Credit card for college kids

Good morning Laura,

I would say that it would depend on the child, how responsible is she? Some kids are 18 but have the mindset and the responsibility of a 15 year old. I used that example to my stepsons for driving, just because they are 16 does not mean they are ready to drive, they were not mature enough to me and I was not ready to take on the responsibility of having an immature driver under the wheel of any of my vehicles or near my insurance, LOL. for real. Of course I was considered the bad guy, but the one in particular did not keep his grades up, ended up quitting school, I said that driving is a privilidge, not a right.

Girls seem to be more mature and more responsible for some reason, or I should say in many cases. I would say that you know her best and you need to make that decision based on her past practice. Will she obtain a job to help you pay the bill, even if she pays part of it, it will let her assume some responsibility and more or less show her that money does not grow on trees or in plastic, LOL. How much will the limit be? will the card be in her name and yours? who will get the monthly bill? all these things need to be considered. Putting the card in her name with yours attached will at least let her build some credit right? not sure on this, so I would do a little research on this, I was thinking joint account holders. Not real sure how you want to approach this.

You seem like a great sister, if she has the respect for you then she will use it with dicretion and help you pay the bill also, if the resources are available. I am sure that you will come to the right decision, I probably gave you a headache, huh? sorry. These are just some of the things that I would address if I was handing over a card to a younger person. goodluck and let us know what you decide to do.

why not have her come to the forum and write also, it would be a way for her to make some money and she could be conversating with people who have had credit issues, may be a good place for her to learn also.

She can be 13 and still join the forum, she could be posting questions that she may have and actually take the money she earns and put it up for college. I am sure she would have some value here, even in the pub section of the forum, I would encourage her to join.

You could always get the prepaid card for her, then it will not let it go over any limits. Just let her know how much as on the card, you can always bill her a small amount and then put that money right back on the card so that she at least has the experience of paying the bill and keeping the balance up there. If she joins the forums you could even put that money on the card. Just something to think about.

I would go the prepaid route, since she is so young. Just my suggestions. goodluck Laura, hope someone else comes on here and gives your their oppinion so that you can get a variety of answers, seems as if the forum is asleep.

Hi Laura and goodnatured, I finally made it here goodnatured! Hope you will come on soon and see me here.

Anyway, Laura, I think what you are doing is commendable, coming on to the forum or going to the other writing sites is a really good idea, she will see what others have experienced and can ask pertinent questions that she may have personally herself. Teaching her young about credit is a wise decision, once they hit the college scene, there will be alot of offers and those people don't have the best of intentions for our younger generation. Some of these experiences are not so good for our younger people. They destroy their credit right from the start. It is almost what I would call predatory the way they target the younger folks on college campus's, they set up the tables and offer out the free gifts, usually pretty cool ones to get them to apply. Just applying for the card can sometimes have consequences on their credit rating.

You have a few years to worry about that, but I commend you on your early efforts to teach your younger sister about how to manage her financial future. I am sure she will appreciate it down the road, if she does not realize the future consequence now. Credit affects alot of things these days from car insurance rates to actually getting a job, I have seen some people lose some pretty good opportunities over their credit rating.

Goodluck in your venture to teach your younger sibling the importance of credit young. I am not sure at what age a person starts at a credit reporting agency, this may be something you will want to research too.

Yeah, I see, finally, about time, LOL. I think the tech school is a good idea if they come out of it with a good working knowledge of the subject and it will also depend on
1. do they come out with a diploma
2. Do they come out with a certification

These are important to employers, certifications are always much better than a diploma.

on your point good, i notice that certifications are given far more consideration because in order to gain your certification you have to put extensive time studying your craft/field! I interviewed with a technical school not too long ago and i was impressed that the employers in the surrounding area of the school helped to make the curriculum which ensured graduating students would have the skills necessary to jump right into a position! that was one thing i wasn't so hot on in undergraduate school, studying the first 2 years basically of electives and such. i really liked studying what i went to school for! certifications are awesome and if i had it to do over again i think i would have persued one in medical transcrtiption. there are all kinds of fields to get certs in

as far as giving your college student a credit card, i think it can be a good idea...i think if it were me giving our son a card, i would try to stress to him that it is going to be him paying the bills not mom and dad even though the credit card will probably be in my name since it can be hard for someone with no credit to get a card. it's been too many years since iw as a college student but i do remember that i wasn't very responsible so like good said, it depends on your child and the level of responsibility they have right now

I agree with you on the certifications, I go to the local prison once a month, part of my job duties, there are alot of younger inmates in this particular correction institution, the prison was built and set up for the younger population of offender, alot of the young men are from the inner city, with alot of drug related charges.

anyway, they have set up a curriculumn about the same where they work with the local university to come in and teach these young men and work with them on getting the certifications for demand occupations, they teach alot of the same courses taught at the technology centers. They have the chance to work the job with in the prison walls also. They do alot of the cooking, they have heating, ventilation and air conditioning courses, carpentry courses and other certifications that would put them in demand once they are back on the streets. The idea being that if they are at work and feel that they have a true second chance they will not end up back in the drug trade again. Unfortunately you still have those who choose to take the easy road to making money, they don't seem to care about the danger of being shot or re incarcerated. They say that is how they were raised, so I guess the department of corrections can only do what it can do to give these young men a second chance. It is themselves that have to make the right decisions when they hit the street again. I am not sure on the rate of return, it is not many. so it must be working.

Point being, if these offenders with felony backgrounds can take these certifications and make a descent living then it should also be beneficial for those who are just going on their own. So I would say the certification is much better than the diploma programs.

i agree sign her up for the forum helping kids to much can be a bigger damage than not helping at all.

My daughter will be going to our local university after she graduates, I read in this thread about how the credit card companies target college students, I am hoping that she will discuss any of this with me before filling out an application just to receive a free gift. I did not know that these inquiries could affect your credit score. She will need this score to stay as high as possible because she may be forced to take out college loans if her grants and scholarships don’t cover it all. She has worked very hard for this opportunity and I would not want to see it jeopardized because of some greedy credit card company preying on college students. How low can they go? They are on a college campus where the majority of the people there are already in debt and are choosing to defer that debt.

I think my daughter will be safe from this situation, she will live at home for cost reasons but she may have friends that she could have a positive influence on some friends that may fall victim to these predators.

Again, another very informative post, that has been very useful.

great response Laura, you always do post great posts, :D

August,
Have your daughter discuss these applications with you if she decides that she wants to apply, tell her to bring the application home and go through the fine print, this is often where all the terms and conditions are. Tell her not to fill them out, just to get the free gift, that is where they often got me, LOL.

Once you have the application in hand you can always come here and ask any questions that you have, there are people here that would be a great help in making the right decisions and happy to give you input. It is good that you are doing all this research now, you will be ready when it happens. You daughter sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders and more importantly a good relationship with you and that my dear, will not lead her astray. goodluck