amith1

reading through post on credit cards, I have thus far been able to secure only one credit card for my son, with a $100.00 limit. He has been declined by all others because of "no credit", (yeah, no kidding!!). I am trying to get him established so I don't have to take out this parent plus loan each year. any suggestions?

ellemenope

Our bank has a student package--ATM, checking, credit card with a higher limit (how much, I can't remember--but I know it was enough to charge an airplane ticket home, if need be). We didn't have to sign as guarantors of the credit card, although we monitor its use.

We found that using the same bank that we (the parents) bank at gave us the most leeway.

citygirlsmom

Is he in college yet? Some colleges have credit unions

mominsearch

Just one question, wouldn't the lower interest on the parent plus loan (or taking out a loan in his name) be much better than him putting this on a credit card? Is it a large amount or just a small amount? Maybe you could give us a little more information. Thanks!

weenie

Does anybody know if kids ever have a credit card or a debit card that is the same account as their parents, but has the kid's name on it? I figure that way he would not be tempted to put anything on it that wasn't OK'd by us (airplane tickets, books, prescriptions, etc).

pokey318

Both my kids have a Visa card with our account number on it, but with their name imprinted on the card. The bill includes all 4 cards as they are the same account number; it is no different than when I have a card on my husbands account.

With American Express, the account is the same, but the account numbers are different. Again, one bill for all cards on the account. While these accounts are in my husbands name, the children will not be building credit in their name; they just have access to an account with a high charge limit! My 21 year old now has his own card in his name and is responsible for the payment. This card will help him build credit. We have let him charge some big ticket things that we would pay him back for; again this will help him in the long run as long as he remembers to pay his bills on time.

Another way to build credit is to make sure the utility bills (if they live off campus) are in your students name. My son has 2 roomates, but he wanted all the utilities in his name. By the time he is in grad school, I would think he will be able to apply for credit most anywhere.

amith1

What I mean is I want him to get credit so he can apply for his own loans. As is stands now, he can only get the federal loans, but he can't get any other student loans since he doesn't have any credit. I'm getting older and don't want this much debt in my name, he on the other hand has a long time to pay off his loans. I had to take out a $12,000 parent plus loan because he couldn't get one. I want to change that.

bookworm

Just doing this with son. All his cards had my name attached. He wanted account at local bank (nearest to him), and they offer one credit card, very high interest rate because he has no credit history of his own. I told him to go for it, but have automatic payments, check statement, etc. I'm open to other people's advice, but it seemed that before he was 18, everything was attached to me

jmmom

Here is what I learned on a cc thread earlier this year. As with pokey, our S has had a Visa card, with his name on it, but on our account, for a couple of years. At 18, we got him a card, again with his name on it, but again on our account, with AX. (AX requires kid to be 18). On cc, I read that this situation actually builds good credit for the kid! I couldn't believe my eyes... BUT, I went on-line to check S' credit score. Lo and behold! He has a great credit score (over 700; 850 is the max and not sure anyone ever gets the actual 850; a truly excellent score is anything over 800 and over 700 is very good).

CC was right! Kids are building good credit through having a card on parents' account in their own name. They are building this good credit thanks to us paying our bills on time. Who knew?

sideways

My S has a debit card on a seperate account than our primary one but it is linked to mine. I can monitor the account place money in the account and it takes care of him if he were to overdraw. He started with this account when he began to drive. So he had money if needed. I think this will be good for college to. He can manage it but if he runs into trouble I can help. When I use the ATM it shows as a secondary account to my main. This has worked well for us. We think this is better than a credit card. Debit cards can be used in the same places as a credit card but it helps him learn not spend what he doesn't have!

lefthandofdog

A parent can get a credit card with a child - parent co-signs and is responsible if child doesn't pay up, but I think it builds a credit history for child because only child's name is on card and statement, and the credit limit is low (but higher than $100). The problem with a child having a card for parents' account, as we just learned, is that the child gets to have that same credit limit - you can't impose a lower one on your child. This came up recently when d. was going on school trip - we wanted her to have the flexibility of credit card but had to have the high limit. There are some kids for whom the temptation would be too great.

I wonder, though, whether a credit card to build a credit rating would even help in the OP's situation. Aren't PLUS loans, like most consumer loans, given out on the basis of a borrower's ability to pay back the loan? Since the borrower would be a full time student, I don't see how any bank would take the risk. The Stafford loans are intended, I think, precisely for that situation. They are available to any full time student (in either subsidized or unsubsidized flavors) but the limits are fairly low, making them low risk to the lending banks (and they're guaranteed by the feds anyway). I think the OP should ask a banker about this - how would a student go about building credit or otherwise make themselves eligible to take out PLUS loans on their own? My guess is that a student cannot (a married student with working spouse might be different).

It's the big paradox of loans/banking - those who have money and better credit ratings get lower interest rates. Those who REALLY need the money either don't qualify or pay more for the privilege. Of course, it's because it's all based on the risk taken by the lender.

mishdoob1

my S has had a visa buxx card for the last 3 years, but we are going to get him a credit card (more "protection" than the debit card) when he goes away for those unanticpated expenses. We'll check out mbna as they seem to have a number of cc's without fees.

laxmom

my son has his own Visa account, after much pleading with our local bank. He was turned down by credit card companies (Citibank, AX, Bank of America) many times due to "no credit history"...duh, how do you establish credit until someone works with you. The bank relented, since he had a fair amount of money in an account.

jym626

Credit Card for College Freshman
Credit Card vs Debit Card

Read these threads . They should answer your questions. This is a great source for student chargecards: It gives you a table of a lot of the student cards and deals:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/cc_...=All&cc_freq=1

driver

Way back in the old days (mine), I was told that getting a Sears credit card was considered a sign of credit-worthiness--and that having it would open the doors to other credit sources. I have no idea if it's still true, but it was kind of the gold standard back then.