<p>We gave D a credit card in her name linked to our account for emergency when she went away for college. She never had to use it. Since then she only has a debit card. She was able to get student loans for grad school, lived alone in 3 apartments in different states without co-signers etc. So far, she hasn’t encountered any problems.
Recently, I found out that her fianc</p>
<p>Have they been good rates on non-school loans? What I’ve heard from people is that the son/daughter could get a car loan but with a higher interest than the parent, so some would get the loan under both their names (which can be problematic)
I don’t think school loans care about credit, just how many you have out.
“Some” apartment landlords don’t care, some want more security deposit. I know it varies but even with other CC cards, my son, with good credit got lower interest offers, someone else might not.</p>
<p>Most states have laws regarding the maximum one can charge for security deposit. My D has never paid more than one month’s rent as security.
As for her car, she paid it the way consistent with our family values, in cash.</p>
<p>We definitely have 2 months in our state, see that a lot. I wish I could pay a car in cash, only did for my first one, my mustang, still a nice memory. : )</p>
<p>Thought about this thread today, as my DH is off helping a friend pack his stuff for a cross country move. The friend apparently hasn’t been as careful with his savings, and despite having been in very high positions with well known companies, has been out of work for about a year. He probably got a nice severance package, but apparently is needing to save $$ by getting friends to help him pack rather than to let the moving company do it. </p>
<p>This, to me, underscores the need to start fiscal responsibility early, live within ones means and save, save, save. It is all too easy to get into financial holes and hard to dig out of them. </p>
<p>And IMO, credit card debt can be minor when compared to potential college debt from student loans. Was watching someone on tv today who repeated that one should not come out of college with more loan debt for the 4 years total than they are likely to earn their firrst year out of school. This same person on tv said that one should never take out more in loans than is available thorugh federal loan programs. He said if a student /family had to also take out private loans, that was not the school for them. How much would that be?? Does anyone know? I do not.</p>
<p>But I digress…</p>
<p>The car loan thing is an interesting question. When my older s bought his first car, he decided to take out a loan and pay it off faster than scheduled. He thought it would look good on his credit. They tried to offer him (he was about 23 at the time and working) a loan with a not-so-great rate. He told then he would check with the credit union at my DH’s former company (we are still members of the CU and my DH was on the board at one point) and when he looked upon line the rate the CU was offering , <em>surprise</em>- then came back with an almost identical rate. He paid for some of the car with a 0% credit card, and was happily paying off is car loan at an escalated rate as planned when, oops, he had a car accident and the insu co totalled his little 2 yr old car. He still had some payments left on the car, so, after that was paid off and minus his deductible, he had about $9K from the insu company to buy a new car. Fortunatelyhe had money in savings, so this time bought his new (well new to him, its not a brand new car) car with cash. He got it a few months ago. He let a friend borrow it for a day last week. You can guess where this is going…</p>
<p>I read in a Suze Orman book that one way to give your children a great credit score is to put their names on your credit card without physically giving them one. I’ve done this with all my children. (Your own personal credit rating must be over 800 in order to do this.)</p>
<p>My oldest finished graduate school last year and was able to buy a house because her credit rating was 780. She never had a credit card (other than her name on mine) and hadn’t started to pay off her small student loans. She did have a debit card and had lived on her own from junior year on.</p>
<p>^^^I’m not sure if the kid gets our good credit report if we add their names to our cards any more, tho they USED to. Have been told by some that some of the CC rules may have changed, but am not sure about this one. In any case, I have never had problem getting credit and would not have any problems co-signing a loan with either of my kids if that was necessary to help them get a great rate. That may change if they get married down the road, as no one can see what the future will bring.</p>
<p>I think my kids have great credit ratings but have never checked theirs & only found out our score when I applied for a LOC at the suggestion of our bank who hold our current mortgage–NO fees or charges. Only 1% interest for the 1st year.</p>
<p>Since consumer protection is far stronger for credit cards instead of debit cards, we only use our debit cards for ATM withdrawals, as mentioned upthread. 18 year old D1 has had an Amazon Visa card tied to my account, with her name on it, since last year. She was travelling by herself to meet a group cross-country, and the program strongly, strongly, strongly recommended that the student have a CC for emergency use. She’ll be able to get a small-limit card through our credit union, which she’ll be responsible for. My big-limit card will be used for flights and other parentally-sanctioned purchases.</p>
<p>Seems to me that misuse is easily handled: if the kid is abusing the card, cut off their access. Tightfisted D1 always asks me first. Her spendthrift younger sister may be a different story. 
</p>
<p>I once had to arrange for an international medivac flight which had to be paid upfront with credit cards. :eek: Insurance did reimburse us, but that experience reinforced for me the value of having a credit card with a high limit for emergencies.</p>