Son turns 18 in two weeks...

[pattycake]

...and I want him to get a CC to establish credit early. I've had him down as an authorized user on my Hooterscard, Citi and other accounts, so I'm now trying to determine a good first card, with a very low CL so he doesn't get tempted to overdo it.  I was thinking Target or UFCU.  Other suggestions?

[Anonymous]

   Just went through that 5 months ago,

Citi MTV card, apply online show a part time job for small income and full time student.

  He will not have an established file unless he has been on your cards for quite a while so they will deny it for that reason "file not found"

Then you send in a letter explaining your situation, and your home phone number is of course in your parents name and they will start you off with a 500 limit easily nonsecured. Make sure it is never late, pay online, and for us it was 4 months, and then the luv buttun shows up and they add 800 to it!

I was told you must have consistent 6 month reporting to establish the cra files to get a score and after that time you apply for another prime card such as the discover student card. Stay with the prime starter low limit cards and in 2 years he should be good to go. I have put all my kids as Au's on most of my cards and it really helps alot no matter what anyone says abouts AU's!

Just make sure never over limit and pay before due. Very easy! Good luck.

[haulingthescoreup]

I wouldn't fool with Target. It drives most people nuts, from what I read.

UFCU or another CU card would be good.

I don't know how much experience he has handling finances. If not, you might want to be an AU on the card yourself, so that you can make sure he's paying promptly and so forth.

I'm not a huge believer in holding the hands of young adults, but the consequences of bungling credit are so disastrous that it might help to be a friendly monitor, until you see that he grasps the necessity of prompt payment, not carrying balances, and so forth.

Happy early birthday to him!

[pattycake]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:
I wouldn't fool with Target. It drives most people nuts, from what I read.

UFCU or another CU card would be good.

I don't know how much experience he has handling finances. If not, you might want to be an AU on the card yourself, so that you can make sure he's paying promptly and so forth.

I'm not a huge believer in holding the hands of young adults, but the consequences of bungling credit are so disastrous that it might help to be a friendly monitor, until you see that he grasps the necessity of prompt payment, not carrying balances, and so forth.

Happy early birthday to him!

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Yeah, I know.  I just want him to learn responsibility, and if it takes a $200 CL for him to do that, great!  The new law is restrictive so if he doesn't get a card very soon, it could be years.  I mention Target because they start with low CLs and he can't use it a McDonald's, only at Target. 

[-RED]

Just change one of your currect cards to JOINT instead of AU, and don't let him carry the card!

Let him develope his own credit from that point forward, otherwise you may not be helping as much as you might think.

DONE!

[wmarat]

https://online1.elancard.com/oad/catalog/learnMore.controller?locationCode=3017&productId=30

[haulingthescoreup]

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-RED wrote:

Just change one of your currect cards to JOINT instead of AU, and don't let him carry the card!

Let him develope his own credit from that point forward, otherwise you may not be helping as much as you might think.

DONE!

---

Nononononononononono... Never joint. AU will do as a helpful jumpstart. Works just as well, without all the pitfalls. (Sorry, I'm deeply allergic to joint status on credit cards!)

I deeply disagree with the new law restricting the ages for CC's. Most kids will be out on their own by the time they qualify, without any chance of supervision, and maybe they'll be responsible, and maybe they won't.

If anything, kids should have a card (AU status, whatever) at age 16, when they're still at home, with a parent on the card, breathing down their neck. Let them be the sole user, but be accountable to a parent, who has full access to the bank site and can see exactly what's going on. Two years of establishing credit usage patterns before leaving the nest might help avoid some of the college freshman credit disasters we read about.

[-RED]

AU does nothing for the history or the score as of FICO-2008!!!

[creditwherecreditisdue]

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@-RED wrote:
AU does nothing for the history or the score as of FICO-2008!!!

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Not true. AU's, in general, still count. Also, no one is using FICO08 at the present time.

Joint credit is a bad idea in any circumstance.

[haulingthescoreup]

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-RED wrote:
AU does nothing for the history or the score as of FICO-2008!!!

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FICO removed this provision from FICO 08 a year or so ago. AU accounts continue to count for scoring purposes. I wish someone could go clean this expired info off the Internet, because it's still causing confusion.

It's very true that you can't cruise on AU's forever.

I think they're useful as a training wheels approach, as described above, to get a young person used to how credit works and the importance of paying fanatical attention to due dates and so forth.