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Help with building credit for 18 year old

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CollegeStudent530
Regular Contributor

Re: Help with building credit for 18 year old

I agree that she should manage her own credit history without being an authorized user. Allow her to financially manage her own history, debt, and payments with little to zero assistance.

 

Try getting a secured credit card at a local credit union instead of paying a fee. After about 6 months or a little less, she should be able to qualify for student credit cards/sub-prime ones.. or even a prime one like Discover.

 

 

Message 21 of 25
WhiteCollar
Established Contributor

Re: Help with building credit for 18 year old

Thanks all for your assistance. The purpose of this thread was to figure out how to give my young relative a start since it's much harder for teens to obtain credit these days because of legislation.

 

Again, I just want to give her a start by helping her obtain her get  a very low limit unsecured credit card. I will provide financial literacy and guidance but will not be a mother hen. My goal is to educated her about using credit repsonsibly.I will not assume responsibility for checking statements and due dates.

Message 22 of 25
pt310
Frequent Contributor

Re: Help with building credit for 18 year old

I found this thread very interesting, as one of my DD's will be turning 18 in December. She's about to start her senior year of HS, so we have about a year to get her completely situated before leaving for college. This is what I've done, and what I have planned:

 

I added her as an AU to a (now) CapOne account in May...originally opened in 2008. I have my card for this account SD'd and she's the only one who uses it. I'm not sure if the entire account history will report, or just since I added her, but we'll check once she hits the 6 month mark.

 

After a couple of months, (in July) I added her as ACM to my Amex BCP. This was planned to give her a "member since" year the same year as her 18th birthday.

 

**Thanks to whoever that was who put up that tip of having her create an online account. We haven't done that yet - hadn't even thought about it, but guess what we're going to be doing tonight! Smiley Happy

 

Once she turns 18, I plan on adding her as joint on that 1st card, or on something else. That way she'll have an account that's not just AU, and can hopefully grow with her, but still giving me the opportunity to help her if she starts going off track.

 

Good luck to you, OP, and your young relative. She's very lucky to have you to help her!  Smiley Happy

 

 

Message 23 of 25
Omnipotent
Regular Contributor

Re: Help with building credit for 18 year old

She doesn't need more than a card or two. A couple will suffice to get her where she needs to go aka Freedom, IT, and BCP.

I started off with 1 credit card and 1 store card followed up by Chase. Once you make it in with Chase, you are golden. People are just impatient here.
Message 24 of 25
09Lexie
Moderator Emerita

Re: Help with building credit for 18 year old

I started my DD off as an AU on a store card. When she opened her checking account with BoA they gave her a student Visa ( now a BBR) she didn't open any other cc's until years later. Now she has TE, 2 Cap 1, Discover and Freedom
Message 25 of 25
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