Credit Cards for Teenagers

Yes, parents certainly can get a credit card for their teenagers. There are basically two ways to do so. For starters, you can make your child an authorized user on one of your credit card accounts. Your teen will get his or her own card, to use at least for emergencies. And as long as you pay the bill on time, your child will build credit. Plus, if you don’t, your child will be able to successfully dispute the account and get it removed from his or her credit reports. After all, authorized users aren’t responsible for making payments.

Your other option is to co-sign your child’s credit card application. This will result in your income, debts and credit history being factored into the approval decision. So your child may be able to get a better credit card than he or she would otherwise. But this will only work if your teen is 18 or 19 years old. You can’t be a primary accountholder on a credit card until you’re an adult.

Finally, if your teen is old enough and has the income or assets needed to make monthly bill payments, you can help him or her pick the best credit card to apply for alone. If your child is in college, this will be a student credit card. Otherwise, there are plenty of good starter credit cards to choose from.

Yes, you can be less than 18 years old and have a credit card. But if you’re younger than 18, you can’t get your own credit card.

In other words, a family member can make you an authorized user on their credit card, regardless of your age. Most credit card companies will even let you make a baby an authorized user. That’s how grade school kids come to be packing plastic.

But by law, only people who are 18 and older can be a credit card’s primary accountholder. You also need enough income or assets to afford minimum monthly bill payments, which would be an issue for most younger teens.

Yes, you can definitely build credit as an authorized user. In fact, it’s possible to build good, or even excellent, credit from authorized use alone. That’s why it’s such a great way to begin building credit before reaching legal adulthood.

In short, when you’re an authorized user, the credit card account in question will be added to your credit reports – just like if it were your own account. And the issuer will relay updated account information to the credit bureaus on a monthly basis. If that information reflects on-time payments, low credit utilization and other signs of financial responsibility, the authorized user’s credit standing will improve. And if the information turns out to be negative, the authorized user should be able to get the account removed from their report, since authorized users aren’t responsible for making payments.

With that being said, you’ll build credit faster if you also have your own credit card account that you use responsibly.

College students are in a unique position when it comes to getting credit cards. Their earning potential and youth are enticing to credit card companies, so they offer students better terms than their lack of experience would ordinarily merit.

For example, college students can expect to be approved for cards with at least market-average rewards and no annual fee. Non-student newcomers, on the other hand, usually have to choose between rewards and no annual fee.

So if you’re at least 18 years old and have a university email address, you should definitely look into getting a student credit card. You can check out WalletHub’s full review of 2018’s best credit cards for college students to learn more.