re: 18 year old son wants to start building credit. Recommendations? (Posted on 2/8/13 at 3:26 pm to BoobYo)
I'm saying that in my worst year I made 4%. And $20 over a 60 month loan is only $1200.
If I saved up enough to by a car, I'm going to stick it in investments, and finance the car. Because I will always be able to make 2% more by using the money in investments instead throwing it at a lump sum payment.
I understand if you are not a fan of debt. I've paid things off early, because I didn't like having the debt. But you are wrong about it never saving money (or earning).
re: 18 year old son wants to start building credit. Recommendations? (Posted on 2/8/13 at 3:35 pm to KG6)
Debt is exposure to risk. I prefer to limit it as much as possible. Slow and steady wins the race. It's paying for impatience in my book. Not going to sit here and argue about going into debt to save money. Your money, do what you want. I will not be teaching my kids that debt is ever a good thing.
re: 18 year old son wants to start building credit. Recommendations? (Posted on 2/8/13 at 4:32 pm to BoobYo)
I understand your view and there is nothing wrong with it, but I don't think you can lump every person who utilizes credit as an impatient person spending out of their means. Their is an intelligent way to go about it that maximizes the amount of money you end up with. Yes there is risk, but it's not like you're gambling at a casino.
You just have to be intelligent with how you use the debt and you'll be fine. And that is precisely what your credit score tries to measure. You can live within your means and still have debt.
htownjeep LSU Fan Nassau Bay, TX Member since Jun 2005 2201 posts Online
re: 18 year old son wants to start building credit. Recommendations? (Posted on 3/7/13 at 7:22 am to C)
quote: open a bank account and a credit card.
**Update** Just fyi in case anyone else is in the same position or is curious. I went this route and just put him as an authorized user on a couple of my credit cards. I didn't give him any of the cards as of yet, but I'm just letting him "piggyback" on my credit for the time being.
I ran his credit score yesterday and after only 1 month of being on my cards he has a credit score of 763. Not too shabby for a 18 yr old. Seems like the only issue (and I expected this) was the length of credit history.
re: 18 year old son wants to start building credit. Recommendations? (Posted on 3/7/13 at 10:03 am to BACONisMEATcandy)
quote: Don't ever cancel it
This. I stupidly canceled the card I had with my parents once I was out on my own. I had the card for around 9 years. Once I paid that and student loans off, the average age of my open credit was less than 1 year. Credit score dropped big time. That's when I started getting interested in what it takes to keep your credit score up. Still working on getting it back up.
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