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Best card for my 18 year old?

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aesl1982
Regular Contributor

Best card for my 18 year old?

So my oldest is turning 18 next month and i want to get her a couple cards to send her off to college with. She is very responsible kid and understands credit already. On her profile she is sitting at 740 currently across the board. she is an authorized user on 4 cards of mine. a discover for 5k, two cap 1/s at 600 and 500, and our care credit at 5500. It says her average age is 2 years 6 months, and obviously zero inquires. we are also members at NFCU. 

Discover it miles 9/19 Sl 5000 | Care Credit 9/19 SL 3500 | Cap 1 QS 4/14 AU 500 | Cap 1 QS1 4/14 AU 600 | NFCU Secured 8/19 200 | NFCU CLOC 9/19 500 | NFCU auto 10/19 6.29 66k | NFCU Auto 4.9% 37k
Experian- 702
Equifax- 676
Transunion- 611
Util- 9%
Message 1 of 50
49 REPLIES 49
M_Smart007
Legendary Contributor

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?

Discover Pre-Qualify website? .. No harm to DD's credit to check?

Message 2 of 50
issac2x
Frequent Contributor

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?

If you're with Navy I'd go with them. Otherwise Discover It Miles for the 3% everything first year.


Message 3 of 50
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?

NFCU and Capital One are the most likely to give her a card without history of her own unless you want to get student cards for her. Most lenders remove AU accounts entirely so if she doesn't have any accounts of her own, she has no score. 

Message 4 of 50
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?

I'd say if you're members with NFCU, she might be interested in a NFCU card. If not, than try Discover or Cap1 both which have prequal tools so she can check if she is prequalified before cold apping. Good luck to DD!

 

Simplified answer: The best card is the card that will suit DD's spend.

Message 5 of 50
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?

Capital One has always treated people new to credit well. I would give their prequal a shot. You can also try Discover's prequal, which asks a bit more information and gives pretty solid preapprovals. The important thing is to make sure your DD is not just getting a card for the sake of getting a card. Make sure it is one that will benefit her for awhile. Best wishes to both of you.

Message 6 of 50
AllZero
Mega Contributor

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?

I think DD would do well with Navy, Discover and Capital One.

Message 7 of 50
aesl1982
Regular Contributor

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?

Yes that's true, the plan is to get her a card she can use as a daily driver, of limit is good enough. I'll be paying the bill monthly. But it'll mainly be for her needs while away at college. I could manage this with her debit card. But I'd rather do it through a credit card to help her more by building credit with her own accounts. 

Discover it miles 9/19 Sl 5000 | Care Credit 9/19 SL 3500 | Cap 1 QS 4/14 AU 500 | Cap 1 QS1 4/14 AU 600 | NFCU Secured 8/19 200 | NFCU CLOC 9/19 500 | NFCU auto 10/19 6.29 66k | NFCU Auto 4.9% 37k
Experian- 702
Equifax- 676
Transunion- 611
Util- 9%
Message 8 of 50
M_Smart007
Legendary Contributor

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?


@aesl1982 wrote:

Yes that's true, the plan is to get her a card she can use as a daily driver, of limit is good enough. I'll be paying the bill monthly. But it'll mainly be for her needs while away at college. I could manage this with her debit card. But I'd rather do it through a credit card to help her more by building credit with her own accounts. 


" I'll be paying the bill monthly."  ... I feel for ya! ..been there done that.

Good Luck on whatever you decideSmiley Happy

Message 9 of 50
Duke_Nukem
Established Contributor

Re: Best card for my 18 year old?

My 2 DD's just went through that stage a little over a year ago.  One was a 22yo college student and the other was a 18yo HS student taking dual enrolled college courses (she had a college ID).

 

We were late getting the 22yo started with credit.  I added both DD's as AU on 4 of our CC's in Oct '18 and the oldest applied for the CapOne Journey Student card in Nov '18.  Denied.  Eventually I found this wonderful site and we decided to see if they prequalified for a Disco card.  They both applied and were approved for the Disco Chrome Student (the gas and restaurant cashback fit them well).

 

The Disco student card did require entering the college / university they attended, so if your 18yo isn't enrolled in a college they may not accept the application as a student (not sure how they treat that).

 

Highly recommend the Disco cards, as they have grown very nicely for my DD's.  NFCU would also make a great choice, but they will have to become members themselves if they aren't already.

 

Good luck!


Message 10 of 50
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