Credit Card for Student with no credit history

<p>D just turned 18 and we suggested that she apply for an AMEX student card to build her credit, since that's how her father & I did it. She was rejected due to no credit history.</p>

<p>Any suggestions on where she could get approved for a credit card with no history? </p>

<p>She has a citibank bank account and we are going to try them tomorrow, but I'm hoping she won't get rejected from them as well. Our goal is for her to build a good credit history and use the credit card sparingly.</p>

<p>Thanks for any suggestions.</p>

<p>I just got a card from capitalone, and had no credit history. Have a $300 limit and if I use it and pay the minimum on time for the first three months, then it gets raised to $500.</p>

<p>If you check through these CC offerings from Citi you'll see some targeted at college students - </p>

<p><a href="https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/portal/ps/detail.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&BS_Id=CreditCardsOverview%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/portal/ps/detail.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&BS_Id=CreditCardsOverview&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>My daughter got a student card through Amazon at the beginning of her freshman year. She had no credit history prior to that and it was approved immediately. Fairly low limit - maybe $1,000. She is happy with it - she pays it off every month so has no interest payments. They have a thing where she can set an amount herself where she gets a warning when she goes over the amount.</p>

<p>CapOne rejected 18 yr. old son due to no credit history. He got one from Citibank, called the MTVu card or some such. $800 limit. Seems to have gotten tighter since D got one three years ago.</p>

<p>I got a credit card when I entered college, without any previous credit history, with CapitalOne. I got rejected by a few credit cards, though. It's a bad business decision to not offer credit cards to entering college students without any credit history.</p>

<p>I was going to start banking with CitiBank, who actually sent me a few brochures saying that they knew I was entering college and that they would be great to bank with. However, they rejected my app, so instead, I went with Chase. They lost a potentially lifelong customer.</p>

<p>Here's an idea: the Google AdSense at the left of this page has apparently caught on to what we're talking about. Maybe check out a few of those offers and support CC's sponsors.</p>

<p>If your 18 year old has a college banking account with a bank, she can probably get a credit card through that bank. That is what both of my kids did. </p>

<p>Not wishing to diss any one vendor...so I won't mention names...but that one that sends ALL that mail (almost daily) promising very low rates etc...Well...be careful...If you are one nanosecond late on ONE payment, your interest rates skyrocket.</p>

<p>Passing on something I learned here on cc:</p>

<p>If your S or D has a credit card with his/her name on it, but on YOUR ACCOUNT, s/he is building credit history that piggybacks, essentially, off your performance with that credit card. So, let's assume you pay on time ;) - voila, the beginning of a good credit history for your kid.</p>

<p>My S has a bank account at a well-known bank in his college city(also present in our town). His ATM card is automatically a debit card but is not a credit card. I wanted him to have a credit card because of recently publicized problems with debit cards.</p>

<p>He applied online, where they offer instant approval. He was NOT instantly approved. I did the same and I <em>was</em> instantly approved. I'm not sure if it is because of lesser credit history for him or little to no income (summer earnings only).</p>

<p>Anyway, he was not denied; he simply was not instantly approved. Within a 2-4 week period, he was approved and now has the card. </p>

<p>He is 21 now and was at time of application. Not sure if that made a difference.</p>

<p>I guess I should clarify. My kids opened college accounts with a national bank that included free online banking, checking, savings, debit card AND credit card. The limit on the credit card was very low (I want to say $500 initially). This was a college student account...kids' names only...not ours. DS is now a grad student and has increased credit amount on that same credit card. He does not carry a balance from month to month. I think he has $2000 credit now. </p>

<p>Both kids were 18 when they applied for this account...but it WAS a college student account.</p>

<p>
[quote]
f your S or D has a credit card with his/her name on it, but on YOUR ACCOUNT, s/he is building credit history that piggybacks, essentially, off your performance with that credit card. So, let's assume you pay on time - voila, the beginning of a good credit history for your kid.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That used to be the case but I believe they have changed the rules so that you cannot build a credit rating that way. We did that with our kids because we had heard the same (Suzi Ormond I think). When my son was getting a bank loan they told him it was 'false credit' or something like that. Since then the credit rating people have also caught on and it does not work any more. From</p>

<p>Authorized</a> users - what it is and why it's not a great idea.</p>

<p>
[quote]
to protect FICO scores, Fair Isaac is changing its FICO scoring formula so that it will no longer recognize authorized-user accounts.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think D is going to have to handle getting a credit card herself if she thinks she'll need one. We asked at Bank of America today and they said you have to be 18 before they can accept an application from you. She won't be 18 until (probably) after she's left for college next fall.</p>

<p>
[quote]
If your S or D has a credit card with his/her name on it, but on YOUR ACCOUNT, s/he is building credit history that piggybacks, essentially, off your performance with that credit card. So, let's assume you pay on time - voila, the beginning of a good credit history for your kid.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>as swimcatsmom already noted, this has changed -- here is an article on it --
Consumer</a> Alert: FICO Scores Dropping Authorized User Accounts - Credit.com</p>

<p>^^ I stand corrected. Our experience was about 3 years ago, when DS was just entering college and had no other credit experience other than that card, but had developed a good credit history and a pretty good credit score at that time.</p>

<p>My understanding is that the larger banks offer student checking accounts, and tie in their credit card offerings with those checking/savings accounts. DD was responsible for collecting the data on the different checking accounts(Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, US Bank & Washington Mutual), determine which ones were located on campus, and near campus, and then review those options with us. She made the ulimate decision, and it has worked out for her.
She chose the bank that had free online banking so that she could pay her credit card bill in a timely fashion.She set up her account so that if she becomes overdrawn, the monies would come from her savings account rather that her cc. (this was a suggestion I collected from CC). All the monies in her account initially came from her summer earnings. When she had an expense we felt was our responsibility-ie-medical appts/textbooks-she would pay for them, and I would reimburse her by depositing $$ into her checking account. It seemed to work for our family, and I think helpt her build her credit rating.DD is entering her soph.year, and receives offers for "new" credit cards-"preapproved" almost weekly.
I hope this helps-CC was certainly helpful o me last year! APOL-a mom</p>

<p>lots of threads on this. BofA offers them with their campusedge checking. Easy online transfers, fairly low limit, works great if they pay it off every month.</p>

<p>My D got her card form Wellsfargo. They do have program for college bound kids.</p>

<p>"I just got a card from capitalone, and had no credit history. Have a $300 limit and if I use it and pay the minimum on time for the first three months, then it gets raised to $500."</p>

<p>I plan to have my daughter get one of these low limit cards. However, she will not have the option to pay only the minimum if she wants to continue to get help from us for the next four years. She will pay off the balance every month on time. Paying only the minimum sets you up for big trouble down the road. </p>

<p>I'm assuming this poster is only reporting the credit terms and not advocating them; but if any young people read these threads, I want them to know that paying only the minimum is not the way to go.</p>

<p>We've posted many threads on this topic before. Take a look at all the links in the "revolving threads: linking the old with the new" thread stickied at the top of the forum.</p>

<p>Oh one other thing...when your student gets to college there will be tables of banks offering credit cards and accounts to the students. No trouble getting credit cards..None.</p>