<p>Ack! Last night D applied for a credit card at Capitol One, and was denied. Annoying. But not too surprising, I guess, as her income is only a few thousand a year and she has savings under $10,000. Maybe they put the new rules into effect for those under 21 early (they aren’t supposed to take effect until February). But then I applied today; since she was denied, I figured I would apply and add her to my card. We wanted this card because it has no exchange fees for foreign currency, and we are going abroad in August.</p>
<p>My credit is spotless (and has been forever, 25+ years), income is six figures with the only debt my mortgage (payment is not huge) and a Visa balance of a few thousand dollars I pay off monthly, savings of over 3 times my income. I just checked my credit report a month ago, so I know it is clean. I only have two credit cards now (one I use a lot, one for emergencies if I lose the first one). What IS this? If I can’t get a card, who can? Maybe the answer is no one…</p>
<p>go to bankrate.com-- her credit doesnt justify the card-- if you want to build her credit co-sign or insure it for her. Do debit cards (the ones that look like credit cards) offer free exchange rates? My d is heading off to college in the fall and I have been trying to figure out what to do for her-- there is also a link there to another credit card site that may help.</p>
<p>did you make any recent major purchases or refinance your home? That can also trigger a denial–I once purchased a home and was turned down by Home Depot for a $300 credit limit!</p>
<p>There are a bunch of new rules coming out for credit cards that are going to result in CC companies not being able to make so much money off of risky cardholders which may mean that certain categories of consumers will have less access to credit. College students may well be affected by this.</p>
<p>On forex, they might just give you a rather unfavorable rate to make up for the lack of fees.</p>
<p>We should do something about credit cards for our son (daughter isn’t old enough). The thing is that he basically deals in cash with the proceeds from his part-time jobs. He has a debit card to our checking account (he keeps his savings in an attached savings account) but he’s never used it.</p>
<p>Nope, nothing major. No refi. I bought a car recently, but paid cash for all but a few thousand of it (put that on the main cc), and it is already paid off.</p>
<p>The only thing I can think of is that I opened the second credit card I have about 4 months ago. They asked me at my bank, I thought I needed a 2nd card in case I lost the first, so I said yes. The thing about Bankrate is that I want a card specifically from Capitol One because they waive all the foreign transaction fees (that is a total savings of 3%). So I am not just looking for any card. I will probably call them and re-apply again in 45 days, maybe for a card that requires “good credit”, not “excellent credit” (which I thought I had) :(</p>
<p>Be aware if you aren’t already that starting in February (1st? not sure of the date…), anyone under 21 will not be able to get their own credit card unless they are financially independent. Part of the new credit card legislation (most of which I am thrilled with). </p>
<p>Also, my understanding is that co-signing a card with her does not build her credit rating. My bank’s debit card has the same 3% exchange fee as almost all credit cards do. My D has been getting along fine with a debit card at college, guess she will continue to do so for a while!</p>
<p>I have Capital One and got D her own card as an user on my account. We use that card for purchases abroad also.</p>
<p>Another card which doesn’t have fees is from Schwab. If she opens a checking account, she should get their debit card which doesn’t have foreign exchange conversion fees and also reimburse you for any ATM charges.</p>
<p>“no exchange fees for foreign currency” Which card is this?
DSs have citi and amazon student cards. Low limits and a little cash or credit back.</p>
<p>My understanding is that if a credit card company denies you they need to tell you the reason. I was once denied an oil company credit card, and found they had confused my credit report with another person of the same name. He had bad credit from a furniture store, and that was enough for them to deny me. I posted information about this with the credit reporting companies, and have had no similar problems in the past 25 years or so. So you should definitely ask why you were denied, and see if there is something screwy.</p>
<p>When I joined Costco about three years ago I added my daughter as the second card holder because she had a Costco pretty close to her college. When I got a Costco American Express card a year later she was automatically added as a second holder for that card. Neither of us remember if she ever used that card but last year when she was filling out papers to rent an apartment we found out that all of those on time payments I had made for the AmEx card went onto her credit report! So, if you have a Costco AmEx, that might be a good choice for a beginning student card.</p>
<p>Remembering this from several threads several months ago and the research I did then–one of the new credit card reforms was going to be that authorized users would not be building credit (as had been done in the past). However, I’m fairly sure they backed away from this and they still are going to be building credit.</p>
<p>I wanted my S, 21 and a jr., to be building his credit, so in light of the new restrictions on obtaining their own card, he applied for one last Sept. There are several threads on cc about the “best” ones. He chose CitiDividend Platinum Select. It has an automatic cash rebate program. He was approved very quickly and rec’d the card within the week. There have been no problems, and he loves the convenience of being able to use it to pay for gas, order stuff, etc. He is very disciplined about paying it off each month (hopefully a life-long habit)!</p>
<p>before my oldest left for college we went to our bank (BofA) and applied for card for my kid with me as a cosigner. We’ve been customers of this bank/branch for over 20 years and have very good credit financials … and got turned down. After about 5 phone calls we found out the application had been processed incorrectly (in essense my info was ignored in the process) … the bank resubmitted the application correctly and my kid was in. I’d suggest asking them to double check the application and to let you know the reaon you were rejected (BofA told me they would send me an explanation within a week)</p>
<p>The rejections (which were “instantaneous” online ones) included a message saying they would send us the reason for rejection. I don’t remember the timeframe, I think within 30 days. I will probably call them if the reason seems off base.</p>
<p>1moremom, my understanding is that all Capitol One credit cards have no foreign exchange fees. They even waive the Visa/Mastercard portion of the fee (2% of the usual 3% you get charged); well, waive isn’t the right phrase, they actually eat it.</p>
<p>"all Capitol One credit cards have no foreign exchange fees. They even waive the Visa/Mastercard portion of the fee (2% of the usual 3% you get charged); well, waive isn’t the right phrase, they actually eat it. "</p>
<p>That’s what I found as well, about 3 months ago, before we traveled to Sicily. Capital One is the only one I could find that didn’t charge the international transaction fee (sometimes called the conversion fee) AND the bank fee, which generally totals 3% getting tacked on to any international credit card purchase. So we have the Capital One card exclusively for international travel, and we’ve also added our 18 year old daughter as an authorized user on that card. I believe it was all Capital One cards that had this advantage, but check before signing up.</p>
<p>I made it a point to get D credit cards in her own name and not on our accounts. The first attempt for a Chase card was rejected, but then found out the banking person filled out the form wrong (seems to be a pattern here; maybe they get a commission for certain types of accts.) Re-applied, this time for their college student credit card. No problem. But the measly $300 cr limit wasn’t nearly enough for going to school in NYC, so I jumped at the BofA offer mailed to her. And with these rules changing next month, I looked into USAA (now open to lots more people). Applied on-line for another college student credit card. Guess I could just keep that card here and use it for her web purchases. (Really wanted to get her AMEX, but they didn’t offer it to college students.)</p>
<p>intparent, go onto Capital One and ask for information. If you’re on their mailing list, you might get those “pre-approved” mailings (I think I get one or two per week!). I just found out about the foreign transaction fee and the fact that Capital One doesn’t charge it. So I used one of the mailings, went on line and was instantly approved. D needs her companion card soon, so I called & they processed her card without us having to wait for me to have my card in hand. </p>
<p>When I got her companion card, by the way, they said that they would report information to the credit bureaus, so I’m figuring that this will at least give her something on her credit report!</p>
<p>there was a thread a while ago about student credit cards and the changes coming. i had originally thought i would just get a 2nd card for son on one of my accounts but realized that wouldnt be on his credit. so we went to our local bank (not a national chain) he opened a checking account in his name, automatically came with a debit card and then applied for a credit card through the local bank… they required that i apply as a co-applicant so the history will also go on my credit report but it will create a credit reporting for him. we got the minimum 500 limit. my first thoughts in getting a card were just for emergency flight home from college if he goes out of state, but then as he talks about wanting to live off campus at some point, realized he may need a credit score for rentals. He will use the card perhaps once a month and pay off immediately just to begin to establish timely payments</p>
<p>I don’t know if I could hate credit card companies (and credit bureaus) any more. I called Capital One, and after 7 calls (3 electronic “dead ends” telling me to wait for my decision letter in the mail, 2 dropped calls, and 2 different people), I managed to get a person who told me that I was denied due to “insufficient progress in paydown of my mortgage”. Huh? I have never been late on a payment. Had the mortgage since 2002. It is a fixed rate. The one odd thing is that it is a balloon mortgage (so in about 8 years I will have to refinance the remainder of it, which will be about 1/3 of the original loan amount).</p>
<p>Of course they can’t tell me which of the three credit score companies gave them this info. So I had to go pull all 3 credit reports. Which are… squeaky clean. No comments like this. I call Capital One back. Two people later, they confirm that they can’t tell me which company gave them the info (which I think is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act), nor can I speak to the person’s supervisor (asked politely, as it is not his fault…), nor is there anyone in all of Capital One who can overrule the decision of the computer system on this credit decision and make a manual decision. Grrr…</p>
<p>Don’t keep banging your head on the wall with Capital One. Take your business elsewhere. We opened a student credit card account with BofA for D2 this fall when she went off to college. It has a modest credit limit, but it wasn’t difficult to get.</p>
<p>I think the balloon mortgage might be a problem. My daughter opened a checking account with BofA and was given $800 credit line. She was denied of a credit card at my old credit union for not having a job. You might want to try BoA.</p>
<p>“My understanding is that if a credit card company denies you they need to tell you the reason.”</p>
<p>We were turned down once and asked why. The response was “Not in our service area.” We lived ten miles from the bank. As the old saying goes … when the answer is no, any reason will do. </p>
<p>I second the suggestion of a secured credit card in the student’s name. Good luck!</p>