can a 17yr old get a credit card?

[jaigandhi5]

read the title

could use a credit card to pay for gas and slowly build up my credit score...

currently banking with td.

[Azxster]

I did

[maniacshopper]

No,

If you do, then you are not liable.

Businesses do not offer credit to minors until age of majority.
Can't even open a brokerage account until 18.
Unless your parents issue a user card from their own account.

[hoob]

Yes, I had a student VISA credit card in my own name at the age of 16. It was co-signed by a parent, but it was its own account (not a stringer card.)

[AzNCrAzYcOoLeR]

No,

If you do, then you are not liable.

Businesses do not offer credit to minors until age of majority.
Can't even open a brokerage account until 18.
Unless your parents issue a user card from their own account.

The credit check won't even go through

[tkyoshi]

Yes, I had a student VISA credit card in my own name at the age of 16. It was co-signed by a parent, but it was its own account (not a stringer card.)

It's really your parent's account then. You had a supplementary card.

[blaisen1]

Do you want a credit card because you want to build credit or borrow money or do you want a credit card so you can buy stuff online, or sign up for services that require a credit card (eg to get the best deal with Rogers Pay-as-you-go you need a credit card for the all-day-auto-saver etc).

If your reasons are the latter than look at the prepaid "credit card" (oxymoron alert) offerings. The two that stand out to me as being the best value are the mycard.ca and the orbitcard.ca.

Mycard.ca is $5.95/month maintenance fee, unlimited POS purchases $3 load fee ($385 max load at a dealer, $1500 max load online). Check the cardholder agreement on their website for all the details, but good, perhaps for those who make 5 or more purchases per month. Max balance $2000.

The other is the Orbit Card (although they are only available at Jean Coutu pharmacies which are in eastern ontario/quebec so it might be a trek to get one depending on where you live). orbitcard.ca. $2.50/month maintenance fee, $1.50 load (max load $500 by online bill payment/debit) Max balance $1500. Lower fees overall but .50/POS purchase. Good if you just have a couple transactions (like say, the rogers paygo monthly top up to get the best deal with them) and the occasional online purchase.

You can get these cards if you are 16 or older. There are others, like prepayedge, money mart's mastercard but they all have higher fees-- those two seemed to be the best deal. For a semi complete list of the prepaid mastercards go to horizonplus.ca, there are about 8 that are all just cobranded by people's trust/mint.

I guess if you are 17 you aren't old enough to have a PCF account - otherwise the best strategy would be to use your PCF account as much as possible for all purchases that you can use debit for, and then your prepaid mastercard for online transactions/whatever. But since you don't, the mycard.ca might be the best because you can top up with cash at a dealer (and they have quite a few all over the place, even in the stick where I live).

Soon as you are old enough, scrap them and get a real credit card, even if you need to get a secured one to start with to build your credit. A real credit card doesn't have any of these ridiculous fees -- just make sure you pay it off in full every month, some issuers (like BMO) have recently changed their cardholder agreement and will charge you interest from the day you make the purchase if the balance isn't paid off in full every month. (I have a BMO Mosaik, but I do pay the balance off in full every month, so no biggie but I imagine this is going to be a trend that other issuers will follow).

[TN_]

thx some good advice

im 22yrs old student work part time have no expenses, i have a pcf bank account for about 3yrs. i applied for the pcf credit card online and wasnt accepted i want to use a credit card just for occational online purchases any suggestions on how to get a cc from a real bank?

[tkyoshi]

thx some good advice

im 22yrs old student work part time have no expenses, i have a pcf bank account for about 3yrs. i applied for the pcf credit card online and wasnt accepted i want to use a credit card just for occational online purchases any suggestions on how to get a cc from a real bank?

You should prequalify for a student card since you're at school right now.

TD Green/GM Visa, BMO Mosaik MasterCard, Citi Mastercard, MBNA MasterCard, RBC Classic II Student Visa are just some of the student credit cards available. Try one of these first. Typical limits are $500-1000.

[TotallyKiller]

No,

If you do, then you are not liable.

Businesses do not offer credit to minors until age of majority.
Can't even open a brokerage account until 18.
Unless your parents issue a user card from their own account.


I had three before I was 18. I was told it was simply because I had a job that could support them. At the time I was told that the min age was 16.

[blink]

thx some good advice

im 22yrs old student work part time have no expenses, i have a pcf bank account for about 3yrs. i applied for the pcf credit card online and wasnt accepted i want to use a credit card just for occational online purchases any suggestions on how to get a cc from a real bank?

Yeah, PCMC sucks because they rarely give out their CC to people without any credit history. Try at another bank for a student card and if you still want the PCMC, re-apply in 6-12 months after you start using your other credit card.

[TN_]

thx for the advice :)

[hoob]

It's really your parent's account then. You had a supplementary card.

That is incorrect (parent did not maintain accounts at that bank.)

[Bazooka Joe]

thx some good advice

im 22yrs old student work part time have no expenses, i have a pcf bank account for about 3yrs. i applied for the pcf credit card online and wasnt accepted i want to use a credit card just for occational online purchases any suggestions on how to get a cc from a real bank?

I've found Royal and TD to be liberal about giving credit to students. PC Financial was the worst in my experience. CIBC was between the two. TD was stingy about credit increases, CIBC threw credit at me all the time.

Want to make a guess how I financed a portion of my university? :D Cost a small fortune, but was worth it.

[Bazooka Joe]

That is incorrect (parent did not maintain accounts at that bank.)

The wording might not have been totally accurate, but without your parents as a cosigner, it's not likely you would have got it. Your parents will be held 100% liable for any purchases on the card. AFAIK minors cannot enter into a contract because they are not considered a competent party. Same reason you can't hold animals or the mentally disabled to a contract.

Parents have all the liability, you have none. It could be argued that it's their card.

[Thanh]

I've had a BMO MC since being 16yo. At that time, I had an income of about 4K/year and the CC was mine, not a secondary card on someone else card. If you apply via their website, you'll probably get denied. I'd suggest visiting a branch and dealing with a personal banker.

[Drew_W]

I've found Royal and TD to be liberal about giving credit to students.

TD was stingy about credit increases


Clarify? :)

[Bazooka Joe]

Clarify? :)

Getting the original card was easy

Getting a credit limit raise from TD was not.

[Neovingian]

I got one a few months before I turned 17 from my branch.... it was the best present I could give to myself at the time. I could pay for high school expenses on my own card. I found out years later that my bank had my DOB listed incorrectly but I was also in high school working p/t @ at a factory pulling in like $350 for 2 days work, so they had no reason to ? why I had a CC.

As long as you have a good banking history and keep some $$$ in there, you can swindle the personal banker into giving you a card. It may be harder to do now a days but I know plenty of people who had a card at 17.
AFAIK each province sets its own minimum age limits for borrowing.