first credit card was the Citibank College Student card and I find that Citibank is generally kind towards college students and International Students. That's how me and my brother first got in with Citibank Credit Cards, through the banker. We had non existent credit but definitely had accounts with them to begin with.

However, what I personally concluded from another post I saw on here recently is that Citibank might like to be your first. Maybe pursue a card with a more lenient entity like Capital One. Or her local college credit union.

Also, I was thinking maybe a secured card with proven graduation success might be an option too, however, I'm not experienced with these products so I won't elaborate on this any further.

One more option I thought of, and I hope I don't get in trouble for suggesting this, but, you could make your friend an AU on an account of yours, since she's in foster care she basically has nobody else. Assuming you have credit such that it won't negatively impact her basic non-existent credit. I don't suggest you do this without her consent though. You don't have to give her the card you make her an AU on the account, it just needs to report so she has something, but if you do give her the card, realize that you will be responsible for any charges she puts on it. I've seen posts all the time about couples making each others AUs on their accounts, so, it's really not that far off. From my understanding, you just need to have a relationship with the person that is the AU.

As always, YEMV. Take my advice with a grain of salt.

[brother7]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Her income is about 18k a year she just started college this Fall.

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Since she's a student, a student card would have the best chance for approval as her first card. Based on my previous research, the Discover it for Students card or the Capital One Journey Student card or Citi Thank You Preferred Card for College Students are all good. I like those particular ones because 1) they're rewards cards and 2) they don't have annual fees.

Good luck to your friend!

[grillandwinemaster]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
She's been in the foster care system so no chance of being an AU. So there's no way she'd even have a score. Her income is about 18k a year she just started college this Fall.

How would she get a card match with no credit score or information on her report?

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She should try for a student card or a secured card.

Once she has one or the other of those, & builds history, she'll be fine.

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I agree with South Jamaica. Discover and I believe Cap1 have good student cards. They also offer secured cards she Can go after  if they don't approve her. 

The important thing is to not go crazy with apping. If she can open 3 cards and then stay new credit card account free until she finishes college, she will be in 760+ territory!

Best credit wishes to you AND her!

[heyryan]

Student cards are a great way to start out! They'll generally start with lower limits, but it's a great way to build a relationship with a lender, and later on they can transition to other products.

Credit unions are also a great tool for building credit. Try a share secured loan - put a few hundred or a thousand bucks in a savings account, and take a loan against it. That'll add a installment account which helps the "credit mix" part of a FICO score. CUs are also usually really good for helping people get started building credit with starter credit cards.

Now, advice-wise: tell your friend to treat their credit like a fragile thing. Speaking from experience, it's easy to be young and dumb and hose things up for several years. I was given way too much credit, way too young, and I didn't spend wisely. It took quite a while to get back to a good place, and it was a hard (expensive) lesson to learn.