teens and credit question

[rosa29617]

my daughter recently turned 18 yrs old. she went to her bank (BoA) and applied for a student credit card. she is a full-time student @ a local community college and she also works part-time. she said after she applied for the card, the banker said she should get a response within two weeks. with no prior credit history, i'm thinking she is denied. if anyone on this board have any idea what may have happened, please let me know. i'm used to hearing the two-weeks thing and usually that means the banker know already that you've been denied but would rather you receive the response in the mail. i'm open to any suggestions. also, i'm aware of the new law regarding students. my daughter has been working for three years now; just haven't had a credit file. thanks for any suggestions!

[Jazzzy]

I'm not sure there is anything to do now but wait.

If she is declined, don't have her go right out and try again with another bank. Don't waste her inquiries. Do some reading and researching here in the credit card forum for which companies have helped students start out. The new law is a factor, so it may be more difficult now than it was for students in the past.

I wish her luck. We have our 17 y/o daughter as an authorized user on about 5 credit cards. I don't know if that will help her get her own credit in another year, but at least we know that she has a credit card for emergencies should she need one. (And she's aware that all you can eat soup and breadsticks at Olive Garden does not qualify as an emergency.)

[emoticon]

Same situation with my daughter. She applied with BOA last wek and was denied. We called one of the BOA backdoor numbers and were told it was because she had no documented monthly payment history. She does have a small student loan, but no payments have been made on that - it's deferred, of course. She has checking and savings with BOA, and she's an outhorized user on a few of my credit cards, but that didn't matter. She's been working at the same place for a couple of years, but they didn't even care about that. Before she applied, I called BOA and asked if it was even worth applying because it would be her first card. The CSR told me that they would consider her income if she didn't have a credit history AND she would probably be approved for a lesser card if she didn't qualify for the regular card. None of this turned out to be true.  They wouldn't even reconsider her app because she had no history.  We're waiting for the letter for info that, according to the CSR, will give us our options (she couldn't give them to us over the phone).  Frustrating, to say the least.

Hoping someone chimes in with a success story. 

[jforsyth]

Wow..

This new law must really be making it tough.

I got my first card from BofA a couple months ago, about a month BEFORE the law went into place. I guess I got lucky. I had no previous credit (I'm an AU on my mom's card, but it doesn't get reported apparently) and an income of about $10k. I'm 19 years old and a freshman in college. I was 18 at the time I applied.

Anyways, I had had a checking and savings account with BofA and a brokerage account with Wachovia for a little under a year at the time. I definitely made sure to mention the brokerage account with the person I spoke to (I have about 20k saved up from when I was about 14), the fact that I had my own car, and the fact that I'd be applying for a card with Wachovia if I were to be denied by BofA.

I'm really not sure if mentioning these things influenced their decision, but talking about collateral/competition can't hurt.

I applied for a card that I knew was WAY, WAY out of my league: The BofA Premier World MasterCard with WorldPoints

I did this for two reasons: One, I just feel like if you apply for a student card, you're kinda screwing yourself from the get-go. Not only will you get no benefits and most likely a tiny CL (<$500), but there's nothing to fall back on with a counter-offer from them. If you're denied for their worst card, you're denied from all of them. Second, and this is just me talking, I think applying for a card out of your league just shows more confidence. Applying for a student card is sort of like bowing your head, while applying for a real one is like walking in there with your chest out.

I got denied for the Premier World MasterCard w/ WorldPoints, but they counter-offered with a "Preferred World MasterCard w/ WorldPoints." Obviously, I accepted.

I have NO idea what the difference between the two cards is. The card I applied for is black, the card I got in the mail is the exact same thing except white (and not shown on the website, by the way). The user agreement I got in the mail is exactly the same as the one on the website for the black card, and I get the exact same rewards (1 pt for every dollar).

I got a CL of $700 and APR (after the intro period) of 19.99%, which is irrelevent because I PIF every month. Again, no previous credit and income of $10k.

I guess this isn't really a success story because I did it just before the law got passed, but it was definitely a victory for me because I probably didn't deserve that card. I might've just gotten lucky, but I think going in there and exuding some confidence can count for more than you'd think.

Best of luck in the future, everyone. I'll definitely be looking at non BofA cards for my second wave of applications. They seem to be air tight after this law got passed.

[tengtengvn]

I got my BoA Platinum and CapOne when I was 19 years old with no credit history whatsoever.

[Wolf3]

Just wait, if it was a guaranteed denial, she would have been denied imediately.

Capital One just announced a secured mastercar for young adults (Designed to build credit).  I would try them next if BofA denies. 

[Anonymous]

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@tengtengvn wrote:

I got my BoA Platinum and CapOne when I was 19 years old with no credit history whatsoever.

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was this recently or a while ago?

[joestay]

I remember when I first went to apply for a car loan.  Before that, I didn't have a credit card or credit history, or so I thought.  When I went and applied, I got a credit score that they pulled from TU and was actually approved for the car loan.  It turned out that I have 7 months of credit history already when I applied for the car loan and didn't even know about it.   That 7 month of credit history came from an overdraft protection plan I had for a checking account. 

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm a 19 year old full-time student who is part-time employed. I recieved my first credit card when I was 18, so I was kind of in a similar situation. I recieved my first credit card through my brokerage (Schwab Invest First card). I think that I was mainly approved becuase I have liquid assets with them, so they know I could pay off my bills. If your daugher has a checking account at BoA, it is probably easier for her to get approved. However, I wonder if you could call BoA directly to check on the application status.

While the other forum members may have better input about when to apply for a credit card again if your daughter is denied, you should probably check out credit cards made for college students. More specifically, they are designed for people without credit history. For instance, Discover has a student card. Finally, your daughter could pursue a secured credit card- basically, she prepays for any charges so that there is little to no risk for the bank, therefore drastically improving her chances of getting approved.

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[emoticon]

My daughter received the letter from BOA. They want her to have a cosigner. She doesn't need the credit card. She's going to make payments on her student loan to establish a payment history. In a year or so, she'll apply again.