Comments on: Don’t Tell Teens Too Much About Credit Cards

By: JLP’s Weekly Roundup (Week of October 22, 2007)—ï¿½ AllFinancialMatters

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:48:14 +0000

[...] Flexo’s advice: don’t tell teens too much about credit cards. [...]

By: thomas

thomas — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:55:50 +0000

since 98% of my spending is done with Credit Cards (and paid off monthly), I’ll have to find some way to bring up this very important topic. Of course, by the time I have kids and they are at CC ages, there will be some new payment system.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 23:30:45 +0000

Yeah, “r,” I agree. We don’t need to overscare young people because when they see what we’re saying isn’t quite true, then they’re more likely to dismiss it.

(the whole “just say no” campaign kinda sucked too. “above the influence” is a bit better, imo)

By: r

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:12:58 +0000

You are so right! Stupid slogans, oversimplified details, and misleading statistics all remind me of my own time in the DARE program – as well as (1) the period in 3rd and 4th grade when I assumed my DARE teachers were right, and anyone who smoked pot DID end up a heroin addict on the streets, and then (2) my realization in 5th grade that, well, err, no, that didn’t seem to be true at all – perhaps everything adults had told me about drug use was a lie? Apparently I had to start over figuring it all out – this time, based on what I could see and what my friends told me.

Not a good way to educate young people. Even a grade school kid can understand when they’re being told the truth and when they haven’t….

By: Russ A

Russ A — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:35:31 +0000

An excellent option for teens is prepaid credit cards. They get the experience of using plastic with an automatic “limit”, which can be set as high as the parent wants.

Once they get an understanding of how plastic operates, parents can upgrade them with a low-limit credit card to build credit. And go from there….