Debt, Credit Cards and Teenagers – College Kids Targeted by Credit Card Companies
Debt, Credit Cards and Teenagers – I have two older girls that are 21 and 19 that get credit card offers every day, every single day. Sometimes 2-3 credit card offers come in the mail. I don’t want to simply throw them away because a part of me believes they should be shredded. Prevent anyone from getting ahold of the credit card applications and send them in with an acceptance and an address change (identity theft!) so they pile up until I see my youngest daughter to hand them over.
If I get in a mood, I call her up (need permission) so I can rip them to shreds myself – alway following the rules (interfering with the delivery of the mail sort of rule). She already has enough debt with student loans. She has no desire for a credit card. I’m glad because if she grappled onto all the credit cards offered, she’d have 100 and man, what a pile of debt she would have before she’s even out of college.
My oldest daughter gets credit card offers but at a fraction of my full time college student because she isn’t on the university rolls, taking out student loans. I can tell by the language of the credit card offers that they have her in a different marketing category all together. The credit card companies WANT full time college students to charge – fund their college years with credit cards then owe when they start working full time.
My daughter in college? Recently her car died – she is paying cash for the one she gets next, she is car shopping in the $1,500 range. She is learning. We all are! 
Tammy
The Scoop on Teens and Credit Cards – Dave Ramsey
Myth: Make sure your teenager gets a credit card so he or she will learn to be responsible with money.
Truth: Getting a credit card for your teenager is an excellent way to teach him or her to be financially irresponsible. That’s why teens are now the number-one target of credit card companies.
Over 80% of graduating college seniors have credit card debt before they even have a job! The credit card marketers have done such a thorough job that a credit card is seen as a rite of passage into adulthood. American teens view themselves as adults if they have a credit card, a cell phone and a driver’s license. Sadly, none of these “accomplishments” are in any way associated with real adulthood.
You are not teaching your 16-year-old child to spend responsibly when you give him or her a credit card any more than you are teaching gun responsibility by letting him sleep with a loaded automatic weapon with the safety off. In both cases, you as a parent are being stupid. People with common sense don’t give 16-year-olds beer to teach them how to hold their liquor. By giving a teenager a credit card, the parent – the one with supposed credibility – introduces a financially harmful substance and endorses its use, which is dumb but unfortunately very normal in today’s families. Parents must instead teach the teenager to just say NO.
Anyone visiting a college campus in recent years has been shocked at the aggressive and senseless marketing of credit cards to people who don’t have jobs. The results can be devastating. Recently, two college students in Oklahoma gave up on their credit card debt and committed suicide with the bills lying on the bed beside them.
Vince called my radio show with a problem that has become a trend. Vince signed up for multiple cards during his sophomore year at college to get the free campus t-shirt. He wasn’t going to use the cards unless there was an emergency, but there was an “emergency” every week, and soon he was $15,000 in debt. He couldn’t make the payments, so he quit school to get a job. The problem was, without his degree, his earnings were minimal. Worse than that, he also had $27,000 in student loans. Student loans aren’t payable while you are in school, but when you leave school by graduating or quitting, the payments begin.
Vince was one scared 21-year-old with $42,000 in debt but making only $15,000 per year. What’s scary is that Vince is “normal.” The American Bankruptcy Institute reveals that 19% of the people who filed for bankruptcy last year were college students. That means 1 in 5 bankruptcy filings were by very young people who started their lives as financial failures. Do you still think it is wise to give a teen a card? I hope not.
The reason why lenders market so aggressively to teens is brand loyalty. The lenders’ studies have found that we consumers are very loyal to the first bank that certifies our adulthood by issuing us plastic. When I am doing an appearance and cutting up credit cards, the emotional attachment many people have to the first card they got in college is amazing. They clutch it like it is an old friend. Brand loyalty is real.
This content is provided by DaveRamsey.com and may be used only in its entirety with all links included. Dave Ramsey is changing the face of America by helping people beat debt and build wealth with his best-selling book, The Total Money Makeover, and nationally syndicated radio show, The Dave Ramsey Show. Read more of what Dave says about kids and money.
Tags: college kids, credit, credit card offers, debt, money, student loans, teenagers
