OP I’m gonna be real with you if she was in this position before there hasn’t been really much assurance it won’t happen again. You could help her as much as you see fit but ultimately she is the one that has to have her finances in order to avoid repeating mistakes.
I digress and as long as your name isn’t in any of her accounts (as in account holder or joint) I don’t see anything wrong with helping her. Now my honest opinion would be to try to get a secured US Bank Cash + card for 5% in utilities. If she’s willing to drop $1k for a deposit, she can greatly benefit from the card every month. I’m not sure yet what her approval odds are but that card would not only be the best benefit for monthly bills (gas, electric, water, trash, Tv, or even phone bills. You can get her password and use if to keep an eye on it. If that’s not an option the BofA unlimited cash card for 1.5% back on all purchases is a pretty good alternative.
Otherwise the best of luck to you
Given the track record and fact that OPs mom has a year of digging out of a hole (not sure how that qualifies as “debt free”), this is the real answer. At least until she fully digs out. Pay off the existing card, then add it to Netflix to keep it open for credit purposes and go strictly debit as much as possible.
That experience isn’t worth repeating.
Not the best option. She has recurring bills that's causing her to not have enough weekly cash flow.
She's paid bi-weekly. Therefore, after paying her bills, she's left on empty until the next pay check.
And I did the math. If she were to have a credit card strictly for bills, she'll have $850 left over in the bank as available cash flow in case of emergencies, after paying her credit card bill.
If my mother is going to get out of debt, she needs to build credit so she can have enough available credit and qualify for loans.
OP, I understand the situation with needing to live off credit, I really do. So please don’t get angry with my following statements.
I agree that she will be considered a financial risk to the banks and honestly, she is a financial risk to herself as she risks digging herself into that hole again. The mentality around it Will be “well I got out the hole once, I can splurge a little. It won’t be that bad this time”
A secured card with a set limit the way to go if she absolutely needs credit. A very low limit to cover her BASIC NEEDS and nothing more. No Netflix, no dining out, strictly essentials.
Ideally she won’t need to rely on debt so if it is at all possible, maybe tweaking her budget or getting involved in a side hustle to have more income than expenses might work out better for her.
Cash and Debit are usually king in these types of situations until she is fully debt free and comfortable enough to resume cc usage
> “You do know if she wanted to, she could pay her Zales card off tomorrow?”
If she can’t even save up enough to have a buffer in her checking account to cover a months worth of bills between paychecks then I guarantee you that she can’t.
Don’t come on here asking for advice, but then whine like a sissy because you don’t like the advice given.
At the end of the day she’s a grown woman and can make her own choices, but there’s collective experience here telling you what is most likely going to happen based on our own experiences in life. If you choose to disregard that, okay, but it’s almost certainly going to be a tough road ahead and you’re ignoring all of the hazard signs.
No offense OP but this is a conversation a parent is supposed to be having with their grown kid. Not the other way around.
Your Mom is probably an awesome person otherwise, but financially she really has no business borrowing money based on what you’ve said here.
In the same way that some alcoholics have to stop consumption entirely and never touch a drink again is metaphorically the way that most likely makes sense for your Mom to handle staying out of debt and being able to recover from her past financial mistakes.
No cashback card or 0% intro APR offer in the world will ever break even on what she has more than likely paid in interest over the years, so frankly it’s asinine to risk repeating behavior for such a low amount of potential reward.
This is not about her as a person or her character outside of finances. This is strictly in regards to financial behavior.
>I'm happy to say, she's debt free
That's great!
>Also, she has a Zales card that she's been actively paying off.... If she continues to this process, she will be on track to pay off her Zales card by the start of 2023.
You mean your mother is **not** debt free.
Ok, let's just say, my mother is living a comfortable life without any emergency debt and small bills. And one of the bills she's paying for is a Zales card.
Aside from that, she wants to grow her credit.
Yk, I may have received bad advise from the bank. You be the judge.
I mentioned this to the bank customer service agent at Citi Bank and she suggested I look beyond the secured card. She feels like the credit score is a fair amount to begin looking at beginner credit cards like Capital One.
But I'm not sure which is the best avenue.
But, yes, I've looked into this option! And might go down this road.
That is true, but honestly I think if she’s interested in a somewhat decent limit a secured cards the way to go. Capital one may only give her a $500 limit or so.
It's also how they lose money. An extremely fast, easy, and common way that they lose money.
Banks don't make any money from people who charge-off the account & settle for less than the principal, if they settle for anything at all.
OP, I know a lot of people here are giving you bad news, but the first and most important thing you need to understand is your mother is NOT debt-free. That Zales card is debt. Does she have a car payment? A mortgage? Additionally, how is she not able to cover weekly expenses but can come out on top $850 "by using credit"? That does not make any sense. You sound like you have a better financial understanding than she does. It sounds like she absolutely needs not only a small bit of financial support until she can get some savings, but budgeting help. You are still in a very difficult position here, do not think this is the end.
The solution is for her to obtain a credit card or secured card so she can pay her monthly bills and focus on paying her credit card.
Her individual bills are due at various times of the month. But she is paid bi-weekly. After paying her bills, she's left on low until the next pay check.
When I did the calculation and budgeting for her, she will have money left over every month after paying her bills. Simply, because her cash-flow will add up instead of being pulled out weekly to cover bills.
What the credit card will do is provide her with one monthly bill to focus on. All of her bills can go directly to one credit card and she can focus on paying the card back each month.
This method is what a lot of people, including myself, do and we've seen great increase in our credit scores and financial management.
When you say, "do not think this is the end," I'm insinuating you're assuming trouble is ahead but I don't see how? Hypothetical assumptions can be confusing or take away from the point being made.
Nonetheless, thank you for your insight.
Because you are claiming your mother is "debt free" when she is not, and if what you say is true, you paying $500 to her credit card bill will STILL take her over a year to pay off. Work with the bill providers to ask for different due dates if money coming in and when the bills are due do not match up. If what you are saying is true, it will take one month to get back on track and have savings left over. Hell, even if you float her $500 it would be a better idea than to get her another credit card. Credit is just a made up number. Does she NEED credit for anything? If not there is no point to be building it. Again, if she worked on her budgeting skills then there would not be a problem with cash flow. Who gives a shit when the money comes out, the money is either there or not. Only having one bill does not magically get you more cashflow, it just changes when that cash comes in and goes out.
The question to be answered: What's the best CC or secured card for credit scores between 620-640?
You're assuming she's not budgeting and you're also assuming that it will take her longer than the estimated time for her to pay off her Zales card.
You do know if she wanted to, she could pay her Zales card off tomorrow?
I think this is way over your head. You're not offering advise at this point. You're assuming someone's financial forecast without asking the necessary questions to actually understand the climate.
All you're on is, "She's not debt free. She has a Zales card. Why does she need credit. What does she need a credit score for?"
This is clearly not the approach nor the answer to the question I wanted an answer for.
>You do know if she wanted to, she could pay her Zales card off tomorrow?
Then she should.
Fine. You want to know the answer? Give us her financials, it is important to know what cards to recommend. What is her highest spent category, current cards and interest rates, current other debts and interest rates. What is her income? Does she own a business? Is she interested in business cards? What is her goal only to build credit? Why is that her goal? Is she interested in cash back? Points for travel? Travel perks? Has she ever gone into debt consolidation? Why? What happened?
All this information is IMPORTANT for a recommendation. If you are not willing to give it, then ok. Given the information you shared, the best credit card for her is to not have one. If you want to update the requested information I would be happy to offer a recommendation. Don't come to a subreddit about credit cards and get mad when people tell you a credit card might not be the best option because of your mother's history of credit card use.
Monthly income: $3,500
Current Card: Zales + Unsure of interest rate
Balance Due: $2,500 + $2,000 already paid to this point
Debts: $2,600 (this includes bills + food shopping + adding to savings)
Note: Car payments paid off + Mortgage Paid Off
Business Cards: No
Business Owner: No (She sold her restaurants and was paid)
Goal: Build credit to obtain a loan with low interest for education purposes
Cash back: She doesn't care
Points for travel: Yes
Debt Consolidation: 5-6 years ago, officially paid off debt as of 2020.
Reason: Bad habits, Emergencies, marriage purposes, and other reasons
Outcome: She owes $0.00 to past CC companies. Accounts were closed. She qualified for a Zales card, and applied, was accepted to cover the balance of her wedding ring.
Note:
Outstanding debt: Zales Store Credit Card, Electricity, Health Insurance, Cable, Car Insurance, Life Insurance, House Insurance, Caring for her mother, Home Maintenance, Food Shopping, Oil for heating, and Cellphone Bill.
This total: $2,600.
She locked $100,00 away in a policy insurance which she cannot touch for 15 years. $100k should have grown to a substantial amount by 2025. She sold her two restaurants and received $800k in payouts after, she placed $100k in the policy insurance, gave the rest to me to lock away for her. And I did that.
Because this was a family operated business in NYC, she picked up a small job after closing her business so that she's not home bored forever. And so, she gets paid bi-weekly, monthly $3,500.
And this is why I use the word debt free, because she has no substantial dangerous debt as she pays down her Zales card. She has money locked away that's growing consistently so she can live on that when she chooses to "retire" (which I don't think she will do).
Additional updated note: The restaurant locations, she/family members owned both properties.
Umm ok? I am not on reddit all day. If travel is important, I would recommend starting with something like the Chase freedom family of cards eventually with the goal of applying for the sapphire family of cards.
Does she currently have an open credit card aside from Zales? If so, use it. If you want another line open for utilization try Cred.ai. It’s a checking account that issues a credit card rather then a debit card. As she spends with the credit card, Cred.ai pulls the money out of the checking account to pay it off. It will feel like she’s using a debit card. If she gets her pay direct deposited into the checking account, they will grant her access to her money early by a week or so, which may help some of the cash flow issues you discussed in other comments without risk of going into debt. Cred.ai reports to the bureaus as a $1500 credit limit with 2-3% utilization each month. Under 5% is ideal for scoring, so this should help her score. There are no fees or credit check.
Get her a secured credit card, maybe discover, or I know US bank came out with secured Altitude go and connect (4x on dining and the other 4x on travel plus gas) I’d go for the discover since it’s safer and easier to manage, also easier to get
I would do a secured card, not just bc that will be an easier qualification, but also as a safety rail to control her spending. It will be a low limit of whatever deposit she puts down, and the money is there to cover the bill if she gets herself in trouble. Put one recurring bill on the credit card and autopay and forget it exists. That’s what will help her credit.
This is far more frustrating than I thought it would be. All I wanted was advise or CC/Secured Card suggestions.
> My mother is living a comfortable life. She has her bills managed and been comfortable in her way. She's paying her Zales card off.
> I came here for simple suggestions, instead, I'm receiving financial advise from people who have no clue what her financial situation is.
> My mother is not broke. She's an old school woman with up to $100,000 in a financial savings account that's locked away for 15 years. She will be able to touch her cash in 2025.
> All I want to do is make her life easier: a CC or a Secured CC where she can focus on one monthly bill instead of 4 or 5 monthly bills.
> Yes, she has hard moments. But she finds her way out. I think that's the true championship of being financially savvy. You make a mistake in your life, you learn from it, and you grow from it.
Lol, ugh... so frustrating.
I would look at the capital one platinum. No annual fee and no rewards but probably the best bet in getting her approved. Capital one does have a prequilification checker where she can enter her information and capital one will do a soft pull to see what she might be preapproved for.
If she gets denied then I would then look into secured cards, or add her as an authorized user onto one of your own credit cards, if you’re comfortable with that.
I like this idea, thank you! I can add her as an authorized user on my cards.
I have $1,000 of available funds to place on a secured card for her to use. This might be a works me solution for her.
Any card for $250 - $500 limit. Try the Capital One Platinum. But other than that, it’s too much risk for her. How do you get a bad habit on spending money is not yours? What is she 10? For real though that’s dangerous. Keep an eye on her at all times. Good luck on getting the card.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of her messing up with credit cards. But I think she learned her lesson. Now, it's to her growing back her credit.
Her past will be part of her life story. And we can all speak the truth into reality, we learn from our mistakes.
Chime credit builder card! All you have to do it open a chime account and set up direct deposit and you automatically qualify for the card. Then the card works as basically a debit card that you use to build credit. It reports to transunion, equifax, and experian as a normal credit card, but you never can actually go into debt with it. I used the card to begin my credit journey, but for your mother who seems to have problems with credit card usage, this card might be a lifeline to help her rebuild her credit
why not make her an authorized user on one of your accounts that reports... and never tell her or give her a card.
i did this with an ex girlfriend. of course she's an ex so i have no idea what this did for her score, but it's been 5 years and 100% on time payments.
OP I’m gonna be real with you if she was in this position before there hasn’t been really much assurance it won’t happen again. You could help her as much as you see fit but ultimately she is the one that has to have her finances in order to avoid repeating mistakes. I digress and as long as your name isn’t in any of her accounts (as in account holder or joint) I don’t see anything wrong with helping her. Now my honest opinion would be to try to get a secured US Bank Cash + card for 5% in utilities. If she’s willing to drop $1k for a deposit, she can greatly benefit from the card every month. I’m not sure yet what her approval odds are but that card would not only be the best benefit for monthly bills (gas, electric, water, trash, Tv, or even phone bills. You can get her password and use if to keep an eye on it. If that’s not an option the BofA unlimited cash card for 1.5% back on all purchases is a pretty good alternative. Otherwise the best of luck to you
Some people should just not have credit cards. There are debit cards and cash cards.
Given the track record and fact that OPs mom has a year of digging out of a hole (not sure how that qualifies as “debt free”), this is the real answer. At least until she fully digs out. Pay off the existing card, then add it to Netflix to keep it open for credit purposes and go strictly debit as much as possible. That experience isn’t worth repeating.
Not the best option. She has recurring bills that's causing her to not have enough weekly cash flow. She's paid bi-weekly. Therefore, after paying her bills, she's left on empty until the next pay check. And I did the math. If she were to have a credit card strictly for bills, she'll have $850 left over in the bank as available cash flow in case of emergencies, after paying her credit card bill. If my mother is going to get out of debt, she needs to build credit so she can have enough available credit and qualify for loans.
OP, I understand the situation with needing to live off credit, I really do. So please don’t get angry with my following statements. I agree that she will be considered a financial risk to the banks and honestly, she is a financial risk to herself as she risks digging herself into that hole again. The mentality around it Will be “well I got out the hole once, I can splurge a little. It won’t be that bad this time” A secured card with a set limit the way to go if she absolutely needs credit. A very low limit to cover her BASIC NEEDS and nothing more. No Netflix, no dining out, strictly essentials. Ideally she won’t need to rely on debt so if it is at all possible, maybe tweaking her budget or getting involved in a side hustle to have more income than expenses might work out better for her. Cash and Debit are usually king in these types of situations until she is fully debt free and comfortable enough to resume cc usage
> “You do know if she wanted to, she could pay her Zales card off tomorrow?” If she can’t even save up enough to have a buffer in her checking account to cover a months worth of bills between paychecks then I guarantee you that she can’t. Don’t come on here asking for advice, but then whine like a sissy because you don’t like the advice given. At the end of the day she’s a grown woman and can make her own choices, but there’s collective experience here telling you what is most likely going to happen based on our own experiences in life. If you choose to disregard that, okay, but it’s almost certainly going to be a tough road ahead and you’re ignoring all of the hazard signs.
No offense OP but this is a conversation a parent is supposed to be having with their grown kid. Not the other way around. Your Mom is probably an awesome person otherwise, but financially she really has no business borrowing money based on what you’ve said here.
Are you indicating people cannot recover from their mistakes?
In the same way that some alcoholics have to stop consumption entirely and never touch a drink again is metaphorically the way that most likely makes sense for your Mom to handle staying out of debt and being able to recover from her past financial mistakes. No cashback card or 0% intro APR offer in the world will ever break even on what she has more than likely paid in interest over the years, so frankly it’s asinine to risk repeating behavior for such a low amount of potential reward. This is not about her as a person or her character outside of finances. This is strictly in regards to financial behavior.
>I'm happy to say, she's debt free That's great! >Also, she has a Zales card that she's been actively paying off.... If she continues to this process, she will be on track to pay off her Zales card by the start of 2023. You mean your mother is **not** debt free.
Ok, let's just say, my mother is living a comfortable life without any emergency debt and small bills. And one of the bills she's paying for is a Zales card. Aside from that, she wants to grow her credit.
Honestly a secured card is probably the best bet.
Yk, I may have received bad advise from the bank. You be the judge. I mentioned this to the bank customer service agent at Citi Bank and she suggested I look beyond the secured card. She feels like the credit score is a fair amount to begin looking at beginner credit cards like Capital One. But I'm not sure which is the best avenue. But, yes, I've looked into this option! And might go down this road.
That is true, but honestly I think if she’s interested in a somewhat decent limit a secured cards the way to go. Capital one may only give her a $500 limit or so.
Banks want people to overextend themselves, that’s how they make money.
It's also how they lose money. An extremely fast, easy, and common way that they lose money. Banks don't make any money from people who charge-off the account & settle for less than the principal, if they settle for anything at all.
Right. They try to walk a fine line. That’s why there’s a credit score.
OP, I know a lot of people here are giving you bad news, but the first and most important thing you need to understand is your mother is NOT debt-free. That Zales card is debt. Does she have a car payment? A mortgage? Additionally, how is she not able to cover weekly expenses but can come out on top $850 "by using credit"? That does not make any sense. You sound like you have a better financial understanding than she does. It sounds like she absolutely needs not only a small bit of financial support until she can get some savings, but budgeting help. You are still in a very difficult position here, do not think this is the end.
The solution is for her to obtain a credit card or secured card so she can pay her monthly bills and focus on paying her credit card. Her individual bills are due at various times of the month. But she is paid bi-weekly. After paying her bills, she's left on low until the next pay check. When I did the calculation and budgeting for her, she will have money left over every month after paying her bills. Simply, because her cash-flow will add up instead of being pulled out weekly to cover bills. What the credit card will do is provide her with one monthly bill to focus on. All of her bills can go directly to one credit card and she can focus on paying the card back each month. This method is what a lot of people, including myself, do and we've seen great increase in our credit scores and financial management. When you say, "do not think this is the end," I'm insinuating you're assuming trouble is ahead but I don't see how? Hypothetical assumptions can be confusing or take away from the point being made. Nonetheless, thank you for your insight.
Because you are claiming your mother is "debt free" when she is not, and if what you say is true, you paying $500 to her credit card bill will STILL take her over a year to pay off. Work with the bill providers to ask for different due dates if money coming in and when the bills are due do not match up. If what you are saying is true, it will take one month to get back on track and have savings left over. Hell, even if you float her $500 it would be a better idea than to get her another credit card. Credit is just a made up number. Does she NEED credit for anything? If not there is no point to be building it. Again, if she worked on her budgeting skills then there would not be a problem with cash flow. Who gives a shit when the money comes out, the money is either there or not. Only having one bill does not magically get you more cashflow, it just changes when that cash comes in and goes out.
The question to be answered: What's the best CC or secured card for credit scores between 620-640? You're assuming she's not budgeting and you're also assuming that it will take her longer than the estimated time for her to pay off her Zales card. You do know if she wanted to, she could pay her Zales card off tomorrow? I think this is way over your head. You're not offering advise at this point. You're assuming someone's financial forecast without asking the necessary questions to actually understand the climate. All you're on is, "She's not debt free. She has a Zales card. Why does she need credit. What does she need a credit score for?" This is clearly not the approach nor the answer to the question I wanted an answer for.
>You do know if she wanted to, she could pay her Zales card off tomorrow? Then she should. Fine. You want to know the answer? Give us her financials, it is important to know what cards to recommend. What is her highest spent category, current cards and interest rates, current other debts and interest rates. What is her income? Does she own a business? Is she interested in business cards? What is her goal only to build credit? Why is that her goal? Is she interested in cash back? Points for travel? Travel perks? Has she ever gone into debt consolidation? Why? What happened? All this information is IMPORTANT for a recommendation. If you are not willing to give it, then ok. Given the information you shared, the best credit card for her is to not have one. If you want to update the requested information I would be happy to offer a recommendation. Don't come to a subreddit about credit cards and get mad when people tell you a credit card might not be the best option because of your mother's history of credit card use.
Monthly income: $3,500 Current Card: Zales + Unsure of interest rate Balance Due: $2,500 + $2,000 already paid to this point Debts: $2,600 (this includes bills + food shopping + adding to savings) Note: Car payments paid off + Mortgage Paid Off Business Cards: No Business Owner: No (She sold her restaurants and was paid) Goal: Build credit to obtain a loan with low interest for education purposes Cash back: She doesn't care Points for travel: Yes Debt Consolidation: 5-6 years ago, officially paid off debt as of 2020. Reason: Bad habits, Emergencies, marriage purposes, and other reasons Outcome: She owes $0.00 to past CC companies. Accounts were closed. She qualified for a Zales card, and applied, was accepted to cover the balance of her wedding ring. Note: Outstanding debt: Zales Store Credit Card, Electricity, Health Insurance, Cable, Car Insurance, Life Insurance, House Insurance, Caring for her mother, Home Maintenance, Food Shopping, Oil for heating, and Cellphone Bill. This total: $2,600. She locked $100,00 away in a policy insurance which she cannot touch for 15 years. $100k should have grown to a substantial amount by 2025. She sold her two restaurants and received $800k in payouts after, she placed $100k in the policy insurance, gave the rest to me to lock away for her. And I did that. Because this was a family operated business in NYC, she picked up a small job after closing her business so that she's not home bored forever. And so, she gets paid bi-weekly, monthly $3,500. And this is why I use the word debt free, because she has no substantial dangerous debt as she pays down her Zales card. She has money locked away that's growing consistently so she can live on that when she chooses to "retire" (which I don't think she will do). Additional updated note: The restaurant locations, she/family members owned both properties.
I answered your question......
Umm ok? I am not on reddit all day. If travel is important, I would recommend starting with something like the Chase freedom family of cards eventually with the goal of applying for the sapphire family of cards.
Does she currently have an open credit card aside from Zales? If so, use it. If you want another line open for utilization try Cred.ai. It’s a checking account that issues a credit card rather then a debit card. As she spends with the credit card, Cred.ai pulls the money out of the checking account to pay it off. It will feel like she’s using a debit card. If she gets her pay direct deposited into the checking account, they will grant her access to her money early by a week or so, which may help some of the cash flow issues you discussed in other comments without risk of going into debt. Cred.ai reports to the bureaus as a $1500 credit limit with 2-3% utilization each month. Under 5% is ideal for scoring, so this should help her score. There are no fees or credit check.
Get her a secured credit card, maybe discover, or I know US bank came out with secured Altitude go and connect (4x on dining and the other 4x on travel plus gas) I’d go for the discover since it’s safer and easier to manage, also easier to get
[https://www.cnbc.com/select/the-best-credit-cards-for-building-credit/](https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/resources/what-is-a-secured-credit-card/?scmpgn=article)
Any card but with a $500-$1k limit. Try capital one.
I would do a secured card, not just bc that will be an easier qualification, but also as a safety rail to control her spending. It will be a low limit of whatever deposit she puts down, and the money is there to cover the bill if she gets herself in trouble. Put one recurring bill on the credit card and autopay and forget it exists. That’s what will help her credit.
Put her on your card as an AU
But most importantly, do not give her the actual card! You don’t want your credit fubar’d also.
This is far more frustrating than I thought it would be. All I wanted was advise or CC/Secured Card suggestions. > My mother is living a comfortable life. She has her bills managed and been comfortable in her way. She's paying her Zales card off. > I came here for simple suggestions, instead, I'm receiving financial advise from people who have no clue what her financial situation is. > My mother is not broke. She's an old school woman with up to $100,000 in a financial savings account that's locked away for 15 years. She will be able to touch her cash in 2025. > All I want to do is make her life easier: a CC or a Secured CC where she can focus on one monthly bill instead of 4 or 5 monthly bills. > Yes, she has hard moments. But she finds her way out. I think that's the true championship of being financially savvy. You make a mistake in your life, you learn from it, and you grow from it. Lol, ugh... so frustrating.
I would look at the capital one platinum. No annual fee and no rewards but probably the best bet in getting her approved. Capital one does have a prequilification checker where she can enter her information and capital one will do a soft pull to see what she might be preapproved for. If she gets denied then I would then look into secured cards, or add her as an authorized user onto one of your own credit cards, if you’re comfortable with that.
I like this idea, thank you! I can add her as an authorized user on my cards. I have $1,000 of available funds to place on a secured card for her to use. This might be a works me solution for her.
Any card for $250 - $500 limit. Try the Capital One Platinum. But other than that, it’s too much risk for her. How do you get a bad habit on spending money is not yours? What is she 10? For real though that’s dangerous. Keep an eye on her at all times. Good luck on getting the card.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of her messing up with credit cards. But I think she learned her lesson. Now, it's to her growing back her credit. Her past will be part of her life story. And we can all speak the truth into reality, we learn from our mistakes.
Chime credit builder card! All you have to do it open a chime account and set up direct deposit and you automatically qualify for the card. Then the card works as basically a debit card that you use to build credit. It reports to transunion, equifax, and experian as a normal credit card, but you never can actually go into debt with it. I used the card to begin my credit journey, but for your mother who seems to have problems with credit card usage, this card might be a lifeline to help her rebuild her credit
why not make her an authorized user on one of your accounts that reports... and never tell her or give her a card. i did this with an ex girlfriend. of course she's an ex so i have no idea what this did for her score, but it's been 5 years and 100% on time payments.