Yeah, authorized user doesn’t help kids earn credit. The reason being is that their social is not usually affiliated with them being an authorized user. They either need to be a joint card holder, or the main holder and you be the co-signer.
@jeneric Discover has no foreign transaction fees. There are actually many that don’t but with covid that does seem to be a non-issue these days.
Discover is a pretty easy card for students to get as a first card. But one other way to establish credit is to just have them open their own bank accounts. Get those going now. Have them file tax returns from their jobs. They should anyway if they want their federal witholdings back. Open Roth IRA’s for them as well with those earnings. They can always take out their original contributions. My daughter opened a Discover card and then 2 weeks later got approved for a Delta Amex. Free for a year, and then gets free baggage check. We kept it this year because that’s her preferred method of flying to/from school so it was worth paying the annual fee because checking the bags alone makes it worthwhile.
My kids carry one credit card of mine that they’re authorized users on, and then their own. If they’re spending their own money, it’s their own card. If it’s something I’m paying for, they use my card. That way we don’t have to settle up at the end of the month and I don’t have to approve anything. Sometimes I tell them I will pay for something so to use mine, when they may otherwise use theirs. But I don’t want to worry about all the minutia. They get a monthly allowance to cover certain school expenses so during school, I don’t have to worry about groceries, uber, food with friends, school clubs (yes some charge), fun money, entertainment, etc. I learned this just makes things so much easier and they keep a budget. Also, they learn when bills are due and paying them, etc.
They have really cut down on these things and not just anyone can get credit cards now. With the financial crises a few years ago, the rules tightened. THat’s why to get a mortgage now people need a lot more documents, etc. Limits on the credit cards are also much lower. When my son was 18 and making over 100k Chase wouldn’t give him a credit card because of his age. So they are way more restrictive now. The only card he could get back then was a Discover student card and he wasn’t even a student.
Way too many places to spend $ at UT. But more so way too many people/students not on any budget which is a bigger problem IMO. Some of these kids will never learn money management and think nothing about it. If my kid thinks she is getting money so she can eat out every night of the week next year when in any apartment, she has another thing coming.
Hhaha, well that’s because she’s an independent. Not every college kid is an independent. I have one that is and one that isn’t. The one that is, got the stimulus, the other one we don’t get anything for, but that’s ok too. But hopefully they will fix that in the next go around for the people that truly need that, because there are millions that do.
S21 is like this. He saved all of his money (dog walking jobs, lawn mowing, Christmas and birthday gifts) from the time he was about 9 and bought a used car with it last year. He cannot understand how his younger sisters spend money on things like bubble tea that are gone so quickly. When he was about 13, he told them, “I don’t spend money on consumables.”
@tristatecoog Does she have a bank account? That’s the best way to establish credit. Start there. CHase has free college checking accounts. Discover has a free checking and savings/money market account. With the Discover you can at least earn interest (pennies!). With savings accounts though you can only make 6 withdrawals a month. There are also a lot of online banks now that pay interest. Blue Vine is fantastic. Also great for anyone who is trying to get a PPP loan.
@tristatecoog@jeneric I have Fidelity cards and I called to talk to them about this - they do have a type of authorized user where they do send info to the credit bureaus and they can build credit. Per @srparent15 , it isn’t the default though, so you have to request it specifically when you add them to the account.
I think my D18 has used Mint to track her expenses. She did it at least one year. I’ve heard it’s pretty easy.
My D is thrifty with clothes – only buys either thrift or very good sales. But she has some bougie habits, mostly fancy skin care products, coffees, and artisan food products at the farmer’s market.
Fort., she doesn’t eat out much and often if they do get door dash or such it’s cheap eats like Chick-fil-A or pizza.
Haha mine are pretty cheap with clothes, find these online places that they buy like 50 pieces for like $100. Don’t drink coffee and I’m not sure they realize how much $ they save because of that. My one daughter though, her vice is sushi!! She could eat that every day of the year I think. The other one? Bagels. Cheap date for sure. The one good thing about us not eating at a restaurant since last March and ordering curbside is I’ve saved so much money because my 20 year old twins only eat the kid’s meals and that’s plenty for them, so no one is questioning if they’re 12 or not.
I also learned when we were quarantining in NY for 2 weeks with mine that Doordash and Grubhub places are outrageously expensive! So unless kids pool their orders together, those are the biggest ripoffs!
He’s the one that blew off CS at UIUC and went right to Silicon and got a job. He is an anomaly and I don’t recommend skipping college. He’s 23 now and I still tell him it’s not too late, lol. Unfortunately he proved us wrong by showing us that there are plenty of companies, including many we all know very well, that will hire you without a college degree.
Oh ok, thanks. We are also in California and have heard back from CSU Fullerton only so far. But, didn’t apply to LA, SAC, Northridge. Waiting for SJSU, Cal Poly and Long Beach
He is/was a software engineer. He originally worked at uber, but it was funny because uber hadn’t exploded yet (this was 2015) so we had to explain to people here that he wasn’t driving a car, lol. He had an internship there, but he absolutely hated it. They stick you on a team and you’re stuck on that team for a year. If you don’t like it, tough. Because he was an intern though his was only 90 days IIRC. His roommate left U-Chicago to work there and he had a full-time gig. The roommate lasted a year because he too was miserable, but he at least got the stock options. Probably worth a nice sum. The kid went back at least to finish school after that. Mine though was miserable and had no interest to stay. If you recall, Uber had a lot of well documented management issues and turnover that came out. Mine didn’t like the environment at all, and was contacted after he left about it and his manager. I’m sure he gave them an earful. So, he came home in December and I figured he would now go to school since they let him take a gap year. But nope, said he was going back in a month to get a job. Sure enough, had 4 offers. Only 1 company wanted the college degree. He took the lowest offer which was a start up. Stayed about 3 years, and about 1-1/2 years ago started his own and was funded by ycombinator. It was just him and a partner and now I think they’re up to 4 employees, maybe 6 or looking to hire more. I can’t keep track. He’s all about the programming side and the partner does all the marketing, etc. No surprise knowing this kid. I couldn’t tell you in my wildest dreams even what it is, but something with web analytics and constantly making things faster. God knows whatever that means. If you recall from the other day we were talking about different computer languages from when we were all younger. This kid self taught himself in high school, it’s all foreign to me. Happy he is happy but have no clue what any of it means, lol. Came home due to covid for 9 months and WFH but went back in January and now has 5 other roommates so that’s good as opposed to living alone like before. But of course, being a boy, doesn’t call home like his sisters who text 24/7!
@homerdog LOL. But what did he say when you told him about sales tax at the Lego store? S21 used his CC to buy a laptop and build a desktop. He paid us directly. And he has a stash of cash he’s collected from gifts. When its in his hands or account, he doesn’t spend much of it! Give him a giftcard and its gone in a minute. Its the whole behavioral economics mental account phenomena with him.
S21 used his CC to buy a laptop and build a desktop. He paid us directly. And he has a stash of cash he’s collected from gifts. When its in his hands or account, he doesn’t spend much of it! Give him a giftcard and its gone in a minute. Its the whole behavioral economics mental account phenomena with him.