<p>I’m 17 years old and a rising high school senior. When should I start worrying about my credit score and financial profile?</p>
<p>If you have any advice you would like to leave based on your own experiences, please feel free to post it here!</p>
<p>Some students have student credit cards, but these are increasingly more difficult to get.</p>
<p>In my opinion…pay all of your bills without a credit card or loans until you graduate from college and have a job where you are earning money.</p>
<p>I do think that this is an interesting question. As a parent, when is it the right time to tell your kid to take a credit card in his/her OWN name (not yours). Offers started coming right after D’s 18th birthday, and her income is limited enough that the only reason credit is being extended is because she’s a college student. When should they take <em>one</em> card and start paying it off (with help if necessary)? Now? Senior year of college? Age 21?</p>
<p>My advice is start thinking on it last yr, start doing something about it today.
Often, but not always, no credit is seen as bad credit. Even if not, no credit is still no credit and there are companies and employers where credit history can come into play.
There is no good time for a bad history, but it is never too early to start establishing good history about yourself, whether credit history or your personal history!
I see it differently than some other posters might. I don’t see an advantage in waiting to establish a good credit history.</p>
<p>I agree with younghoss. I taught my Ds about household finances beginning at a young age (starting with how to pay bills/write checks/understand a bank statement at around age 10 or 11). I would have them sit down with me on bill paying day and inspect each invoice, understand what it was for and whether it was correct, and write out the checks (before online banking) minus the signature. And of course we discussed different kinds of saving at age-appropriate times. They both had checking/savings accounts at around ages 15 or 16, and learned how to use online banking. So whether applying for credit is appropriate for you may depend on how many of these basics you have been exposed to thus far.</p>
<p>As for establishing credit, I recommend you first check all three of your credit reports before applying for a credit card or other credit. My older D had an unexpected surprise of about a half dozen names using her social security number to open credit accounts when she was young, so clearing that up before applying and likely getting rejected was important. As soon as my girls turned 18, together we marched to our bank and completed the application process together. We applied for a very low credit limit ($500). I tell them to charge something small every month and pay it off. When my older D needed a credit limit increase to travel for her work, the bank readily granted it because of her perfect payment history.</p>
<p>I added my kids as authorized users at 16. They also had checking accounts by then. I had them get a credit card in their own name at 18. They were somewhat reluctant and scared, but charged gas, etc. and paid it off monthly.</p>
<p>I’m a CPA and have preached, preached, and preached financial responsibility and good credit. It affects, positively or negatively, soooo much in today’s world–housing, employment, insurance, etc. They now charge all their monthly purchases including small purchases, pay it in full, and redeem the bonus cash every so often.</p>
<p>They are 22 and 24, each have credit scores right under 800, and each bought houses last week. They were amazed how easy the pre-approval process was. I am very happy to see them be financial responsible. (lest you think I’m patting myself on the back, meander on over to the venting thread :)</p>
<p>Very hard to get your own credit card until your are in College (over 18) and even then it is difficult. My daughter started out in HS with a debit/ATM card and a student account (joint with me) and now at 19 she just got her first real credit card and checks for her account. The banker I deal with also gave her tips for keeping a good credit score on her new card- always pay on time, use it once a month, and never go over 50% of the credit line.</p>
<p>My college daughter and I have a credit card jointly. She’s listed as an account owner, and not just as an authorized user. I never open the bills; I never touch the card. </p>
<p>I know there is some risk in this for me. Indeed, when the cards first arrived in the mail, the first thing I did was call the bank and ask, “Can you take this credit limit down to about $2000?” And because I am a worrier, I do ask her from time to time whether she’s paying the bills, and remind her that if she’s not, she’s dinging my credit!</p>
<p>So, obviously, I think around the beginning of college is a good time for a young person who has a history of being responsible with money to start building a credit history.</p>
<p>My D1 took an offer from our bank for a credit card in her name at the beginning of her senior year of college. They pretty much guaranteed she would get the card in the offer because of her relationship with the bank. It was no fee, and we figured she could get it and pay off every month, then ask for an increase in the credit limit once she got a “real job”. This worked for her. I admit, I had the statements sent to my house and made sure they were paid out of her account (we have joint access) while she was still in school. When she graduated, she took over this responsibility and had the statements routed to her new apartment when she got a job.</p>
<p>You should start educating yourself now about how to build and maintain a good credit score. There are many online sources for this. Learning all this now will be a big help in the future. </p>
<p>If your parents have good credit consider having them add you as an authorized user. If they have bad credit don’t do this as it could hurt you. </p>
<p>If you can, get a credit card in your own name with a low limit, but only if you are disciplined enough to pay the balance every month before the due date and you only use a small amount of the available credit.</p>
<p>I do not allow my kids to have credit cards until they have a job, a real job, not a part time job. As long as they are on my payroll they are not allowed to have their own credit card. That being said, I give them credit card(s) jointly with me. Our good credit do transfer to them when they are ready for their own cards. </p>
<p>When D1 applied for her own card upon graduation, she was able to get 20k+ credit limit. I was surprised by that, so I checked on her credit report (easy with her SS # and birthday), and I saw our credit cards (good payment record) on her credit report.</p>
<p>My kids have debit cards. I do have a family Jetblue Amex account which allows DS to occasionally charge airline tickets and other parent approved charges. Surprisingly that account showed up on DD’s apartment credit check - she has never used her card, and I pay the full family balance.</p>
<p>I’ve had a saving account for several years now (since elementary school). We have a membership with USAA which allows me to have my own “prepaid” MasterCard. My dad has to move over cash from my savings though so it’s sort of a hassle. And sometimes when I go to gas stations, I have to go up to the register and tell the cashier how much money to put on the pump.</p>
<p>No reason not to check your credit reports now. You can pull your own credit reports. Many, many minors are victims of fraud.</p>
<p>How do I check my credit reports?</p>
<p>There are three main credit-reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Each of them must provide you with one free credit report per year, if you ask for it.</p>
<p>But you should be careful how you ask for it. FreeCreditReport dot com has really amusing TV commercials, but they’ll get you your credit report for free if you sign up for their credit-monitoring service, which isn’t free. The way to get your credit report really for free is through a different web site, annualcreditreport.com, which is run jointly by those three credit-reporting agencies.</p>
<p>Both of my kids have been listed as authorized users on our cards - that they don’t use or have access to - but they also have their own student visa cards. Started out with a $500 limit but we were able to increase DS’s limit when he was living in a different city for a summer internship. He is religious about paying back the card - he will charge something and pay off that charge the day it posts to his account. Had a situation this summer where he needed to rent a car on his own. First question everyone asked was whether or not he had a major credit card in his own name. Fortunately he did and was able to rent the car - despite being only 20. We have been very clear to our kids about the impact their credit has on so many things and they are using their cards very responsibly. Never paying any interest, not over charging, and just using them for things they can’t easily use cash.</p>
<p>srystress,</p>
<p>I don’t mean to highjack this thread, but your sons bought houses? Are they settled in one area? I have a hard time imagining a 22 or 24 y o being able to handle the responsibilities of a house. Did they buy near you?</p>
<p>You can check on your credit report(s) by signing up for free 3 months trial credit monitoring. </p>
<p>D1 just recently used my AmEx card to rent a car while on vacation. The card had her name on it, but she was only an authorized user.</p>
<p>bookworm - why you wouldn’t think a 24 year old could handle the responsibilities of a house? He would pay for mortgage/taxes like he would with rent. As far as maintenance of a house, he would either do it himself or pay for someone to do it. When we lived in a house we didn’t do much around the house, anything we needed to get done we out sourced it. What’s hard is to come up with the down payment.</p>
<p>I bought a townhouse (with H) when we were 21 and 25 and newly married. What couldn’t we have handled?</p>