do you have any credit card debt ? would you give a teenager one?..

[deny]

I would rather open a checking account in both your names and let her use the check card and paper checks. Keep a small amount in the account ($500-$1000) and let her use the check card instead of a credit card. They could always raise your limits on the credit card and before you know it, she could be in over her head.

Plus, with the checking account...no interest rates and she still learns to manage her money. She has all the time in the world to get her credit built up. The creditors will be throwing cards her way once she is out of school and employed. Get her through college debt free and you have done a great job!

 

[MissAva]

Date: 6/9/2005 7:58:41 AM
Author: denyRN
I would rather open a checking account in both your names and let her use the check card and paper checks. Keep a small amount in the account ($500-$1000) and let her use the check card instead of a credit card. They could always raise your limits on the credit card and before you know it, she could be in over her head.

Plus, with the checking account...no interest rates and she still learns to manage her money. She has all the time in the world to get her credit built up. The creditors will be throwing cards her way once she is out of school and employed. Get her through college debt free and you have done a great job!

You cannot get auto refunds if you dont get waht you paid for with debit cards, which is a bummer. And when you get out of school you need an apt and care and health insurence. Those rates will be at least partiallly based on your credit history if you have none it will make life that much harder, I am watching some of my friends go through that and I can ensure it sucks to be on that end of things too. As for creditors throwing cards her way that starts the first day of college and for alot of us when we sent in our applications. Seriously though if you are worried about credit there are some basic ways to build that up. I live alone so all of my bills come to me in my name. So I am earning credit just by paying my bills on time. Also (this depends on where you live) but I have all of my accounts on-line I pay my bills through my banks free service and they are accepted by the company I owe money to no later then the following bussiness day. And I can see exactly when it has been put through. I like this much better then checks. But that is just me.
DF and any other parents worried, I think this is a choice you have to make. No one on this forum knows your child thus none of us can accurately predict how they would react to being given a credit card. If you trust your child that is what counts. And if you are worried you can always make them register it online and then you can go and see what they are spending money on whenever. I offered to do that but my rents know that I am so paranoid about debt that I wont overspend.

 

[lost on 5th]

i agree with Matatora.... i think building credit in college is a good thing...and location depending it is needed. w/o a credit history established during college, i wouldnt have qualified for my current apartment...among other things.


.... and the approperate method for each child is different. so, it is open to you

 

[ForteKitty]

Emergencies are understandable, but I''m having a hard time comprehending how people can rack up so much debt from buying random stuff?!? If you don''t have the money to pay your bills off monthly, or over a few months at the very most, why spend it? It''s like having children or pets... if one cannot handle the responsibility, he/she shouldn''t have any. It baffles me.

 

[fire&ice]

I think it is important to have a cc - to build credit & for emergencies.

I''ve never been one to rack up charges. We pay it off every month; though, I tend to charge everything. I''m a point pig.

 

[ame]

As long as the limit is no more than $250 I think a college aged student shouldh ave one. It will help them build credit and hopefully budget and learn to not carry a balance.

Currently I am pretty close to maxxed out at my 2200 dollar limit on the only card I have. It's all wedding crap. I hope to be able to pay it off within a couple months of the wedding since Ill have freed up the money finally.

 

[cflutist]

Date: 6/9/2005 11:33:58 AM
Author: ForteKitty
Emergencies are understandable, but I''m having a hard time comprehending how people can rack up so much debt from buying random stuff?!? If you don''t have the money to pay your bills off monthly, or over a few months at the very most, why spend it? It''s like having children or pets... if one cannot handle the responsibility, he/she shouldn''t have any. It baffles me.

FK, I think your cultural upbringing may have something to do with your feelings. We were brought up the same way. If you didn''t have the cash saved up for something (other than a house), you didn''t buy it. That goes for automobiles too. We used credit cards, but always paid off the balance in full each month.

I think I read somewhere that the average American has $5K of credit card debt. We live in a society where some people outspend their means. They have turned wants into needs, and thus overspend. For example, how many women really need 10 handbags, or 20 pairs of shoes, or even 20 different lipsticks? Do we really need a LCD or Plasma TV? For that matter, do we really need diamonds? If you can afford it, great, but many people get into credit card debt because they really can''t afford it but decide they need it. If you have ever read the Millionaire Next Door, you will find that many millionaires and multimillionaires spend beneath their means. Heck, I finally got a cell phone 2 years ago because I finally got fed up seeing all these teenagers with one and I thought, hey, I am a highly paid IT professional ... why am I being so cheap with myself?

I have had a checking account and credit cards since I was 18 and always managed money responsibly. My cousin on the otherhand, used to purposefully overdraw her checking account because her mother was a bank manager and she knew her mother would cover her NSF fees for her.

 

[Blue824]

Date: 6/9/2005 11:33:58 AM
Author: ForteKitty
Emergencies are understandable, but I''m having a hard time comprehending how people can rack up so much debt from buying random stuff?!? If you don''t have the money to pay your bills off monthly, or over a few months at the very most, why spend it? It''s like having children or pets... if one cannot handle the responsibility, he/she shouldn''t have any. It baffles me.

It always baffled me as well. I grew up being very financially responsible. I never had to worry about money growing up. I had friends that were responsible and parents that really put effort into educating me about money. I thought that was the norm. I had always heard about people getting into debt and I thought "that''s stupid, if they don''t have the money, they shouldn''t buy it!" because that''s how I was raised.

Well...then I went to college. I went not realizing that people couldnt afford college and actually had to take out loans - news flash to me! One of my best friends, her parents wouldn''t pay for her meal plan her sophmore year, said they didn''t have the money, sooooo....it went on her credit card. Slowly things just got added on. Once she graduated (04) she''s realized how stupid it was, but on the other hand, what was she supposed to do, not eat?? And has made a real effort to pay it off. Just with the interest rates, it is so daunting. Once you have a little debt, its easy to get sucked in. People make the mistake of charging more on top of the debt they already have. Its very scary! Then there''s me that''s never really had to ''want'' for anything or had to make that decision to charge something I knew I couldn''t pay for.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 6/9/2005 11:46:58 PM
Author: cflutist

Date: 6/9/2005 11:33:58 AM
Author: ForteKitty
Emergencies are understandable, but I''m having a hard time comprehending how people can rack up so much debt from buying random stuff?!? If you don''t have the money to pay your bills off monthly, or over a few months at the very most, why spend it? It''s like having children or pets... if one cannot handle the responsibility, he/she shouldn''t have any. It baffles me.

FK, I think your cultural upbringing may have something to do with your feelings. We were brought up the same way. If you didn''t have the cash saved up for something (other than a house), you didn''t buy it. That goes for automobiles too. We used credit cards, but always paid off the balance in full each month.

cflutist
that''s a old chinese law.

 

[icekid]

oh, I think credit cards are great!! i make money off of them every month

like ForteKitty, i put EVERYTHING on my credit card. why not? they give me money back for things i would have bought anyway. but, then i pay them off every month! (obviously this is key).

also, i have a rather high credit limit on a few cards. this is for my credit rating. part of your score is based upon what % of your available credit you are using. so i do that to make sure my credit score is good and high. we want to buy a house in a few years, so it''s definitely important to me!

i think it would be good to start the kids off w/ a card with a low limit, and make sure they know they have to have the money to pay it every month!!

 

[aljdewey]

interesting article on this topic:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Managedebt/P125779.asp?GT1=6972

 

[tawn]

Our son is not quite 12 and we''re letting him have his own cell, since he''s in town for school now. We''ll see how that goes, and plan the future CC card experiement in another few years and see how he deals with it! If he handles it all well....good good! If not....we''ll just lock him in the basement until he''s 30! See...planning ahead!

 

[AGBF]

My parents allowed me to have my name on one of their credit cards when I was in high school. I charged things at Bloomingdale''s and left them to pay for them. They took me off their credit card. I don''t recall having a credit card in college. I think I had a checking account. That was in the Dark Ages, however, and credit cards were not, yet, ubiquitous! Like most of the rest of you, we now only use a card for the "float" and the convenience; we pay it off every month.

Deborah

 

[jcrow]

for me - age 24 ah-almost 25, i had a shared credit card for emergencies only that i received when i was about a senior in high school. i used it mostly for gas, groceries and the occasional clothes splurge- though small. i am very grateful to have had this! it allowed me to build credit, which i find is very hard to do. i have no debt to this day, and other than that card, i only have a personal debit card.

 

[partgypsy]

I guess I am old fashioned, or maybe I''ve seen too many people in college (and even graduate school) disconnect the fact what they put on the credit card will eventually have to be paid off with cold hard cash.

In college my parents put a certain amount of money in a checking account for me each semester (too little actually, had to work in addition). There were many many times where people would be going out for pizza, out for a beer and I couldn''t join them. But I learned to budget, delay gratification, cook for myself, and enjoy doing things that don''t require spending money. My husband was in the same situation in college. It''s a life building experience to know you can live off very little if you have to. Once you are out of college and you need credit, it is very easy to get. You just get a store credit card, buy something, and pay it off. There are other ways as well, such as making car payments.
Credit cards make it very very easy to spend money you don''t have. Having a period of time such as college where they get used to budgeting and doing without is better than a situation where they "learn" Mommy or Daddy is going to bail them out if they run up the credit card.

Credit cards can be very useful. But I''d rather err on the side of caution because they can cause so much trouble.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I got my first CC at 18 (freshman year in college) and I never abused it. I think it depends on the person. If they are reasonable I think establishing credit is VERY important. By starting early I could buy a house at the age of 22. If you are unsure get a card with a low limit and make sure they know your credit store can haunt OR help you for life.