DawnM Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Our almost 18 year old is starting community college next week. We would like him to have a CC in his name so that any incidentals/emergencies/etc....he would be able to cover. He hates spending $$ and we aren't worried about him overspending or spending frivolously, what we ARE worried about is card loss. He can be careless about keeping things hidden or put in his wallet. That is one reason we prefer not to hand him a bunch of cash. He can have some small bills for the bus or for a drink, but not a bunch of cash. Can we add him to our CC account and ask that he only have a certain limit? Or do we need to apply for a whole new card for him? Thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawana Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 We just added dd to our account as an authorized user so that she could have a card in her name. Didn't set any limits and don't know if that is even possible. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 My son has a card on my account, but he doesn't carry it all the time. I just give it to him when he might need it and then ask for it back afterwards. I'm just trying to get him used to using a credit card. I don't know if there's any way to set a specific limit that just applies to his card, but you could probably set it up so you get an alert for any purchase over a certain amount. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 We added our son to our credit card account when he started driving in case he needed to get gas. We don't have a different limit on his card, but Citibank did give us that option. He lost it once at the college bookstore. He called me immediately and Citibank overnighted us new cards. It wasn't a problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Another option is reloadable prepaid cards. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 You can add him to your account. Unless he has enough income, he won't qualify for a card of his own - they tightened the rules on student credit cards a few years back. Alternatively, you can get him a prepaid visa card. We had visabuxx from US bank, but they canceled the program. We now have the Contour cards (forget which bank) which allow us to transfer money instantaneously to the kids' cards. They work everywhere credit cards are accepted, but only up to the preloaded amount. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Adding him as an authorized user also helps him to begin building credit in his name. My Amex also allows me to set spending limits when I want to. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 (edited) Discover has a pretty decent student card. If he doesn't have his own income, he'll still need a co-signer. This is what we did for DD. I wanted her to have her own card, thinking it would help her build up a credit rating of her own. I wasn't sure if having her on my card would do that; I was reading conflicting information on this issue. Edited to add: DD especially likes the extra $20 cash back for good students that this card gives. Edited January 8, 2016 by Pegasus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Another option is reloadable prepaid cards. Everything we have looked at has fees and more fees. Fees for signing up fees for loading each time fees for purchases fees for inactivity fees to take out the balance Do you know of one with no fees? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Discover has a pretty decent student card. If he doesn't have his own income, he'll still need a co-signer. This is what we did for DD. I wanted her to have her own card, thinking it would help her build up a credit rating of her own. I wasn't sure if having her on my card would do that; I was reading conflicting information on this issue. Edited to add: DD especially likes the extra $20 cash back for good students that this card gives. Thanks. The incentive is good for my other two but not for this one. He has LDs and we are just hoping he passes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 (edited) when our girls went off to college - dh opened accounts for them, with a set limit. (at a minimum, we wanted them to be able to purchase plane tickets home in an emergency. on top of incidentals living across the country) his name was also on the account, and it allowed them to start getting a credit rating in their own name. Edited January 8, 2016 by gardenmom5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Everything we have looked at has fees and more fees. Fees for signing up fees for loading each time fees for purchases fees for inactivity fees to take out the balance Do you know of one with no fees? Gosh that's dumb! I knew there were some fees, but no clue it was that stupid. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmith Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I don't want to encourage credit card use with my son because I know it will create problems in the future. (This is based on his personality and special needs issues) I got him a debit card that is tied to my PayPal account. Any money he earns I transfer from my account. He can request money through the app I believe, but he cannot spend over what is in his account. If he manages college in the future we will probably still use this method. Right now I'm trying to teach him the benefit of an emergency fund and why the latest video game release is not an emergency. 😲 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 We added each of our kids to our main credit card account when they got to that point. I don't know what card you have, but we have Capital One. Recently, Capital One made some changes and now every person on the same account has a different number on their card. This means that if one card is lost, you don't have to cancel everyone's -- only that one card. It's kind of a relief to know that! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Gosh that's dumb! I knew there were some fees, but no clue it was that stupid. My husband looks more into things that involve fees and charges that are unnecessary than I do. We DO have a prepaid with our Capital One savings account, maybe we could put him on that.....but it isn't quite pre-paid, if you go over, they just take from your savings plan. I think I will call our CC we have and ask what they have for him. I hesitate to give him an AmEx because not everywhere takes them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I wouldn't add my teen to our credit card, but I would get a secured credit card for him. It's backed by money that goes into a CD or the like for 2 years. He earns credit, but not at our expense if something goes wrong. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Everything we have looked at has fees and more fees. Fees for signing up fees for loading each time fees for purchases fees for inactivity fees to take out the balance Do you know of one with no fees? Capital One isn't that bad. It does have a yearly fee and a high interest rate. It is sort of a blend of a secured card and a credit card. We stopped using credit cards a few years ago. But, I really don't like using a debit card for everything because if it were stolen it could be disastrous, i.e. checks bouncing. So, I just recently researched and settled on the Capital One. We plan on using it like a debit card that happens to have credit card protections and bonus features like rental car insurance. I'm not tickled about the yearly fee. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 =Can we add him to our CC account and ask that he only have a certain limit? Or do we need to apply for a whole new card for him? We just added DS17 to our American Express account (Blue Cash card). It was a simple matter of calling and asking the representative to send him a card. The representative allowed me to specify a spending limit when I ordered the card. He got a card with his own number. We will also get him a Visa card, since not everywhere takes American Express. We did the same with our two oldest children (who have now graduated from undergraduate college). No problem with stolen information. When we have had card number get stolen, it was either my wife's or mine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I added DS to one of mine and dropped the limit significantly and told the company no automatic raising of the credit limit. He only uses it for gas and medical co-pays at this point. He's in college locally, so not a lot that he needs it for. He's very orderly and disciplined though, so no worries for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Debit card instead? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I added ds to one of my cards when he started dual enrollment in the fall. They have to carry an ID everywhere anyway, so he'll need to keep up with a wallet, lanyard, or something. If he just needs money for on campus, check and see if they can add dollars to their college ID. At ds's school I can add money to the ID online and it can be used like a debit card all over campus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I added ds to one of my cards when he started dual enrollment in the fall. They have to carry an ID everywhere anyway, so he'll need to keep up with a wallet, lanyard, or something. If he just needs money for on campus, check and see if they can add dollars to their college ID. At ds's school I can add money to the ID online and it can be used like a debit card all over campus. At some schools, you can also do this off campus. I noticed that last night we were at CMU-which would have made life SO much easier when I was a student. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I added ds to one of my cards when he started dual enrollment in the fall. They have to carry an ID everywhere anyway, so he'll need to keep up with a wallet, lanyard, or something. If he just needs money for on campus, check and see if they can add dollars to their college ID. At ds's school I can add money to the ID online and it can be used like a debit card all over campus. At some schools, you can also do this off campus. I noticed that last time we were at CMU-which would have made life SO much easier when I was a student. The campus ID could be used in almost everything right near campus. It's worth checking, anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Our almost 18 year old is starting community college next week. We would like him to have a CC in his name so that any incidentals/emergencies/etc....he would be able to cover. He hates spending $$ and we aren't worried about him overspending or spending frivolously, what we ARE worried about is card loss. He can be careless about keeping things hidden or put in his wallet. That is one reason we prefer not to hand him a bunch of cash. He can have some small bills for the bus or for a drink, but not a bunch of cash. Can we add him to our CC account and ask that he only have a certain limit? Or do we need to apply for a whole new card for him? Thanks. I'd think about it this way: if you need to instill a hard limit using the credit card company, then you don't want him on your account because it doesn't sound like he's that responsible. On the other hand, if he's a basically responsible kid and you just want that for convenience, I'd give him a verbal limit and drop him from the card if he exceeds it even once. In the event that the card is stolen, it's MUCH better to have a CC than a debit card! You just call the credit card company and they will send a new one and no charges go to you--problem solved. Sure, it is a PITB to re-do all the auto billing but honestly, I'd say it's worth it for a teen to build up credit. I would share one with him that you don't have on auto-billing any where and call it good. Or you know what... can you get a new card for yourself, set it up to pay just one thing a month and a very low limit, and have both your names on it? That might be the way to go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 (edited) I'd think about it this way: if you need to instill a hard limit using the credit card company, then you don't want him on your account because it doesn't sound like he's that responsible. On the other hand, if he's a basically responsible kid and you just want that for convenience, I'd give him a verbal limit and drop him from the card if he exceeds it even once. In the event that the card is stolen, it's MUCH better to have a CC than a debit card! You just call the credit card company and they will send a new one and no charges go to you--problem solved. Sure, it is a PITB to re-do all the auto billing but honestly, I'd say it's worth it for a teen to build up credit. I would share one with him that you don't have on auto-billing any where and call it good. Or you know what... can you get a new card for yourself, set it up to pay just one thing a month and a very low limit, and have both your names on it? That might be the way to go. Yeah, we aren't worried about him spending too much, as I mentioned. Card loss or stealing is an entirely different thing. In fact, when I mentioned getting him a CC yesterday he said, "What do I need that for? Just give me a little cash and I will be fine, I probably won't even use that." But if he wants to stay and study and needs some food, etc....I want him to be able to fend for himself. Edited January 9, 2016 by DawnM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I would not add to your account a child you are worried about loosing a card. You don't want to be regularly having to change your card number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 I would not add to your account a child you are worried about loosing a card. You don't want to be regularly having to change your card number. I shouldn't say that really.....it is a bit of a concern, but he is pretty good about it overall. But he is special needs and can get distracted. If it becomes a real problem, we will come up with a different solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 My experience is that a lost or stolen or compromised card is a big PITA to deal with if it is a main card that you are using--unauthorized use has been detected on mine more than once in recent years, and it has taken many hours to deal with each time. Whether debit or credit, I'd be looking for something that is only for his use, with small amounts of money associated with it, so that if it has to be shut down following loss or theft you are not having to have that affect the rest of your family finances. If you barely use your credit card and do not have automatic billing on it etc., that might not be true for your family, though. If it is his "own" card and he loses it, then making the calls needed to fix that can also be life skills learning for him. My son's debit card usually needs a memorized PIN to be used for purchases over a pretty small amount which helps minimize the amount of loss there might be between the time of loss or theft and discovering that and calling the bank to shut it down. It might also be helpful to consider how your ds could keep things that are important so they do not tend to get lost. Maybe a wallet is not the best system for him. Maybe some sort of a belt pouch, or thing like for wrist wear during jogging, or something else would be better for him. I saw a man on the bus the other day with a pouch on a cord around his neck that seemed to have all his important stuff--including a bus pass that showed through without having to open anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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