Not all credit cards give separate account numbers. It might only be Amex that does that.
I know with the ones that my kids are authorized user, or my husband is with me and vice versa the accounts are all the same.
To build credit ultimately, your kid will want one in their own name.
With my son, in the long run if he wants to buy a place ever, I have no idea what will happen with him, but he also has his own business and I’m sure the business has established credit as it’s backed by VC money so who knows and he isn’t running to buy a house any time soon as far as I know!! And in SF he sure doesn’t need a car, although I’m pretty sure he would just pay cash if he did, considering his mentality on credit cards.
Discover sends a statement every month showing what your credit score is. It also shows it for the last year or so and the fluctuation. It’s nice for people to see so they know if their credit score is going to cause them any issues.
Also, if you own too many credit cards it could ding your credit score because it is considered that you could possibly take out that much in debt. So people should consider that too.
Depending on the lender being an authorized user on a parents card can be better than having a beginner credit score because it’s a sign that the parents are willing to cover the applicants debts.
btw, credit scores are still a thing, but it’s becoming a smaller and smaller part of the lending decision. Obviously if the score is garbage it’s a problem.
Yes, if you are offered work study, the school gets reimbursed for part of that students salary which makes those students preferred hires on campuses. It is cheaper for the school to hire them because their salaries are subsidized.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but based on the flow and tone of this general conversation, I’m wondering if this is a rich person/poor person dividing line? We have lived and breathed and struggled to get our credit better because having bad credit as a poor person is chaining yourself to worse situations every single time. If you pay for cars and houses in cash (or with giant down payments), I guess it would matter less, but we’ve been in situations of needing deposits just to get utilities on in the past due to our credit (thank goodness that was a long time ago). I can’t help thinking this is just another haves/have not distinction in our country. No bad vibes to anyone, but there are clearly people on here and in this world that live in a totally different world than we do.
Just wanted to make sure that when I advocate for credit cards, we’re not saying to pay the min. I’ve always paid off in full every month and that’s been since I was in college. For me, it’s a bonus because I don’t have to give the cash outlay to vendors, I get points, which I use for travel, and I get a little interest with the money I keep in the bank that I don’t have to touch til the end of the month when I pay off the credit bills. S21 does this on the co-authorized card. We see his spending and if they’re truly his spending then he transfers money from his bank to my bank account to pay for his expenditures.
Regarding paying bills off every time, that would help you, especially if you are part of an account that reports to the credit agency. I’m not sure if landlords report to the credit agency. I know I don’t for my renters, so not sure how that component of what they pay gets to the credit agency. What do know is that my loan broker says to get the best rate, you have to have good credit, which include a credit history, as well as on-time payments. For example, in a recent refi we got a 30-year loan for 2.675% with no cost while my good friend whom I referred but with slightly lower credit score got 2.95%. Same lock timing, both under the jumbo limit, etc. Your credit does go down when they run a credit check, if you’ve defaulted, late payments, etc, of course. My new hires have told me that for off-campus rental, they usually had to get their parents to co-sign. I can see why because as a landlord, I’m not sure how thrilled I would be to rent out to college kids w/o credit history (even if I’m in a college rental zone). There’s also liability of the landlord where you have to be fair and equitable and the credit score is a very good normalizing factor to determine if someone has good credit to rent to or not.
I was recently reminded of the huge divide when a friend asked if I wanted to invest in sub-prime car loans. He gets car loans at 18%-24% interest plus late fees and origination fees on average loans of $15K. He won’t loan to college kids or people without jobs and requires 10% down. Business has boomed recently with stimulus checks.
Like for profit colleges, many people get loans with low returns.
Is the Waitlist Bar open 24/7? it’s 11 am here on the west coast, but i’m sure it’s 5 pm somewhere. The agony of waiting, combined with the likelihood of disappointment, is getting to me.
DD has committed to a great school that’s a good fit, and I’m trying to just be grateful and focus on that.
Total first world problem.
This isn’t my life, it’s hers.
I know all these things. But in the meantime I’m obsessively refreshing waitlist threads. ~I need to step away~
My daughter just graduated college last spring. She has needed a credit score to rent apartments post college from just about every corporate landlord. She will also need one if she decides to buy a new or use car, and possibly to get utilities, internet, cell phone in her own name, etc. etc.
Yep, I’m at the bar. Coffee for me for now but I’ll keep you company while you obsess. I’d really love to know one way or the other. Thankfully my son is still wrapped up in his high school life and not thinking about it much.
Yesterday was a low day for me and I was feeling pretty resentful about his results tbh. Today I’m trying to get excited again about the deposit school.
As someone who had a quick drink at the bar, I feel for you all. I was bracing for a long stay, but things moved quickly and unexpected. We were very happy with the alternative. Good problems to have.
I feel like my WL Bar friends will throw drinks and pretzels at me (as you should) but S21’s school confirmed move-in is 9/2. We have an actual date!
We also got news on in-person graduation. Usually it’s at Golden One Center in Sacramento, so I’m grateful that it’s at one of the schools in our district. Don’t have to deal with downtown traffic and parking AND costs. Class is divided in half. We have the 8:15pm (LOL) slot. Most of S21’s friends are in this group. Our friend’s, the wonderful photographer, daughter is also in our slot so in KNOW we will have amazing photos. I ordered the ceremony video so I’m just going to enjoy this long @ss of a journey with the first born. We get 4 tickets and we sit in pods of four while the graduates are on the football field. I’m grateful for 4 tix since my parents will be able to attend. D24 will be the odd person out so she will be at home on discord and gaming with the other younger siblings
Seems like FDA will approve 12-15 yr olds for vax next week. I’ve already scoped the Kaiser location for D24.
Found out yesterday our governor said we could have more people at graduation if the schools offered vaccinated seating that requires proof of vaccination. Can also have more people at sporting events, music, theater, etc. as long as there is vaccinated seating.
Yay! We have our date 8/20-8/21 is welcome weekend. Lots of activities for parents are scheduled through out the two days, I am so excited for my son, but I will be ugly crying.
Yes! Our county in Washington was in line to go back to a more restrictive level this week and in-person graduations wouldn’t have happened. With the vaccinated seating option from Gov. Inslee, there will be a graduation. Happy dance! The class will have two graduations, half the class at each, outdoors at the football stadium. D21 picked up all her graduation regalia yesterday and wants to be d-o-n-e with high school. There is still another month left.
