The question in the title is older than the answer. The rule that sends parents looking for it is still on the books: under the CARD Act, a card issuer may not open an account for anyone under 21 unless the applicant shows an independent ability to make the minimum payments, or a co-signer, guarantor or joint applicant aged 21 or older with the means to repay signs the agreement. What changed is the market. Capital One, which does not offer joint accounts, states plainly that many major issuers no longer offer co-signing at all, and points parents to adding the child as an authorized user instead. U.S. Bank is a notable holdout: it still issues young-adult co-signer accounts. So for most families the practical question is no longer “should I co-sign?” but “which of the routes that still exist is right for my kid?” Here is what each one does, and what you are on the hook for.

If you do co-sign: what it means

Where co-signing is still offered, the terms have not softened. The FTC’s guidance is blunt: a co-signer is liable for the full amount of the debt plus any late fees or collection costs, and the lender can collect from the co-signer without first pursuing the borrower. The account appears on your credit report, so a missed payment lands on your file as well as your child’s, and the balance counts against you when you apply for your own credit. Lenders must give you a written Notice to Cosigner before you sign; read it. A joint account is the same exposure by another name: each joint holder is responsible for the entire balance regardless of who made the charges. The general case against it is laid out in three reasons you shouldn’t co-sign a loan; the credit card version is simply that a revolving line can be run back up after every payoff.

Route 1: authorized user

This is the route the issuers themselves recommend, and it is the one that keeps you in control. You add your child to one of your existing cards; they get a card with their name on it, the account stays yours, some issuers let you set a spending limit on their card, and you can remove them at any time. The account’s history may be reported on their file, which is the point: ask the issuer whether it reports authorized users to the credit bureaus, and put them on a card you have kept in good standing with a low balance, because your habits become their history. The authorized user is not contractually liable for the charges; you are. Treat the card as a training wheel with a monthly review of the statement together, and take it away if the deal is broken.

Route 2: a student card

For a child who has income — a part-time job, a paid internship — the CARD Act’s first door is open: they can apply on their own by showing an independent ability to pay. Student cards are the entry-level unsecured cards issuers build for exactly this applicant, with small limits and often no annual fee. The account is in your child’s name only. You are not liable, your credit is not involved, and neither is your oversight unless they choose to share it. Have them use the issuer’s prequalification tool first; it is a soft inquiry that does not affect their score, and it tells them whether to bother with the application, which does.

Route 3: a secured card

If your child has some income but not much history, and you would rather not share an account, a secured card lets them build a file of their own. They (or you) put down a refundable deposit that becomes the credit line, and the card reports to the bureaus like any other. Capital One’s Platinum Secured, for example, takes a $49, $99 or $200 deposit for a $200 starting line with no annual fee. The deposit caps the damage: the most anyone can lose is the deposit, and the account graduates to unsecured on the issuer’s schedule. Note that an under-21 applicant still has to satisfy the CARD Act’s income test to open a secured card in their own name, so this route works once they have some earnings, not before. How graduation works is covered in how to convert a secured card to unsecured.

Whichever route: the guardrails

  • Explain the mechanics before the card arrives. The statement date, the due date, the minimum payment, and why paying in full is the only way to use a card at 2026 rates, when the average APR on accounts carrying a balance is above 22%.
  • Set the limit low. A line of a few hundred dollars is enough to build history and small enough that a mistake is a lesson, not a crisis. Keep the balance under 30% of the limit so utilization helps rather than hurts.
  • Review statements together for the first year. Online access to the account for both of you, and a standing monthly conversation. This is also where you catch fraud early.
  • Agree on the consequences in advance. If the card is misused, an authorized user is removed and a co-signed card is paid off and closed. Say so before, not after.
  • Pull the reports. Once the account has reported for a few months, check your child’s file at AnnualCreditReport.com, where reports are free weekly from all three bureaus, to confirm the account is there and accurate.

The honest answer to the title question is that you probably will not be asked to co-sign, and if you are, you should think of it as taking on the debt yourself with your child’s name on the statement. The authorized-user route gives a teenager a credit history with your finger on the switch; the student and secured routes give a young adult one of their own. Any of the three beats a co-signed card, and all of them beat waiting until they are 21 with no file at all, which is the problem what to do if you don’t have credit addresses.