Am I old enough to get a credit card?

Question

I am 15 years old. Am I allowed to get a credit card? Like my parents can put me under them or something? But will the bank let me have one?

Answer 1

a straight forward card in your name from Capitol One or something like that, have to be 18.  Your parents can allow you to use one of theirs given their company allows it, but issuing you one of your own in your name may be a different story from what I gather from experience in the past.  

Answer 2

i had one when i was 15 a discover card but my dad was a co applicant, you have to be 18 to be the only person on the card

Answer 3

i know lots of people that have credit cards that are with their parent's credit card account. you will probably have a signifacntly lower spending limit but you probably could get one.  

Answer 4

No.  Usually you have to be 16 under your parent's credit to get one.  Check with the bank to make sure though, it might be different where you live.

Answer 5

No you must be 18 years or older, and its a very, very BAD idea to get a credit card without first having any credit, most teenagers 18 or up have gone severely in debt over $50,000 and up because they failed to read the contract, when signing it, the contract is what screws them over, so I would recommend not get a credit card even if you just turned 18. You are still young so you probably don't understand how credit cards work, yes you can buy something first and pay later, but there are always a bunch of catches like high intrest rates, so research or google about how credit cards work, and the severe cons and consequences it will bring if you abuse it, or it abuse you, whichever comes first...

Answer 6

Most credit card companies would give a card in your name but on your parents' account; in most cases your parents would simply have to ask.  I seem to remember having a Discover card on my parents' account when I was 15, but that was quite some time ago, and their policies may have been less strict then.

Additionally, you could possibly open a bank account (with your parents' co-signature) and get a debit card to spend the funds from that account.  Specifically, I did this with Wells Fargo when I was 17 with no trouble.

Finally, you could use a "Visa Gift Card" or something of that sort.  You'll likely pay a lot of fees to use it, though - in that case it would be cheaper and simpler to borrow your parents' card whenever you wanted to make an Internet purchase or something of the sort.

Aside from the Internet, everyone accepts cash anyway, so your parents could just as easily give you cash without having to deal with the credit card companies.  Plus, that gives them more direct control over your spending, which they may prefer.  Keep in mind in any of these scenarios it's legally their money you are spending.

(Edit:  As for the comment about a minor's card having a reduced spending limit, I don't think that's necessarily true; my parents' Discover cards and mine had exactly the same card number, so there was no way for the credit card system to tell.  In any case, I never had any trouble with the cards being declined apart from foreign transactions.)

Answer 7

Depending upon where you live ~ there are differences in some places.  However, generally speaking, your parents could give you a "secondary" card from their accounts.

Easy way to find out for each credit card company is to just walk into your local bank and ask them the question about age.  They'll happily tell you.