<p>One caution regarding adding your child as an authorized user to the parents account. It can backfire many years later. My dear mother added me to her account in 1970 so I could buy textbooks. My name was not on the statement and I never had a card. Ten years ago mom needed to give up independent living and enter a nursing home. She refused. In her confused state she wanted to take the credit card, buy herself a car, and run away. I had full power of attorney and went to the bank to close the account. They refused to close it or lower the credit limit (which stood at 25,000) since it wasn’t “my” account. Said I needed her to do it. However, they were gleefully quick to inform me I would be legally responsible for all charges incurred. We argued and argued, but got nowhere. Fortunately, in the end my mom got the help she needed, I got the card from her, and after paying off her balance of 3,000, I went back to the same bank a couple of years later, got a different person, and was able to get it closed. Guess my point is we want to be sure our good intentions don’t somehow complicate our childrens’ lives and responsibilities in the future. A good attorney could have probably straightened out our mess quickly, but at the time we didn’t think that should have been necessary. Live and learn, eh?</p>
<p>I plan to give S a credit card in his name on one of my credit card accounts (one I don’t use) for emergencies/fare home/books. The bank offers an alert system that I can set up according to my wishes. If I want to be notified by text message to my phone of every charge over $10 (or $20, or $100, whatever) on my account, I can set up the alert for that.</p>
<p>PackMom, DH and I both had military parents and siblings that qualified us for USAA even though neither of us are/were military. We’ve had their insurance forever (great rates, great service) and added banking about 5 years ago. When our local credit union went through yet another buyout with a poorly handled transition, we moved all our liquid financial accounts to USAA and couldn’t be happier. They have a great cash-back American Express Card. Our kids are now grandfathered (literally!) into USAA and can maintain their account into adulthood.</p>
<p>^^Lucky you. I had hoped that DH and I could get USAA by virtue of S1 being in the military and having a USAA account. S1 thought it possible but from reading the website, it doesn’t sound like it will be. Too bad, We 've heard nothing but good things about it.</p>