Princess Five is headed off to college soon. I am really going to miss her in a few weeks when she is gone.
To help her get ready for college, we got her housing done, signed her up for classes, and she set up group chats with her new roommates as she doesn't know any of hers yet. This week, we started packing up items we have been collecting for her apartment like toasters, shower curtains, dishes etc. Yesterday, we went to the bank and set her up for a checking account and got her her own first credit card.
At the bank, since she hasn't had a job, we had to get both of our credit checked as she needed a cosigner instead of waiting until she got a job to apply for her first card. I always get raised eyebrows when people check my credit as I have fairly good credit. It is always over 800 out of the perfect 850. Imagine my surprise when Princess Five had a better credit score than I have! I have many credit cards and I have never paid interest on any card. My girls have great credit as I teach them about interest and using credit cards to make "cash back" by paying all their bills with a credit card and then pay it off each month and never paying interest on anything. 
I am proud of her score and know it is because I have a different credit card for each of the girls and have them use the cards in high school when on trips so they get used to how a credit card works and also they don't have to take as much cash with them which is safer as well. If the card gets stolen, I can cancel it and we aren't liable for the items purchased by someone else.
All of this only works if you can only use a card to purchase only things you would buy if you had the cash. Using the card to pay off all my phone bills, grocery, gas and other purchases gives me up to $900 a year in cash back depending on the cards cash back available. I have one card
that gives 2% on every purchase and another that a gives 3% on gas so I use the 2% for everything other than gas. I use a AAA card at some gas stations as I get 4% back on all gas and then I pay with my 3% on gas card so I am getting 7% cashback on every gallon of gas.
Princess Five has better credit than 93% of the nation! I am in the B range with 85%. If you want to help out the kids, when they are about 14, add their name to your credit card as long as you can pay it off monthly, you wouldn't want to add them to the card if you have bad credit.
Each of the girls have been very responsible with finances and getting their own credit cards and spending responsibly. Taking the time to teach them how to pay bills, about the dangers of interests and, the importance of credit has been a blessing in their world and mine!
Have a Blessed Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment