<p>I know that this subject has been discussed ad nauseum in different threads but I need help narrowing down from three alternatives and have not seen any specific information about these cards: Journey from Capital One; Bank Americard for Students and Citi Dividend for College Students. The other route would be the card from the same bank where we have a checking account. If anybody has any experience with either of those cards, any help would be appreciated. Basically we are just looking for getting a good credit rating once PAkid is on his own. He does have a job so has been filing taxes with income for a couple of years now, and a family friend, who is an accountant, recommended that establishing a credit in kid’s own name would be a good idea.</p>
<p>Where does he currently bank? If he has a Bank of America account then it makes sense to get their student card for him. My daughter currently has the student account with debit card from there and I was told she should also get their credit card to start establishing credit.</p>
<p>College freshman this fall and my parents helped me obtain a credit card with our current bank (US Bank). They have a very low charge limit, but I was suggested to use it for one purpose each month (haircut, laundry weekly, etc.) Also, my checking and savings is also tied where my parents can monitor my account activity (I’m okay with this, currently not working so it’s money given to me in both accounts from them). This might be helpful if you would like to monitor the cards activity, I’m sure eery bank has similar programs.</p>
<p>I got a credit/debit card from the bank where I had my checking account, and an American Express Blue for use as a credit card. I like Amex because it offers considerably more benefits than my credit/debit. It has an automatic extended warranty, price protection, a better theft policy, and their customer service has been great every time I’ve talked with them. Plus, when I spent a few days in Canada there wasn’t any sort of foreign transaction fee.</p>
<p>I have no experience with the 3 cards you named, but my priority will be to pick the one with no annual fee, then see which has a better rewards if any, such as cash back, etc. I usually ignore the interest rates since I always make sure the CC are paid in full.</p>
<p>My D had a credit card where she had her savings for years. This makes it easy to make automatic payment from her checking to the credit card. When she left for college, the credit limit was $500 and they told her to make sure to pay on time. A year later, it was automatically increased to $2500 so her credit score must have been OK. Now whether I think it’s a good idea to keep increasing her credit limit is another story…</p>
<p>Your student can probably get a student credit card without you co-signing through the bank where he has a savings/checking account. Student cards tend to have a very low credit limit (a good thing, I believe) but if he follows the advice and uses the card monthly AND pays on time every month he will begin to build a good credit rating. By the time my daughter graduated from college she had built a solid credit rating following this simple advice. She can now easily upgrade to a credit card where she earns points/miles, low interest rate, higher credit limit and no annual fee (and no co-signer needed).</p>
<p>I’ll echo Bellevuemom. My kid banks at Bank of America. Checking and savings accounts. She got a visa with a rather low limit, $700. and it’s worked well for the past couple of years. She is very prompt in getting it paid off every month. No co-signer on any of her accounts.</p>
<p>We got a family JetBlue AmEx (1 account, 4 cards). Surprisingly both kids have benefited from this despite the fact that I pay the full bill. DS uses it for charging flights, mostly JetBlue…so good points. DD has not used hers at all but still had the account show up helpfully when qualifying for her first apartment. </p>
<p>Now DS has decided to get his own credit card. After much research, he settled on Schwab. Til now, the JB Amex and local debit card have met his needs well.</p>
<p>One thing to look at before you decide is what the length of the billing cycle is for each card and the grace period before the bill is due. Several years ago we got a Visa or MasterCard because of the air miles associated with it, but ended up cancelling it after a year or less. The billing cycle was much shorter than on our other cards - less than a month - and because of that, didn’t match up with our paydays and the twice monthly days when I pay bills. The bill arrived and had to be paid before I would normally be paying bills again, and might even be delayed in arriving if weekends and holidays fell a certain way. </p>
<p>With bills being sent electronically, and being able to pay electronically as well, this isn’t as much of an issue as it was then, but still a nuisance.</p>
<p>Our D applied for and was instantly approved for her own Costco AmEx. It provides cash back–3% for gas. 2% travel, 1% everything else. She didn’t have a job at the time and was a full time student! Surprised both us and Costco employee who said her 4-digit credit limit is higher than his! :)</p>
<p>I can recommend the Citi Dividend for College Students. It was the first card I applied for and received when I turned 18. They started me off with a low limit ($1,100 IIRC), but after 6-10 months of on time payments, I clicked the “request credit limit increase” and was instantly improved for a 100% increase 
There is actually some wisdom in clicking that button often and increasing your limit as high as possible (assuming you are responsible with it and don’t spend more than you can afford) - it will lower your credit utilization, which has a big effect on your credit score. After a certain credit limit or time with the College Student card, they “graduate” you to a regular Dividend card.</p>
<p>I would stay away from Amex for a first credit card. Yes, they are generally considered to have better customer service, etc, but they are still not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard. Make an American Express your second or third card :)</p>
<p>The great thing about AmEx Costco card is that it extends your warranty on products and has amazing customer service!</p>
<p>You are right that Visa and Master Card are more widely accepted than AmEx.</p>
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<p>This isn’t a feature that is unique to the Amex Costco card - in fact, I haven’t found a card (Amex, Mastercard, Visa) in a quick search that doesn’t offer the “extended warranty” thing. It’s a pretty standard feature on cards from the big card issuers. Amex doesn’t really offer anything truly unique - all cards offer extended warranty, rental car insurance, travel protection, etc. etc. There are small differences in these policies of course, but the base level of features is pretty much identical.</p>
<p>The company handling the warranty service varies. The one that has been the most helpful in handling my claims has been the AmEx Costco warranty claims folks over both Visa and MCard.</p>
<p>My ds got the citi card. We were looking for no annual fee, and since its paid off each month, he was not concerned about the rate. They also have a service for getting a one-time use card number that can be used on-line so you don’t have to give out our cc.</p>
<p>All cards now can have electronic billing and payment from a bank account,so getting the card from your bank may not have any advantage that way.</p>
<p>He’s in now getting tons of credit card offers in the mail now that he’s had that card for a few month.</p>