a) Naïve college freshie –- all of 16 years
b) Cool college senior –- all of 20 years
c) When she gets her first job – maybe 21?
d) When she gets the ripe old age of 25 and beyond
I tried, but wasn’t able to find any formal regulation against giving credit cards to young people. (Even at 25, I will still probably think of my daughter as young!). But as some of you who commented in this blog pointed out, the very young can easily burn that credit card and end up with bad credit at a very young age. It wasn’t too long ago when we all felt immortal…
But we all know why misusing credit cards is a nightmare waiting to happen. Thoughts?
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:11 pm
The kids learn about handling finances as soon as they become aware of how it is practiced in their homes.
Sending them to “make utang” at the sari sari store gives them ideas - good and bad. It could give them the impression that taking a credit makes life go on (never mind where to get the means to pay later) or it could give them great shame that the family can’t even afford to buy even a ‘toyo’.
Financial irresponsibility gets passed on to your child and so on and so on and that’s just sad because the quality of life is also affected.
July 18th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I’d say anytime. The important thing here is to teach control as early as possible. How?
Give your child an extension of your credit card, and then talk to the bank to make the credit limit the same or smaller than your kid’s allowance.
Talk to your kid and tell him that you’ll deduct the bill payments from his allowance. This will encourage him not to spend more than he “earns”.
Monitor your child’s credit card expenses and give him financial advise whenever you notice any recurring problematic habits.
Just my two cents.
July 18th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Well… (my first blog here ever).. =)
As young adult, we all know what that piece of plastic card is all about. We each have our own story to tell. Luckily, we have matured from them on, though sometimes we still get to be tempted by it.
Could it have been better if we learned not the hard way?… To save first before we spend. To not rely on money that is not ours in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, but I do have a loan, those I thought I wouldn’t be able to have in my lifetime (though, it’s different now =)). BUT, I pay all my transactions in cash. Credit Card now run after me… to make me get their credit card…
Don’t you think it is better to teach them first about SAVINGS so that they’ll be wiser when they got hold of that plastic card.
So when is a kid ready?…when he/she is not a kid anymore.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:56 am
otherwise, “young” individuals with no credit history whatsoever will never have access to a regular credit card…they may apply for a ’secured’ credit card, however, and even though in reality this is a debit card, it helps reinforce the idea of not spending more than what they can afford and making regular payments…
July 18th, 2008 at 12:52 am
the problem is there’s no such a thing as credit scores / credit reports for individuals in order to get approved for credit cards, mortgages, lines of credit, etc, in the phils…