18 year old Junior in College opening a Credit Card

[jsickz32]

If you just trying to build credit then why not just get added as a AU for a card. I helped my brother that way and he didnt have to waste inqs on secured cards. 6 months later he now has his own cards. 

Anyways, good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[azguy13]

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@Startome wrote:

Both of my cards listed in my Sig are secured. Bear in mind, when your card is at zero balance, you can close it any time and get your money back. So if your money is going to sit in your savings doing nothing, it will be no different if 300 dollars of it are in a secured card. You don't use it either way. And the Harley Davidson one from U.S. Bank has no annual fee. It's the only secured card I've been able to find that never has an annual or monthly fee ever for the life of the card. =)

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Plus it's Harley so it puts it above all other secured cards

[Startome]

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@azguy13 wrote:

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@Startome wrote:

Both of my cards listed in my Sig are secured. Bear in mind, when your card is at zero balance, you can close it any time and get your money back. So if your money is going to sit in your savings doing nothing, it will be no different if 300 dollars of it are in a secured card. You don't use it either way. And the Harley Davidson one from U.S. Bank has no annual fee. It's the only secured card I've been able to find that never has an annual or monthly fee ever for the life of the card. =)

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Plus it's Harley so it puts it above all other secured cards

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I agree completely ^_^

[SuperKirby]

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@azguy13 wrote:

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@SuperKirby wrote:

gotta put in my $0.02 here.

I was 18 with ZERO credit (no HLs, no ALs, only 1 newly opened Student loan) and was a student in college. I applied for a Discover, Cap1 (or whatever "easy" to get card). For income, I just put my student loan amount in which they gave me $3-5K a semester. So I put income as $10K-15K annually (i forgot the actual amount I entered). I was approved for an UN-secured student credit card. From there, the rest is history...

So yes, you should be able to be approved for a major bank unsecured student CC.

At 19 years old, I got a Citi student CC and a BofA student CC.  Today, MANY years later, i still have those 2 cards. I then PCed them into a Citi ThankYou and a BofA Travel Rewards card (sock drawered). 

The open date for those 2 credit cards were opened in the year of my freshman year of college, so i know 100% it's possible.

Oh, also, I did not work!

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Now thats the way to do it! Gotta love the loyalty

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Thanks, i'm glad at least the CTY and BofA has some kind of rewards when/if i use them in the future!

OP, being an AU for 6 months isn't bad either! 

You literally started your first college semester this year? Wait until your student loans hit your credit bureaus for two months, then apply for a unsecured student CC from cap1/BofA/Discover/etc. that's what i did. this was of course more than 8 years ago, so maybe it was easier to get a student CC back then?

If you don't get approved, being an AU or getting a secured card for 4-6 months is not bad at all, then try for the unsecured student card again.

[Networth]

I would put whatever reinburmsent you get for  inancial aid directly deposited into a checking account either at a major bank or local CC. Once your students loans are reporting and the bank see's you have a 2k+ in their checking account I would apply for one of there cards. Odds are you will get a starter card or student card to start building your credit.