There’s no need to worry about being careless and forgetting to pay the bill. Just have it set up so it automatically withdraws from your checking account.
My kids take pictures of checks and deposit them that way. That’s one thing I haven’t quite brought myself to do - I’m old school in still using the ATM for that!
(Edited: I mean the occasional personal check, like from a relative on their birthdays. Obviously work checks are all auto-deposit.)
Once you start doing the photo-check thing, it’s really easy.
From the link above (post 36): Student applicants under 21 will now be required to have co-signers, such as parents or other adults over the age of 21, who will take on joint liability for any card debts that are incurred. If young adults want to apply independently, they will have to show evidence that they can repay the credit card charges on their own. “The credit card company will need some kind of proof of income or employment from the student,”
As I mentioned upthread, all 3 of mine had credit cards from a local bank by the time they were sophmores in college. None had a job or income. Wonder how WF and BofA get around these rules. Personally, I’m glad they do as it has worked out very well for my kids but very odd to read about this law and how it didn’t seem to apply to my kids’ experience.
@Pizzagirl well thats nice that you can pay off your cards in full each month. Some folks cant. Some folks dont have spouses making really good incomes so paying everything off in full is not an option. This thread was about college students, and since my husband was still in school when we were married sometimes balances rolled over due to unforeseen circumstances. At this point in my life I dont carry a balance, but I was not always as financially blessed as I am now.
That could work formy kids since they charge so little, but I prefer to pay manually so I can choose what account it draws from (and can be sure there is plenty in there). I use google calendar to remind me about upcoming bills that are due.
Oh! Once you start, you’ll never look back. I love depositing a check right away instead of waiting until I have a chance to get to the bank or ATM.
I have photo deposited checks, when I had just one to deposit. Haven’t done it for multiple checks.
I suspect my kids never check their monthly statements. To me autopay prevents that-- and we just had a fraudulent charge on one of our cards. No, we did not purchase 2 pr of Nike LeBron Hightops at the Nike outlet store!
I’ve had a credit card since I was 16 and for the first time in my life, I’m not able to pay off my balance in full every month. Careless spending? No. Medical bills. We’ll be ok but we can’t overstretch. The CCs have been a life saver even if, yes, for the first time in my life I am paying interest. We could pay them off with our savings but it’s far more important to us to have a cushion in case I’m hospitalized for any length of time.
One other perk about CCs over debit cards is that it’s been my experience that CCs get mailed to you much faster than debit cards if something happens. I’ve had to reorder cards twice this year (on one occasion all of them and on the other just 2) and the credit cards get here within days and the debit within weeks. Of course, YMMV.
Well, obviously, medical bills or other emergencies are a different story. I’m sorry, romani.
I think the length of time it takes to get a new credit card or debit card is a function of how good a customer you are. If you’re a “better” customer, you’ll have new cards overnighted to you if there’s a problem. I don’t think it has anything to do with credit vs debit per se, but I may be mistaken.
I admit to doing everything wrong.
The kids were never authorized signers on our cards. They didn’t have a credit card in college. I don’t know. But when they graduated from college neither had trouble signing a lease on an apartment.
S bought a car after college graduation but before staring his full time job but with an offer in hand. No problem getting a loan. He had a debit card only but when he started traveling for his job, got the credit card he applied for.
D got a credit card after graduation and then decided she wanted a discover card, it wasn’t a problem. She didn’t buy a car right away but when she did, she qualified for the best interest rates.
The kids did take out Stafford loans which we pay and we pay on time. This I’m sure contributed to a good credit rating but we did nothing else.
No, I think it’s more a function of the company…I had my CC compromised, so it was replaced. I had to wait 7-10 days for it to arrive (good thing I have more than one card!). Both of my kids had an experience of having their card compromised (different bank from me but the same as each other) and they had their new card overnight. I’ve been a customer for years with an excellent record, they are new card holders…I think it’s a reflection of the company not how good a customer you are.
Though, I suppose if I had asked (didn’t think of it in the moment) I probably could have gotten the company to overnight it.
Generally, the CC company will overnite the replacement card only if you request it, otherwise you get it when it gets there. At least that has been our experience.
Using a bank with a local branch may help with replacement cards. My husband’s card was compromised recently and he was able to go into a branch and get a replacement that day.
Neither of my kids requested it. It was offered…Guess our credit union goes the extra mile. =D>
But yes, I’m sure I would have gotten it too if I had asked it of my credit card company. Just didn’t think of it at the time.
At a certain credit limit status, having it overnighted may just be automatic.
That may be true in some cases…but again, my limit WAY exceeds my kids, LOL! So in this case, it was just a matter of our credit union having better automatic service to overnight it.
I tend to think it has more to do with the issuing company. My Chase Visa was cancelled last week due to several fraudulent charges. They told me 7 days for the replacement card and the credit limit happens to be very high. I thought about requesting overnight delivery but didn’t think it was that important. This isn’t the card I use primarily so there’s no real problem waiting. If it happens to the card my husband and I use daily, I would definitely insist on overnight delivery.
Generally, I get cards within a week, whether it’s brand new or a replacement. Ic it were urgent, I’d ask for overnite, but since I have many other cards it’s generally not an issue to have it rushed (unless I have a big purchase I am planning to make and want to have the initial spend for a new card met ASAP).
When I have requested overnite, I’ve received the card promptly. We have varying credit limits–seems to vary by issuer–Chase and CapOne have 5 figure limits for us while all the others have 4 figure limits.
OP here. End of the story: S bought a lightly used car today–got a great deal. It was financed by the dealership (not the same as the one that declined to lease him a car), which had no problem with his credit situation. The financing person was so impressed with his salary, etc., she told him he wouldn’t have the car for more than a couple of years because he surely would be trading up to something nicer by then.
I don’t understand how these decisions get made. Was hoping someone in the banking or finance industry would chime in with some enlightenment on how it all works, but even though it seems we have one of everything on CC, that didn’t happen.
Car dealers do not normally make financing or leasing decisions on their own*. They normally use one of the various lenders that they have contacts with. The various lenders available may specialize in various types of buyers (e.g. good credit versus bad credit). Bad credit means a higher interest rate on a loan or money factor on a lease. Also, financing may have different credit criteria than leasing.
*A big semi-exception would be on a day when the lenders are closed (i.e. a weekend or holiday, when many people buy or lease cars), so the dealer will write a contract based on its assumption (from recent experience) of what it can get the buyer financed for, and then complete the loan with the lender on a business day. This is called a spot sale, and sometimes it goes wrong when the dealer’s assumption of financing is incorrect. Then the dealer will want the buyer to sign a new contract at a worse interest rate. More: http://www.edmunds.com/car-loan/dont-fall-prey-to-spot-delivery-scams-and-yo-yo-financing.html
Saw this article today - right on topic for this thread:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/student-credit-cards-arent-students-110515953.html?ref=gs