Is getting a 1% discount that important to you? If so, you can buy gift cards online at a discount of ~5%.

Why does it have to be one or the other? He could get the ~5% from the gift cards and pay for them with the CC and combine the savings.

Ask your mom to add you as an authorized user on one of her credit cards.

What if later on his mother doesn't manage her credit properly and it negatively impacts his credit? AU status is good at getting your foot in the door and it isn't good to always be affected by some else's credit usage.

Go to the bank and have a family member co-sign you for a small $10,000 load at about 5% interest. Just pay it back in like 3 months. Also builds credit.

So your solution for OP is to always depend on others and not open a basic CC and build credit that way. Also, I would personally never cosign a line of credit. That is the best way to ruin a friendship/family.

Any debit card with VISA has some basic amount of fraud reimbursement, airline compensation, simple travel insurance. VISA even does price rewind, you'll need to read the fine print carefully but it's there.

Whilst this is most likely true, the best thing IMO about CC fraud protection is that it's not my money on hold while all the reviews and procedures are being done. Unlike a debit card, which has your checking account less that amount during the whole fiasco.