Comments on: 18-Year-Olds and Credit Cards: Discussion Continues

By: PDQ

PDQ — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:04:33 +0000

I have heard that credit cards are very easy to get in the USA, I’m from New Zealand and unless you have a significant income, history with the bank and a perfect credit rating it can be very hard to get a crdit card application approved, which is probably a good thing.

By: sophia

sophia — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:16:13 +0000

umm credit cards are soooooo useful no mmatter what they say about it it makes my life rockin

importanceofcreditcards.blogspot.com/

By: joni

joni — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:49:53 +0000

so.. im doing a project at school and would like some imput its on debt in america! if in grade school it was mandatory for our children to get educated on finances whould you be interested? it would be a class that is provided by government and banks together we start with the 1st grade and its very easy to comprehend and it continues till the end of H.S. as it gets into more complex issues as we mature. money is very important to our generation but we just have no education on how to use it without living in debt forever. and another this parents most often than not do not even manage there cards well enough to manage their childrens also!

By: aio-holic

aio-holic — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:49:14 +0000

I follow TheEnigmaFacade. If we feel we have the “income” I think we can make a credit card. 18 years old is no problem

By: Damon Day

Damon Day — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:36:29 +0000

It is just more regulation BS. When you think about this it is basically a back door to try and put the parents on the hook for juniors misadventures at college. How about actually doing something productive and making at least 1 personal finance class mandatory in order to graduate high school! If the government would actually educate the young population in the public schools like they are supposed to, then maybe they wouldn’t need to waste time and money passing a stupid law requiring a cosigner on a credit card.

I agree 100% with man vs debt. Why are kids supposedly mature enough to enter a contract to put their life on the line at 18 without parental permission? I mean are you kidding me? So at 18 we are old enough to make our own decisions when it benefits the government, but if it doesn’t then 18 is just to immature? This is total hypocrisy. So moving forward, most of the kids fighting our wars can’t even get a credit card to use to call home?

By: Matti

Matti — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:16:48 +0000

I agree with TheEnigmaFacade. I make my own financial decisions and I shouldn’t have to rely on “mommy” in order to get a credit card.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:58:19 +0000

The reason banks give out loans is because it is a long term loan and they believe you will get a good job after. And fortunately nobody will give you a 30k credit card with 20% interest rate

By: CLS

CLS — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:38:50 +0000

With regard to student loan versus credit card application it is important to note the differences in interest rates on these two products also. Credit card debt with its high rates can very easily spiral as I know only too well from my student days.It took me years to pay off what had started out as a minor debt. It kept getting bigger instead of smaller. In hindsight a student loan would have saved me a fortune but I didnt understand that at the time.

By: TheEnigmaFacade

TheEnigmaFacade — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:55:37 +0000

Anything that makes you dependent on your parents is a flawed system. Why do so many people assume your parents help you with anything? Especially after you turn 18. Yes, there’s a lot of youth doing stupid things with credit cards, but turning to parental dependency is not the answer. Not everyone goes to college, and not everyone who does has their parents helping them. I should know, and had this rule been in play when I was 18, I would have been financially screwed, as I know my mother never helped me with anything and would not have helped me get a credit card.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:39:26 +0000

Obama signed the CARD Act into law on Friday. And although credit cards are not always used by college students to help with school expenses, they sometimes are (as in my case). But what I think Katrina was trying to say is that a lot of us get into a lot more trouble with student loans than we do with credit cards. I think the reason for that is that credit card companies have an incentive to not let us get into big big trouble: it's unsecured debt that they might lose money on if they extend us too much slack. Student loans, on the other hand, have to be paid back no matter what - they can't even be discharged in bankruptcy. So student loan companies (the federal government included) often give students more than enough rope to hang themselves with.