<p>Our son has FINALLY greed to get a credit card. Found one with no annual fee, no-cosigner and some rewards. He says he doesn't care about the interest rate, because he will pay it off each month. I believe him.</p>
<p>His only question is: what is the difference between Visa and MasterCard?</p>
<p>I don't know enough to give an informed answer. I'm sure that one of you can help!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My first 2 questions would be: how old is your son and why does he need a credit card?</p>
<p>If he is a soon-to-be college freshman, I doubt many in his age bracket would be mature enough to handle one. The only exception I can think of is if he will have a car at school, and needed it for emergency repairs, but otherwise, why would he need one?</p>
<p>Personally, my soon-to-be freshman D will not have a credit card at school. She has her own money. I am also close enough that if she needed money I could be there in a few hours. I cannot think of any scenario that would arise where she would need a credit card.</p>
<p>If you rson is older, there really isn't any difference between MC and Visa. We have both. One of them has a very low credit limit (our choice) that we use for online purchases. The other's has a higher credit limit, and we use that when we travel for hotel rooms, etc. I'd check the fine print: interest rates, credit limits, rewards (i.e. cash back, etc.) and pick the one that's best for your son. If your son absolutely NEEDS one, I'd go with one with a very low credit limit that only he can choose to increase (vs. one that automatically increases).</p>
<p>Credit cards are useful to build credit and so textbooks and other online purchases can be shipped directly to the dorm. For the type of card your talking about I doubt theres going to be a big difference between MC and Visa. Both are accepted most places, so if you see a good promotion or anything with one I'd go with it.</p>
<p>I don't know the difference either.:)</p>
<p>Both my college students use their debit cards.</p>
<p>Make sure he can pay on line. I'd get the one with the longest grace period...although as we all know that can change immediately.</p>
<p>He is a rising sophomore, and the most frugal person I know!!!</p>
<p>We are 14 hours away. I want him to have a credit card for emergencies, to make his own plane reservations, and to begin to build credit.</p>
<p>I have both MC and Visa, too, and don't know what the differences are.</p>
<p>Like sax said, see which one (both should) will do paperless (online) billing. It's all handled online and is 100x easier, especially since you don't have to worry about changing addresses or anything.</p>
<p>It is very useful for college students, even if they are minutes away from home, to have their own credit cards. They need to buy books, some of which are very expensive (anyone feel like carrying several hundred bucks in their pockets?) or online; if they make plane reservations online, they will need to provide their own credit card (not mom's or dad's) as identification. They may want to make other purchases for their dorms on their own rather than drag mom or pop along just because mom and dad have credit cards and they don't. And as others have pointed out, they need to build good credit.</p>
<p>There's little or no difference between MC and Visa.</p>
<p>my D will have a card with a 500 limit to start....</p>
<p>buying used textbooks online can save $$</p>
<p>and at some point you have to let them do that....trick is to have that limit firm</p>
<p>Hate to hijack, but what about American Express? My cousin was considering one.</p>
<p>Amex is expensive (although I think they now have one without an annual fee), but the bigger problem is that it's accepted at many fewer places than Visa or MasterCard.</p>
<p>If you don't want your kid to have his/her own credit card, you can give him/her an authorized card on your account. My d has one on our account, but with her name on the card itself. So it'll work for airline ID or any "show your card" type of situation.</p>
<p>This way, we monitor her activity, and I believe that she's still building credit in her own name.</p>
<p>One of my kids has a VISA and one has a MC. There are no differences. I would say to go with the one that you get for free when your child sets up student banking. My kids charge all of their textbooks and in one year have both secured excellent credit ratings. It is also beneficial in that kids can charge college transportion costs (Amtrak, plane, etc.)</p>
<p>I would say that most college students do and should have a credit card with a low limit. The exception would be if you know that your child is particularly irresponsible.</p>
<p>Without a credit card, how would one preorder Harry Potter from Amazon or the like???? ;)</p>
<p>IMHO, if you have a trustworthy kid, it would be best for them to have a card in their own name that they are solely responsible for AND have a parent card too. </p>
<p>Most student cards, as others have said, have fairly low limits. Most parents have high limits. So, if an emergency arises (medical? Family related?) they will have access to back up funds beyond their credit limit.</p>
<p>This only works of course if you have a kid that is responsible enough to not run up a big bill on parents' cards.</p>
<p>I gave my kid an Amex; the main advantage was that Costco takes it. To my knowledge Cost doesnt take MC or Visa</p>
<p>Every kid should have a credit card.......it builds up credit history and when they are in job market, it can save money. Following are loan rates for different credit scores (amount borrowed $25,000) term 36 mo.</p>
<p>FICO score, APR, Monthly payment *<br>
720-850, 7.217%, $774
690-719 , 8.075%, $784
660-689 , 9.582%, $802
620-659 , 11.049%, $819
590-619, 14.339% , $859
500-589 , 14.923% , $866</p>
<p>I always wonder what's with the comments about kids not being mature enough to handle credit cards. Maybe it's just me, but I think the concept is pretty clear: treat a credit card as if it were cash. Don't spend more than you have.</p>
<p>Currently (I'm not yet 18) I have a credit card on my parents' account, but when I turn 18 I'll be getting my own. Between Visa and MC, there are no significant differences - both are accepted at most places. Choose a card (based on interest, rewards, fee or w/e) and whichever is best should be fine, whether that's Visa or MC.</p>
<p>Costco doesn't take VISA or Mastercard, but ours at least, has an ATM machine, so I just get what I need when I'm there, if it's not on me already.</p>
<p>Actually check with the school. My daughter's college does NOT accept VISA payment for anything. She needs Master Card. So that is what she has.</p>
<p>Re: credit cards and college kids...most college banking accounts for students include a credit card in addition to a debit card. I fully agree that a credit card is necessary for online purchases when needed. My kids had a $500 limit...enough to get what they needed but not enough for a trip around the world. We were certainly close enough to DS to get there, but the reality is that he needed to learn to manage this and a small credit line was good for him. He never abused it...and neither has DD.</p>
<p>For those of you whose kids rely on debit cards - realize that the "lost or stolen" protections of credit cards (liable only for the first $50 if reported immediately - many bank issuers waive that as well) do not generally apply to debit cards.</p>
<p>Building good credit is necessary for all students. Just have limits on the credit card as a safeguard.</p>
<p>Chedva
your D is not building credit in her name by having a card on your account with her name on it.
DS first, now S started with low limit credit cards in addition to debit cards attached to their checking account (which they never write a check on LOL).MC or Visa doesnt seem to make a difference but checking what the school accepts is worthwhile.
We added both kids to our AmEX with cards of their own for emergency use only..car stuff, airline ticket emergencies,hospital ER's etc.You never know.
D is now 24 and no longer a signer on our AmEx,she has her own LOL.</p>