Credit cards for your kids?

[snowkitty]

See, back in my day you could get a job at 15 1/2 so I had my own money to spend. Now, where we live, most places want you to be 18. I would much prefer she have a checking account and debit card but since she will be driving soon, I also want her to have some sort of credit card in case of an emergency. I want to be able to set the limit because she don't need a whole lot open to her. I was curious about if adding her as an au would help her get college loans when that time comes. I don't know how the student loans work.

I did find out last night that a resturant close by me will hire at 16 so we are going to go by there asap! She is really wanting a job this summer!

[calihlove75]

If she is going for government backed student loans like Stafford or Perkins, they do not even check credit. As far as helping her credit wise, yes it does help. My son has had a job since he was 16 and when he turned 18, he could not get a credit card. I added him as an AU to my Chase card and now he has Walmart, Discover, Cap one, and Amazon The student loans reporting will also build her history.

[jmco]

exactly snowkitty!

my kids couldn't find jobs at all - between not being 18 AND the economy, the jobs were going to MUCH older people... the days of teenagers working at the age of 15 ar long gone unless it's under the table.  Either way I always told my girls that their "job" was school - if they wanted to go out and find a part-time job then OK but as soon

as that interfered with school we would put the "kabosh" on it.  They both have checking/savings accounts before becoming AU on the credit cards so in our instance

there was no issue with me adding them to my Cap1 and Discover.  I do not want my 19yr old driving around without a credit card in her pocket for emergencies.

It makes my life easier to have her have one and as soon as my 16yr old turns 17 in July she will be added as well.

[p-]

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jake619 wrote:...Perhaps the combination of a cash-backed card to teach the "when its gone its gone" principle while the AU cooks in parallel. When they display responsible actions and are ready to use credit they will have a nice profile with little risk.

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I thought about that...  Then I remembered how many credit offers I came across at 18 when I headed off to college.

I might even find one of my less credit worthy relatives and get them to add kiddo as an AU on a derog account.  That way he'll get denied for everything.  Then, when he's older and wiser I can show thim how to clean it up.  Bwahahahaha...

[jake619]

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@p- wrote:

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jake619 wrote:...Perhaps the combination of a cash-backed card to teach the "when its gone its gone" principle while the AU cooks in parallel. When they display responsible actions and are ready to use credit they will have a nice profile with little risk.

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I thought about that...  Then I remembered how many credit offers I came across at 18 when I headed off to college.

I might even find one of my less credit worthy relatives and get them to add kiddo as an AU on a derog account.  That way he'll get denied for everything.  Then, when he's older and wiser I can show thim how to clean it up.  Bwahahahaha...

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Too bad you can't use that as a threat, like, "If you come home drunk again I'll ruin your credit before you even have credit.  You like that???".  Aahhh parenthood.

[bluesnowman]

You guys make some valid points on this thread. I am 19 years old, and my parents never taught me about credit (but each of them have excellent credit, so I guess they didnt want to bring me in because I might have made too many purchases..idk) anyways, I finally found myself a job working as a server at 17 (legally in California, you have to be 16 to get a job, and you cannot do anything machinery related until you 18 like cooking and such) Anyways, I opened myself a checking account and finally last year inj April I signed up for my first Credit card in my own name, and a few months later I was able to get a phone under my own name. It is key to being responisble, I earn my money and I spend it on things that I need (Gas, food, tuition, books, If I go to the movies, part of my insurance is paid for with me and the rest by my dad.) And now because of all that I have learned about credit, I have been approved for some good cards with good limits (for someone that makes 12k at least, I think it's decent so far). And all under my own name. I also added my younger brother as an authorized user on two of my credit cards so that way if he needs books or he needs to make a rather large purchase (like getting a laptop or whatever else he needs he has the credit available to do so, and he will hopefully thank me later when it comes time to buy a house or buy a car and or finance something else when he will have kids one day. You just have to be responisble with an amount of money somebody else is lending you and trusting you to pay them back by a certain time. If you cannot handle the responsibility then don't have any form of credit or loans and just life on a cash basis. It is very easy to get yourself in a hole but harder to dig yourself out of one. 

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, teach your kids about credit and tell them the importance of it and how much Impact it can have on your life. They will thank you later, and also, No job=No credit.