How easy is to apply for the Discover It Student card? Do they require financial information? My daughter always uses her debit card, it’s really time to get a credit card, she is over 21 and in college. She is very responsible with her money so it won’t be a concern.
Is it an almost guaranteed approval since it is a student card? She does have a part time job, not making a lot of money though.
Thanks.
It was easy for my D. She provided income information and got a $1,000 credit limit.
We are using it for her groceries to build credit.
We are Costco members. D got a card there while we were shopping—approved on the spot with a significant credit limit tho she had no job and was still a college student. She just applied to help the Costco employee out. They said all funds we pay on her behalf, including tuition, room and board counted as income. It was a different card, the AmEx Costco Card. Citi sent us a Citi Costco Card to replace the AmEx one.
@HImom That’s interesting. Did your D have a Costco household member card in her own name?
She and S share a Costco membership for just the two of them. H and I have our own Costco membership.
Is she the primary member? Or your S? I’m wondering whether a household member (non-primary) can also apply for the Costco credit card.
My D got a student Discover card with minimal income and it helped her to establish an excellent credit rating at a young age. I’m a big fan of going this route as long as the student is responsible enough to make the monthly payment on time.
We also got a Discover It card for our kids. They pay it off every month and get a statement credit for good grades.
Your daughter should have no trouble getting one in her name. It will start with a low credit limit but increase as she pays on time.
S is the primary member, D is secondary and had and still has no job. I think it was the amount we paid for tuition and room & board that card issuer liked in granting CCard.
Anyone can apply for a ‘costco’ visa card. It is just a Citibank visa.
My daughter got a Student Discover card with only a $500 limit That’s was raised to $1500 after 6 months. The problem is with such a low limit, she’s over 30% of the limit all the time, and that means the credit score can drop. I’ve been trying to tell her to pay it more often during the month but she doesn’t listen to me. She only has 3 things on her credit report (car, student loan, this card) so if she goes over that 30% of available credit, it makes a difference. She applied for a few other credit cards and they turned her down because she hadn’t been at her job long enough, and she hadn’t started to repay her student loan. I think she’ll try again in the spring.
If you know someone who already has a discover card, have them refer the applicant. Each will get $100 (I think that’s what it is). If you don’t know someone, I’d be happy to refer you ?, pm me. (But, if you do know someone, please use them …)
Ok, just checked. It’s $50 each, not $100.
My D, 21, has a discover card after only having had a debit card. I was the one who urged who to get it to build credit, but she’s incredibly debt averse and she’s trying to pay it after every charge (several times a month). I was thinking Discover might not like to get so many payments, but so far they haven’t complained.
“Anyone can apply for a ‘costco’ visa card. It is just a Citibank visa.”
No. It is linked to the Costco member number (printed on the card) and rewards, so it is not just a Citibank card. Anyone can apply for a generic Citibank card, yes.
Thanks for your responses.
Daughter did the application, such easy process. She is not a big spender, even a $500 credit limit is plenty. She will do the automatic payment so she doesn’t have to worry about forgetting to pay.
My D applied for a Wells Fargo student credit card the summer before she started college. She had a checking and small savings account there. She was approved and pays it in full every month. She is very proud that her credit score keeps going up.
I put D2 on my AmEx Platinum card and provided AmEx with her SS #. Even though she never had a CC while in college, when she applied for her first CC she was given 15K credit limit. I didn’t let my kids have CC before they had a full time job. You can transfer your good credit to your kids if you put them on your CC.
Kid had no credit cards in her name (or joint with us) while she was in college. Lived and worked abroad for almost 4 years in different countries with a debit card only after graduation. Came back to the US and applied for Alaska Air Visa card through BofA. She has been banking with that bank for 10 years. Got approved for the credit card on the spot. In several months, she called them and asked for an increase in her limit (needed that for travel due to her work). Got approved for that. Went to buy a car and got a great loan. To sum it up, this is one example that a kid does not need a cc in college to build credit.
My S, a freshman, doesn’t have any credit card in his own name (as a primary cardholder). However, he has a credit score of 800 when I checked via his own checking account. Now I’m not so sure he should apply for his own credit card. It could damage his good credit score if he forgets to pay his credit card bills, or use up more of his credit line than he should.
D1 didn’t get a college credit card (she applied but didn’t have a job at the time and we didn’t realize that she could report things like an allowance as income). I had her on my amazon visa and they didn’t put it on her credit report. Her credit score was above 700, but all she could get after college was a secured credit card (Discover, converted after 8 months and she now has a Visa card with a real credit limit). D2 was on my BofA card which did go on her credit report. She got a student Discover card, misplaced it before activating it, never used it, and after 6 months or a year they raised her credit limit for being so “responsible.” She also got a second student card this year with an $1800 limit, approved on the spot.
ETA @1NJParent - I highly recommend that your son gets a card while in school (maybe not right away), and that you just impress on him how important his credit score is. He can probably arrange to pay the card automatically if there’s a concern about missing payments.