<p>Yea, it does depend on the U. The U our kids attended accepted CCards but had REALLY (>$40K/student/year) high tuition. I would have been happy if they knocked off some of the cost of tuition and didn’t take CCards. I know someone who was able to charge her kids private school (K-12) tuition on her CCard. She got a lot of points, which she used for plane trips. We kept kids in public school until HS and saved for college instead.</p>
<p>No you are setting your child up for failure by giving them a credit card. Debit cards are the best and safest choice. When I went to college, I got a debit card. Since I was a full time student, my parents sent my monthly allowance directly to the card. I learned how to only spend what I have. I have watched so many of my peers in college crash and burn with their credit cards, even those who come from an educated, upper middle class home. You are setting your child for failure by giving them a credit card. Wait until their Sophomore/junior/senior year of college BEFORE allowing them to open up a credit card. This is from my experience as a college student seeing my peers destroy their credit before even graduating college.</p>
<p>HurdGirl95, as I understand it, the OP is talking about whether her employed oldest son should obtain a credit card, not giving her son a credit card. I believe he is a college graduate, so older than the age at which you think people should obtain credit cards.</p>
<p>I do wish we had had our kids on our own cards as authorized users when they were younger, since that would have built their credit nicely, I presume. My kids are not perfect, but there is no way they’d have abused that privilege. Each of them has always been responsible for her own credit card - we don’t assist them with payments.</p>
<p>Yes, they don’t even have to use the card, just be an authorized user. My D’s credit report showed our card on her history, from the day we opened the account.</p>
<p>And the OP mentioned her son already had some sort of limit credit card already that he barely used, had gotten a nice job, and an apartment. At this stage, I think it’s his personal preference.</p>
<p>When we went off to college, our folks had us as authorized users on their credit cards. Not one of us ever abused the privilege, and it was security to all of us and our folks to know it was there in case any of us ever got into a jam. Similarly, we made our kids authorized users when they went off to college and they have NEVER abused it or caused any regrets that we gave them the privilege.</p>
<p>My kids are happy to have credit cards available as ONE option, especially when purchasing mail order and/or big ticket items, liking to have the FREE extended warranty.</p>
<p>As was stated, it is personal preference. If one is disciplined about using credit cards, it can be a very useful and profitable options, which my S is delighting in. He has received quite a bit of cash and several free trips from opening and responsibly using his credit cards, paying off the balance without ever needing to pay ANY finance charges or late fees.</p>
<p>" At this stage, I think it’s his personal preference."</p>
<p>Most definitely. It is completely his choice, he’s an adult.</p>
<p>"Thanks, BusDriver! Is my crown and scepter in the mail?</p>
<p>A few of the interesting things I used a credit card for:
- Funded a retirement account and had it rolled over into a ROTH IRA"</p>
<p>Yes, it is. I take back what I said about you being the queen of the cc shuffle, you are hereby declared Master of the Universe (of the cc shuffle).</p>
<p>Now I probably couldn’t do most of the things on your list without charges, but I sure would love to figure out how to fund a backdoor Roth via credit card (without charges, of course). Wow.</p>
<p>Interesting topic! </p>
<p>Here’s another question; Do you think identity theft insurance is a needed item? If so, which company would you recommend?</p>
<p>We are sending our D off to college with a credit card. Our financial adviser recommended this so that she could start to build a credit rating. We intend to pay it off every month so the horrendous interest rate (you can’t get a low interest credit card with no established credit rating and almost no income) doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>And there may be an emergency expense down the road that her checking account won’t be enough to cover, so having a credit card is a good back-up.</p>
<p>If your son ever needs a mortgage or car loan, he needs to start establishing credit now.</p>
<p>Yes, BusDriver1, if you want more info, I could supply in a PM. You don’t qualify for what we did because you don’t have the retirement pension H was entitled to, as you aren’t a federal employee employed from the early 80s.</p>
<p>We have never purchased ID theft insurance and fortunately have never needed it. I do hope our luck continues to hold out. IF you choose to purchase ID theft insurance, be sure you understand what it actually covers and what it will actually DO for you. Contracts are strictly limited to the terms stated in them. Often, you can get some protection just by getting one of the three credit reports you’re entitled to every 4 months to see if there is any unusual activity. Some orgs (like AAA & several financial institutions) will offer a FREE credit monitoring service, if you’d like that. Might was well see what free offerings can provide before you decide what extra value you MIGHT get by purchasing something.</p>
<p>I figured that IRA deal would be something we didn’t qualify for. Thought it might be through the Amex Bluebird check card, which even I don’t have the energy to pursue.</p>
<p>Skipped a few pages of posts, but:</p>
<p>I went through a chapter 13 bankruptcy after a period of unemployment about 10 years ago. At the time I had to cancel all credit cards I had.</p>
<p>Since then I have never bothered to get another credit card.</p>
<p>For nearly 10 years I have managed perfectly fine with only a debit card. I have booked hotels (some chains do require an additional deposit or put a hold on the card, but I’ve always had enough funds it didn’t bother me), I have rented cars (although many chains say they won’t accept a debit card or require a cash deposit I have never had any trouble and have used multiple companies), I have made MANY purchases online, I have paid bills online.</p>
<p>I have used my debit card to pay taxi drivers, buy airfare, and pay in hotels and restaurants (both domestically and internationally).</p>
<p>I RARELY carry any cash and when I do it is usually less than $20.</p>
<p>Not long ago someone stole my card number from an online merchant, the merchant reported to Mastercard they’d been compromised and since my debit card has the Mastercard label, they monitored my account, detected unusual spending, cancelled those transactions, and THEN contacted me. (I have no special fraud protection on my account). After speaking with my bank they cancelled that card and issued me a new one with a different number.</p>
<p>It is easy to protect money from fraud by having a separate checking and savings account. Only put into the checking account the amount you need to pay expenses and have that tied to the debit card. Put additional money into the interest earning savings account (or other investment option) and do not have those funds tied to the debit card so they are safe from any fraud.</p>
<p>My bank also enables me to earn rewards points when using my debit card as a credit card, although probably not as significant as the rewards that you can earn with a credit card, mine comes with absolutely no fees (which most first time card holders can’t claim).</p>
<p>The one benefit of a credit card is that it does allow you to build credit which a young adult may need to get better rates for auto and home purchases, but as I already own my home and paid cash for my last car (you can get much better deals that way), I’ve gone nearly a decade with absolutely no need for a credit card.</p>
<p>This may be a little off topic, but how long does it take to build credit by using a credit card, making purchases, and paying it off in full each month? I’m sorry if it is a dumb question!</p>
<p>College freshman here (to avoid any misconception).</p>
<p>I personally think that Credit card create the illusion of having money. I don’t know if it just me but I rather buy something knowing I actually have the money for it (i.e. Debit card) not knowing I will have the money say next week. My mother of course want to me have a credit card so I can build up my credit score or however did she called it.
Don’t get me wrong I’ll probably use it for a dinner or buy some school supplies with it but I seriously prefer to carry cash/debit card.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You can check your credit records at <a href=“http://www.annualcreditreport.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.annualcreditreport.com</a> .</p>
<p>For each credit account, each month will have a notation indicating one of the following:
- No balance.
- Paid on time.
- Paid late (varying degrees of lateness).</p>
<p>The longer the history of “paid on time” notations, with the absence of “paid late” notations, the more positive that account affects your credit rating.</p>
<p>My experience using only a debit card and cash is pretty much the same as jrcsmom.</p>
<p>Most chain hotels do not hold a deposit at booking unless you are taking the cheaper pay in advance rate. Either way, once you get there tell them you want the entire cost of the stay only charged to your card upon check in or pay in cash. Most hotels will accommodate, some will put a nominal hold (about $50) on the card. I have had no issues at IC Hotels (Holiday Inn), La Quinta, or the Hilton chains. You just have to be specific that you want to pay for the entire bill on the day of check in. They get it, don’t worry.</p>
<p>I have also had a couple of incidents of fraud on my debit card. I have been contacted by the bank’s fraud dept. before anything went through and at one time had to cancel my debit card (took a few days to get a new one). Another time, years ago, a fraud did go through and when I called the bank immediately refunded my money and there were no issues. My DD had a similar issue recently where she was overcharged by a merchant on Square and her bank also was very quick to adjust her balance and had contacted the merchant within a couple of days as well.</p>
<p>My husband keeps a credit card for his business for the sole purpose of collecting the rewards points. Other than that he doesn’t use a card for anything else.</p>
<p>Like someone else said, it really is up to him.</p>
<p>My frosh S last year found having a CC very convenient. He had to buy some online stuff for a few of his courses and what about events through ticketmaster? We have set up automatic payment of the entire balance each month. The money comes from his savings account, money he earned and accumulated his entire life. Building credit at a young age is important, having a CC is an easy way to start.</p>
<p>Our kids think of their CCards like a debit card and D is always checking to pay it off online after she completes the transaction. She pays it off on-line either with a check or debit card. It has worked well for her over the years; believes S does something similar and neither have ever spent money they don’t have in hand and can’t immediately pay off.</p>
<p>CCards CAN give the illusion of “free money,” because you don’t HAVE to pay until xx days after you receive a bill for it, so you CAN get in trouble if you buy things you don’t have the resources to pay for. Actually, you can have overdrafts on your checking or debit account if you try to use more than you have as well. Those will be costly too (unless you have overdraft protection which can be an additional fee).</p>
<p>HIMom, banks actually have to give you the choice now if you want your Debit card transactions rejected at point of sale when you don’t have enough in the account to cover them. There are a few things that still will be let through such as recurring bill payments but point of sale transactions will either be rejected, paid out of an attached savings, or paid through OD protection based on your preference.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, can’t credit also be built post-college by payback of student loans, having your own cell phone plan, or a car loan? My husband took out a loan for a motorcycle when he graduated high school because his parents told him he needed to establish credit. The only other loan we have ever had between the two of us is our mortgage and refi. He obtained the credit card after we had already taken out our first mortgage.</p>