<p>^ Ads are chosen based on key words. For me, it’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes (what?).</p>
<p>ETA: After I posted this, it change to PNC and Capital One.</p>
<p>exactly right, the credit alone may not get a person a new car or a rental unit. But getting the credit history early is a good head start and I don’t see the advantage of waiting until somebody has a job and then starting credit accts. In fact, I see just the opposite- lay the foundation early so it becomes easier when someone does need it. As romani says: " You can’t just start building credit right before you want something". That’s why it’s called a credit history.
I’m sure not saying a good credit history substitutes for a job with a good credit history.</p>
<p>2 yrs of credit with no job makes it tough to get a new car or a rental apt- but it’s also true for someone with a new job and no credit history. I guess I see that if a person is better off with a good credit history and a job, then isn’t it an advantage to get both asap? The longer a good history the better…</p>
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<p>Chances are, if you have 2 years of good credit history, you probably had a job unless your parents were paying everything for you. Even if it is not a well-paying, post-college job, it is certainly better than no credit history at all. I have a lower interest rate on my car loan than most of my peers because my credit score was so high and I had 3+ years of good credit history upon college graduation. And I had only been working a “real” full-time job for 4 or 5 months when I got the car. </p>
<p>I opened a Capital One credit card when I was in college. $750 credit limit to start, which has now increased (most of my credit cards increase their limits each year, with the exception of one store card I have that seems to increase my credit limit every few months). I also have a Visa Barclaycard. The Capital One has a $40 annual fee, and offered 1 year of interest-free payments. My Barclaycard offered no annual fee and 6 months of interest-free payments (just got that card this past summer to purchase a new laptop). I rarely paid interest since having the Capital One card because I typically paid it off each month. My Barclaycard is nearly paid off and the 6 months of interest-free payments hasn’t ended yet. I generally don’t put more than 20% of my credit limit on my card, and I only use them when I need them, or once every few months just to keep them active.</p>
<p>My compliments to Nova, sounds like you’re off to a good start.</p>
<p>I look at it this way- whether a person is 21, 31, or 41, if a person wants a car or a rental apartment, which is seen as better to a lender or a potential landlord?</p>
<p>1) A new job and a good credit history or
2) A new job and no credit history</p>
<p>Our kids were both on CCs with us when they were students. Not sure what their credit scores were but S was offered a complimentary AmEx GOLD CC (which he accepted for 2 years), when he started his full-time job. D does NOT have any job & we are NOT encouraging her to get any CC at this point. My folks are trying to give D mom’s old car but I’m hesitant, since it’s 20 years old and has NOT been well-maintained (many things do NOT work properly & I don’t want it to break while she’s driving it).</p>
<p>Am in no rush for D to get her own CC. She can apply if & when she wants. In the meantime, I am not sure whether or not she’s building credit with us jointly on the same credit card.</p>
<p>I had the BOA secured card before I had my capital one card and was pretty happy with that. After a year they upgraded me to a regular card. I switched to capital one because the BOA card had a $40 annual fee, and I don’t actually USE boa for my banking so there were some inconveniences. But otherwise, that wasn’t a bad place to start when I had no credit. I didn’t have a job at the time either and was living off of savings, but I was only using the credit card for necessary expenses that I had cash on hand for anyway. I had a job by the time I switched to capital one.</p>
<p>Just came back from a visit to BoA, she was instantly approved for their student card, no fee with a credit line of $900. Amazing. So, I guess she’s finally on the “road”…thanks all for the advice! Perhaps I’ll have S get one earlier…</p>
<p>Congrats :). </p>
<p>I do recommend getting one for your son earlier. You should try to have at least 2 years of credit history by the time you graduate college IMO. That’s a very good start!</p>
<p>I’d remind anybody here that may not know- a credit line can always be adjusted downward if a cardholder thought a low limit might be in his/her best interest. This is sometimes handy in the case of a new cardholder, or a young person that might go spend-crazy!</p>
<p>It looks like the Capital One Journey card would be a great choice for a student. I have looked at online reviews from third party websites and it seems like a great way to get him started.</p>
<p>Our bank doesn’t issue anything like this and won’t even let him apply if we co-sign. The only way he can get one through them is for us to apply and for him to be an authorized user-which wouldn’t help him build any credit history. Very disappointing.</p>
<p>He is going to pay it off every month so we aren’t concerned with the interest rate-no annual fee, no interest charged if the balance is paid in full every month, no foreign transaction fees-cash back of 1%, complete fraud protection-is there anything better out there?</p>
<p>There are kids who I would never give a credit card to-but he will use it wisely.</p>
<p>DS got a card from our credit union, where we have all had accounts for years. He got a $1000 credit line with no cosigner. He had a decent summer job at the time, maybe that helped.</p>
<p>I’ve had my issues with Capital One, but they may not matter that much to a student. I had a card for years and dropped it because of the irritation factor - constantly changing account numbers, constantly changing awards, constantly changing credit limit. Customer service was ok though.</p>