Credit Cards

[webman]

Hey,

My brother is getting his first credit card and we wanted to know what he should get.  He is setting up a checking account with Chase and I was thinking to ask them about student visa cards or anything they have.  Does anyone have any experience with those?  I want something he can have for a long time to help establish long-term history.  So something maybe with Soft pulls too, not sure if Chase does that.  Any thoughts?

Thanks

Jeff.

[creditchief]

Hello wm, My son started with Chase and BoA student cards about two yrs ago and they have been very good starters for him .They are hard pulls but it was worth it to him .He now has low 700 scores and he has financed his own car. Good luck!!

[monicar2009]

Son got this

http://www.capitalone.com/creditcards/products/details/?sol=10925&tc=18&credit=3&linkid=WWW_0608_CARD_TGUNS01_CCPYA_C2_07_T_CP92518LW

First CC. 500 CL.

[hobojon]

Have family members add him as an authorized user to some of you cards that are old, have little utilization and a clean history, if possible. Once these are reflected on his report you are ready to apply. Skip the student cards altogether. Use the credit card apps that ask for household income instead of individual income. These are the majority of prime lenders. Avoid Capital One if possible. Building a credit history from scratch is a different path than you'd take if you are rebuilding from a credit failure. Establish an account with Amex as soon as possible. The member since date will become more and more valuable as the years go by.

Message Edited by hobojon on 04-10-2009 10:54 PM

[txjohn]

In today's market and economic climate, I HIGHLY recommend starting students out in a good credit union.  Credit Unions are not-for-profit and thus don't answer to Wall Street or investors, they essentially answer to member's needs.

Sure, there are the student and starter cards that can be instantly approved, but they will be quickly outlived and eventually even become an albatros when you find limited or no CLI.

A credit union upon 6 to 12 months of banking and small loans will quickly develop into much higher levels of creditability and access to credit.

If your family is military or related to military NFCU and PenFed are good.  Alliant is good.  Local student CU's have many good options.  The real benefit of CU's is that you are more generally treated as a person, not a number and risk.

Read up on some of the CU threads here and you will quickly find the difference.  While the big banks have had to pull back and become distant with their customers, CU's are business as usual and actually stepping up their services to take advantage of the vacuum being created by the big bank pull backs.