topic My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER! in Credit Card Approvals

My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

CribDuchess — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 16:38:43 GMT

Around the dinner table on Thursday night, the subject of credit cards came up. My son asked when he should get his own credit card. He just graduated from high school in June and just started a summer job about 2 weeks ago. He will be starting college in September. I told him he could certainly try to get one or two cards now. I suggested US Bank (he has both checking and savings) and possibly Capital One or maybe Discover. He wanted to try Discover first. He likes using the Discover card (he's an AU on mine), mostly for getting cash over at the grocery store (with my permission). It's a lot closer and more convenient than going to the nearest US Bank branch.

Anyway, I logged into my Discover account and used "Refer a Friend" to send my son an invite to apply for a Discover card. If he gets approved, we both get a $50 bonus. He checked his email and used the link in the email to apply for his own card. The application had a question about college and he indicated that he was enrolled as an incoming freshman. He had to upload documents that proved his college enrollment. He did that. He received the 7-10 day message. Shucks. Certainly to be expected. He consented to receiving electronic notification/communications via email, so I've been asking him if he has received any emails from Discover. Nothing yet as of tonight.

I noticed on Discover's website that they have an application status link. I clicked it, and it prompted for SSN & Zip Code. I entered my son's info and it generated an approval message! Pretty happy for him. It doesn't give his starting limit, but I would expect it to be pretty low - maybe $300 or $500? But he's on his way and that's the intent. And the $50 bonus for each of us is icing on the cake.

UPDATE!!

My son received an email from Discover this morning. His starting limit is $1,000, which is much higher than I anticipated. I sure wish this quarter had 5% cash back on gas stations, as that is where most of his spending is. I'll have to have him double check on whether his card is enrolled in the double-cash bonus program.

He asked about his credit rating and whether this would help his credit in the future. I assured him it would, as long as he always pays on time (preferrably in full to avoid interest charges). I asked him if he wanted to look at his credit reports and he said yes. So we just bought the 3-score package here. Found out that Discover pulled his TU report. His reports have 17 revolving (AU) accounts listed, but soon they will have one revolving account of his own reporting.

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

Santi78342 — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 04:31:32 GMT

Congratulations to your son!

NOW GO GET HIM A $10K VENTURE!!!

...kidding ...

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 04:33:50 GMT

I applaud you for teaching your son about credit. As a freshman in college, we all got a credit card application in our bags at the bookstore. My approval was $300 in 1992. Nobody told me to keep utilization at 10% or less. Mine was always maxed out because I thought if they gave me a $300 limit, I could spend $300. You must tell your son not to spend more than $30 to $50 bucks in any one month. That's hard to do these days. Tell him not to use it as a money source but as a way to build credit. It's really hard to teach a person so young. By the time he is 30 he could have $30k to $40k credit lines on each card if he plays his cards right. Hopefully, at the end of the month he discovers he has the money to pay his bill. If not, he may discover he is in deep doo doo.

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

schsa210 — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:07:41 GMT

Congrats!

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

CribDuchess — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:17:23 GMT

@Santi78342 wrote:
Congratulations to your son!

NOW GO GET HIM A $10K VENTURE!!!

...kidding ...

Thank you, Santi78342! Ha ha on the Venture suggestion.

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

CribDuchess — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:22:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I applaud you for teaching your son about credit. As a freshman in college, we all got a credit card application in our bags at the bookstore. My approval was $300 in 1992. Nobody told me to keep utilization at 10% or less. Mine was always maxed out because I thought if they gave me a $300 limit, I could spend $300. You must tell your son not to spend more than $30 to $50 bucks in any one month. That's hard to do these days. Tell him not to use it as a money source but as a way to build credit. It's really hard to teach a person so young. By the time he is 30 he could have $30k to $40k credit lines on each card if he plays his cards right. Hopefully, at the end of the month he discovers he has the money to pay his bill. If not, he may discover he is in deep doo doo.

Thank you, ImaginaryFriend! I completely agree with you, We have been having credit discussions since I made him an AU on several of my credit cards when he was 15 years old. He knows it isn't free money, it's meant to be a tool to build credit and earn rewards on money you have to spend anyway. I will be keeping a close eye on his progress as we go forward.

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

CribDuchess — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:22:54 GMT

@schsa210 wrote:
Congrats!

Thank you, schsa210!

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

OmarGB9 — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 05:30:13 GMT

Congrats! Wish I'd had my parents teach me about credit so young lol. Granted I never got myself into credit card troubles (thankfully) and I'm well on my way to having awesome credit, but still.

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

Revelate — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 09:23:30 GMT

@CribDuchess wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I applaud you for teaching your son about credit. As a freshman in college, we all got a credit card application in our bags at the bookstore. My approval was $300 in 1992. Nobody told me to keep utilization at 10% or less. Mine was always maxed out because I thought if they gave me a $300 limit, I could spend $300. You must tell your son not to spend more than $30 to $50 bucks in any one month. That's hard to do these days. Tell him not to use it as a money source but as a way to build credit. It's really hard to teach a person so young. By the time he is 30 he could have $30k to $40k credit lines on each card if he plays his cards right. Hopefully, at the end of the month he discovers he has the money to pay his bill. If not, he may discover he is in deep doo doo.
Thank you, ImaginaryFriend! I completely agree with you, We have been having credit discussions since I made him an AU on several of my credit cards when he was 15 years old. He knows it isn't free money, it's meant to be a tool to build credit and earn rewards on money you have to spend anyway. I will be keeping a close eye on his progress as we go forward.

Ahaha, many kudos to you my friend Duchess! Am so glad that a parent is finally doing the right thing by credit education for their kids, that may be the one thing I won't ever forgive my own parents for not doing .

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 11:45:37 GMT

Awesome. I remember getting those credit applications all the time at the bookstore. It prompted me to apply and market credit cards and even AT&T True Voice phone service. Made a couple thousand a week in the summer. Of course the income granted higher limits on my cards. Now I lie and state my AGI (lower).

Thanks for the idea on making kids (15 yo) an AU. I will do this with my small BofA card ($500 limit) that I will never use except gas on off quarters from Chase and Discover.

As others mentioned kids for teaching your kids.

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

CribDuchess — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 16:41:45 GMT

@OmarGB9 wrote:
Congrats! Wish I'd had my parents teach me about credit so young lol. Granted I never got myself into credit card troubles (thankfully) and I'm well on my way to having awesome credit, but still.

Thank you, OmarGB9! You and me both! My mother was especially anti-credit. It was cash or nothing. She didn't even like checks. lol

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

B335is — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 16:47:14 GMT

Congrats to dear son!!

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

CribDuchess — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 16:48:02 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@CribDuchess wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I applaud you for teaching your son about credit. As a freshman in college, we all got a credit card application in our bags at the bookstore. My approval was $300 in 1992. Nobody told me to keep utilization at 10% or less. Mine was always maxed out because I thought if they gave me a $300 limit, I could spend $300. You must tell your son not to spend more than $30 to $50 bucks in any one month. That's hard to do these days. Tell him not to use it as a money source but as a way to build credit. It's really hard to teach a person so young. By the time he is 30 he could have $30k to $40k credit lines on each card if he plays his cards right. Hopefully, at the end of the month he discovers he has the money to pay his bill. If not, he may discover he is in deep doo doo.
Thank you, ImaginaryFriend! I completely agree with you, We have been having credit discussions since I made him an AU on several of my credit cards when he was 15 years old. He knows it isn't free money, it's meant to be a tool to build credit and earn rewards on money you have to spend anyway. I will be keeping a close eye on his progress as we go forward.
Ahaha, many kudos to you my friend Duchess! Am so glad that a parent is finally doing the right thing by credit education for their kids, that may be the one thing I won't ever forgive my own parents for not doing .

Hey there Rev!! So nice to see you posting! Thank you for the very kind words! I owe my parental credit wisdom to everyone here at myFICO. This board just opens your eyes to the real impacts and benefits of having credit and using it wisely.

Love seeing your great progress - your scores are really moving up! Very nice work!!

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

CribDuchess — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 16:57:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Awesome. I remember getting those credit applications all the time at the bookstore. It prompted me to apply and market credit cards and even AT&T True Voice phone service. Made a couple thousand a week in the summer. Of course the income granted higher limits on my cards. Now I lie and state my AGI (lower).

Thanks for the idea on making kids (15 yo) an AU. I will do this with my small BofA card ($500 limit) that I will never use except gas on off quarters from Chase and Discover.

As others mentioned kids for teaching your kids.

Thank you, AlanS! I just feel we should share our knowledge with our children so that they don't go blindly into debt and potentially ruin their credit.

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

CribDuchess — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 16:58:21 GMT

@B335is wrote:
Congrats to dear son!!

Thank you, B335is!!

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

NRB525 — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 17:33:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I applaud you for teaching your son about credit. As a freshman in college, we all got a credit card application in our bags at the bookstore. My approval was $300 in 1992. Nobody told me to keep utilization at 10% or less. Mine was always maxed out because I thought if they gave me a $300 limit, I could spend $300. You must tell your son not to spend more than $30 to $50 bucks in any one month. That's hard to do these days. Tell him not to use it as a money source but as a way to build credit. It's really hard to teach a person so young. By the time he is 30 he could have $30k to $40k credit lines on each card if he plays his cards right. Hopefully, at the end of the month he discovers he has the money to pay his bill. If not, he may discover he is in deep doo doo.

Maxing out a $300 card and only paying the minimum, I agree, is not the way to handle the card. You did end up spending some amount every month for living expenses, you just quickly reached the point where that CC was no longer really relevant to your daily spend. If you paid the $30 minimum payment, you could charge another $30 to the card, then stop using it for another month. A debit card or cash was the way you paid for your living costs.

However, switching that to Don't spend more than $30 - $50 in a month?

If there are living expenses that are spent anyway, and a $1k limit, routing those through the Discover makes sense, it's just a matter of learning to manage the cash flow, and ensuring that the spending that goes on the card is PIF by the payment due date. So the instructions to the son are: Don't use it to borrow any money, use it for the necessary spending that is in the budget we've agreed to, and no more, never go over the limit, then pay the statement in full by the payment due date with the savings/allowance/loan funds that we have arranged for your college costs.

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 18:34:35 GMT

I just got my college son one. He has no credit. He got approved for $1000!

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

s_haliz — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 19:06:59 GMT

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

Anomalous — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 19:24:00 GMT

Congratulations to your son!

Re: My 18-year old son's first credit card approval - DISCOVER!

alextercero — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 19:33:27 GMT

Congrats