dldkjones

Has anyone applied for a mileage earning credit card as coapplicant with their adult child as applicant to add bonus miles to the child's account and establish credit history for the child as well? True this could be risky depending on the spending control of the child.

sinner7

If you want to build credit history for your child, add him/her as an additional card holder (and cut up the card that comes in the mail for the child) to one of your oldest accounts (assuming you pay in full every month). Giving your child a CC just for miles is plain foolish.

biggestbopper

This is likely to lead to very unfortunate results and a destroyed family relationship.

It would be much better to help the child get a card on his or her own, even if this needs to be a secured card. There is just about no one in America who can't get a credit card if they have a small amount to put in a securing account.

Miles should not be a factor here.

Marathon Man

you could sign the kid up for all the promos, do all the dining for miles or online mall shopping in such a way that it assigns to his or her account, and stuff like that.

I have used dining for miles in this way to help keep accounts alive of more distant family members who never seem to care until it's time to redeem. Assigning their FF number to your CC use for a night out is totally easy on most airline's dining partnership pages. You can always switch it back any time. For airline mall use, if you need, say, more ink for the printer, just go in thru the airline mall portal with their FF # and order it thru your store account if you want... or, since they LIVE with you, just have it ship to THEM (of course then they get more junk mail even at an early age!)

For credit establishment and such, I know some banks have products a lot LIKE CDs, whereas you set up an account with say, $1,000 in it. I canot remember all the details but I think you have it so it loans or gives you the money and now you owe yourself back. Every month a bill comes and you pay it in the same way you'd pay a loan of $1,000 off in 1 year. It earns interest but there's also slight fees for having the loan just as there would be in a credit card account, but with less of a hit by far. In the end, I think you maybe make or spend about $40 but this establishes credit history too. A family member from overseas who became a legal US resident alien needed to do this and we found that Citizen's Bank in a certain office in southern NH was able to help. That was about 5 years ago though so I do not remember everything but it's worth looking into.

For money responsibility, I woudl imagine some of the VisaBuxx cards would work. These reloadable gift cards USED TO BE some of the greatest ways I would use to earn cheapo mega miles but their fees and policies have significantly altered and there's really no way to cash them out as easily any more. However, they do tout being good for teens who wish to learn how to save money or spend wisely while still having the same levels of access and freedoms we CC holders do. Parents can set up the account and load it accordingly. I always felt as though it must have thought my wife was a cool parent when we'd load my card the max every week and then cash it out and do it again.

Another way to do it is to just send the kid to a state school. Some time in their Sophmore year, EVERY SINGLE CC APPLICATION in the world will come their way. Good luck.

;0MM

BigLar

I think we're all assuming that the collection of miles and points will continue to be worthwhile into the distant future. I'm not so sanguine.

I think the whole system will implode, or at least melt down, sometime in the next decade or so. By that time, I'll probably be well out of it, but I just can't see it going on like it is now for the indefinite future.

Marathon Man

While I too think it sure will be different in the next 10 years, I think some variation of the miles game will exist. Even if the current system disolves, it certainly cannot hurt to go in thinking it might exist later as long as you go into it with planning and caution in mind. If my kid has say, 24,000 miles on the day it the music, then I might be upset--and I'll eat my words. But the getting credit thing will still be out there, I think.

salut0

Citibank did this. The nice thing is that once your credit rating has improved, the CD matures and the secured CC is no longer necessary, you can convert the card to a no-fee AAdv card by calling them to change the card type.

Also, I found that I applied for a Citi Platinum AAdv credit card with 20k bonus about 15months through the 18month period they hold your security, and I was approved. Of course YMMV...

chuckd

If your child is an adult, and you have concerns about their spending control, why not just let her/him get their own card? They'll likely start with a small limit, which is good, and then go from there. Keep your name off it. Check out fatwallet finance or creditboards for everything you would ever want to know about cards.

Grasshopper

The best way to build your child's credit is to educate him/her in depth about credit, what it means, how it works, and the perils of carrying a balance/maxing out cards/living beyond your means.

The earlier suggestion about adding his/her name to an old, unused account with a good history is a decent one. Another option is to obtain a traditional green American Express CHARGE card, on which you can't carry a balance -- theoretically, it is a good way to build up a credit history.

lexi

I concur.

biggestbopper

IMHO, this is excellent advice. I have seen too many situations where Mr. Niceguy tries to help out problematic relative and gets into big trouble because of a kind heart. Let the relative get their own, secured card and protect your personal credit and finances by not be linked to the relatives.