How to get a card for a 19-year-old

[Anonymous]

My daughter is 19, and was turned down for a SECURED card.  I'm baffled. 

Can anyone tell me what card -- secured or otherwise -- she can get accepted for?

She basically has no income, but I would have thought a secured card would have solved that problem.

[OmarGB9]

Without any income and presumably no credit history it'll be tough to be approved for any card, even a secured one. Perhaps Open Sky may work? They don't do a credit check, though the income thing may still be an issue.

Alternatively, you can try adding her to one or two of your accounts as an AU to begin building history at the very least. But again, there has to be some sort of income.

[Slabenstein]

A secured card is going to require income and a workable DTI ratio the same as any other lending secured by collatoral does, e.g. a car loan.  Is your daughter a student?  I believe student cards look at income differently, since most people in school full time are probably not going to have much income until they graduate.

[Anonymous]

I think Self.inc offers a secured no income card if you do their credit builder loan?

Alternatively, you could do a joint card at a credit union with her. That'd be effectively the same as her own, for credit building and scoring.

Or NFCU share loan + secured card might work

I think Discover student card approves people with income as low as 4-figures annual, too

[Nelsoul]

PNC does joint cards.

[CYBERSAM]

Easiest way is to add her to one of your CCs for 6 months till she gets a job or show income. You can remove her once she gets her own CC.

[Anonymous]

As stated above, a secured card doesn't solve the issue of no income. The deposit is meant to ensure the line of credit is covered if the user defaults, but without income, at least some of that line would theoretically be needed as soon as the first bill is due. Secured or not, lenders require you to show the means to pay them back each month.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, everyone.

[Duke_Nukem]

First step I would recommend would be to add them as an authorized user (AU) on one or more of your cards that have good history (no late payments) and good utilization (ratio of the montly reported balance on the statement compared to the credit limit).  Most card companies will report payment history from a couple of years ago when the next statement is created (I think AMEX is an exception).  Your DD won't have an official Fico score yet (that won't happen until 6 months after obtaining a credit product in her name), but it does provide some type of history that creditors consider.

A month or so later, she can apply for a Discover card.  Their student version seems to be forgiving for low income.  My youngest DD only reported a $6000/year income and got a Disco Chrome Student version for around $1700.  Some companies consider income differently than others.  I think Disco mentions during the card application that deposits made to your daughter's checking/savings accounts to pay her bills are considered "income".  It's been a while since I helped my DD through the application, so not sure if it changed or if I'm confusing them with someone else.

Good luck to you and your DD!

[Clegga]

I got Discover Student Card with basically no income as my first card, after being declined for other starter cards.