Ah, yes. I need to have D added to our CC. Thanks for the reminder! I think some of the main advantages of a CC has over a debit card were stated above: Building credit, and large ‘emergency-type’ purchases when you may not have enough in your checking account to cover it.
QOTD: both D16 & D17 have debit cards. When D16 turned 18 she opened up an acct at a different bank that was going to be on her college campus and got a credit card to build credit. She linked her credit card to automatically pay in full from her checking acct.
I personally only use my credit card. I pay in full every month and both my girls know that that is the only way to ever use it. If you can’t afford it don’t buy it!
You can check your balance on a credit card pretty easily (by phone, online, at the bank), you don’t have to wait until the end of the month. Our kids have credit cards so they can buy things that we will pay for without us being present. They both have cars so we aren’t generally out and about with them. Paid cash for the cars so no loans.
Alas, it appears that D will only finish 1 more essay, leaving 1 essay and 1 short answer question. sigh This is dragging on for much longer than I ever thought it would. She claims its because she’s so busy, but its really that she has lost motivation to keep writing essays.
We got D17 added to a household credit card after she got her driver’ license so she could buy gas or have backup funds in an emergency. She uses it responsibly.
Two more scholarship apps submitted this weekend!
D is also on my gas card account.
@thshadow — as @nw2this commented above, it is VERY easy to confirm CC balance. My son accidentally set his CC up so that he receives an email alert EVERY single time he makes a purchase. Actually, Citi may email him when the charge is submitted (pending status) and then again when it clears. These emails report his running balance.
He has the card set up on auto pay and again, receives a notification some # of days in advance, alerting him that $420 (or whatever the full balance is) will be withdrawn from his account on Dec 4th. He can also log in at any time to view charges. He keeps his summer earnings in his checking account so never any danger of the payment ‘bouncing’. The CC started with a $1000 limit and was bumped up to $1500 after six months. I suspect the limit will be increased again in another six months. He earns some sort of reward program on his purchases.
I had him added to two of my cards initially but then obtained his own card halfway through soph year of college. We still have a little back and forth where he forgets to charge a medical copay on my CC, but we settle up periodically. Since he is not on a meal plan this year, he uses his CC to buy groceries and burgers/sandwiches, and I reimburse him. Many parents allocate a set amount per semester, but since this is our first shot at off-campus living, we are trying this approach for now. I don’t think he will even spend the university’s COA allowance for dining.
I believe I commented on this thread a while back, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he did receive ‘credit history’ for the years he had a card issued on my account.
D has submitted eleven apps, though two of those schools have since fallen off her list, so I guess it’s really nine that matter. She has three to go and three honors apps (I think). One of the honors apps she needs to get done asap. Since accepting her they keep sending scary emails about how important it is to submit at least by the priority deadline of Dec 1 because they could run out of spots even before the regular deadline. She’s stressed and worried but hasn’t done a bit of work on it. I think essay/college fatigue has set in. >:P
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, great to hear your D is back home and had a great trip. And congrats on her third place finish – that’s incredible at an international competition level and I bet her colleges will be really impressed.
@NerdMom88, so glad to hear the surgery went well and your D is back home. I wish her a speedy recovery.
@snoozn I really need to clarify that she did NOT place 3rd in the competition. She said that the American team was severely outclassed. Some of the kids there had been studying since elementary school and were fluent. They all felt like beginners compared to the other countries. Definitely not “3rd place.” She received 3rd for the optional speech.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Still impressive!
DS17 currently has a debit card with a checking account and savings account. We still need to move the savings account to be “really” in his name with his SS#. We’ll probably get him a credit card in his name before he goes to college. We’ll set it up so that we both have online access, so that I can pay approved expenses and he can pay for extra stuff. The student bank account he has allows them to get a credit card if they want.
QOTD: S15 & D17 have had debit cards since they turned 14 & were able to open a checking account at the credit union. S15 is very responsible with money & knows how to budget. D17, on the other hand, is horrible with money. She has been improving a lot over the last few months, but still has to really watch what she’s doing. She now wraps the receipts of what she purchases around her debit card to remind her of her past spending.
S15 will be heading off to co-op in January, so we will be shopping for a car with loan & a credit card for him over the Christmas break. Plus, since he goes to school and will be co-oping in Ohio, he will be changing his address to Ohio so that the car will be registered in Ohio. The insurance premiums should be significantly less than Michigan’s!
DS has his own account (with gift monies he recieved) with debit card. He doesn’t spend much because he knows how to make his parents pay for everything =))
@showmetheMAC We had to use slideroom for D’s ED school and if that falls through, will again for some of her RD apps (her 2 biggest ECs have been dance and visual art, so there you go!) At any rate, we did D’s dance compilation and uploaded a .mov file (we did this from iMovie) as they only wanted a 5 minute total and we figured that would allow for the best quality video for that length of time. If they’d wanted a longer video, youtube or vimeo links might have been necessary.
QOTD: D has an account with a debit MasterCard that is linked to my account (it’s CapitalOne MONEY especially designed for teens - I recommend! https://home.capitalone360.com/teen-checking-account) which allows her some freedom with her money and me to monitor what she’s up to.
S has his own debit Mastercard with linked checking and savings. As he is a minor I am also on the account which makes it super easy to transfer back and forth. Given that we will probably not rush to get a CC but will suggest it at some point. We have found if far more difficult to deal with his sisters account/card situation as they are not linked and getting money into her account is a total pain. She is NOT ready for a CC. Long story but no, I expect S19 to be a bit the same. S17 will be ready far ahead of that and S11 has had one on his own for years.
t**QQTD ** S17 has had a debit card since he was 14. (It’s linked to my account & I can control it and it’s super easy to transfer money to it. Not sure if I’ll get him a credit card or not. I didn’t for his sister and probably should have gotten her a card with a low-amount. If anything had happened to the debit card she would have been in trouble. And it would have been easier than how we did handle money.
QOTD – @thshadow – I believe I may have brought this up before as my college D is leaving soon for her semester abroad, and I wanted her to have a credit card (not just a debit card, as she has had for a couple of years). And I wanted a cc with no foreign transaction fees, etc. I would suggest folks start the cc-search early if you think your kid is going to need/want one at some point.
My D applied for her own allegedly “student-oriented” cc about 6 months ago and apparently filled out part of the form incorrectly. For her total personal annual income, she neglected to include amounts that we (her parents) give her regularly and instead included only money from her summer job plus occasional babysitting jobs. The fine print instructed that she should have included funds she receives regularly from other sources (i.e., parents). Oops. Well, she was denied the cc. And my calls and follow-up letter to capital one (despite our own plentiful bank accounts and other credit cards with cap one) did not change their response (yes, I was mad). In the end – based on advice from this thread – I just added her as an authorized user on one of our cards. I will have full access online while she is away and I will be the one paying the monthly bills in full, etc. Yes, I would have preferred that she had her own card, but at this point I just want her to have one. We do not want her using her debit card abroad (for security purposes). Will deal with her getting her own card when she returns next summer.
Meanwhile, we have learned our lesson and will have S17 go ahead and apply for a cc on his own as soon as he turns 18.
QOTD D17 and S14 both have had debit cards through USAA. When they reach age 18, I lose the ability see what is happening in the account. S14 got a discover card last summer on his own; he never had one of our credit cards.
In other news, D’17 has officially completed all 9 intended apps. She completed 6 more essays this week. All were good, but she was able to hit another home run with one.
3 schools still have some sort of merit essays due between December 5th and January 15th. She has to complete somewhere between 5-9 more essays.
@DMV301 – your story prompted me to remember another detail. My son applied for a CC on his own, and did not qualify for the first one he tried. (Better rewards program or something…I think he responded to an email Citibank had sent him, figuring they would know his situation since they were his bank. Clearly the CC dept and the bank account dept do not communicate.)
I cannot recall the specifics but I do recall him being on the phone a while, but I may be confusing the CC app and the Vanguard Roth IRA account, as he handled both of these while home for winter break. He did not need to include any earnings other than his summer earnings, and that was enough for him to receive a $1000 limit. (More than enough for his purposes.)
@Dave_N & anyone else with completed apps—congrats! @snoozn —Eleven apps!! So impressed. Yes to essay fatigue. I am fatigued and I only perform last-minute proofing.
To build up their credit score they not only need to get the credit card but use it regularly and pay on time. The more they charge and pay the higher their credit score will go. Both my kids started with a card from my account as an authorized user and then at 18 they each applied for their own card. They link it to their bank accounts and have it set to automatically pay in full each month. The credit card has an app just like our bank so they can easily track spending. It’s actually better because it will graphically display expenses by categories so they can easily see if they are wasting money like on eating out too much when dining plan is already paid for or clothing. They generally charge things I need to pay for to my account particularly things I need records of come tax time like books for school and medical stuff.