Giving Teens Responsibility Training With Credit Cards

By Chris Channing

Many people will notice that more and more teenagers are getting credit cards even when they are not legally able to own one. This is possible because many parents often attach a teen to their account to allow for authorized charges to be made by the signing teen responsible. This may have varying degrees of severity, especially when your trust in your teenager is lacking.

Credit cards are a very big responsibility no matter who you are. A teen that sees it as free money is more likely to make a bad mistake when using credit for the first time. Letting a teen make a mistake is one of the ways that they can learn not to continue to make those mistakes.

You might think that it is a bad idea to give a teenager a credit card, especially if you do not have funds to cover any mistakes they might make. Do consider this though, have you made a mistake because you took out a credit card application and were accepted then having a shopping spree only to fins out a few minutes later that you went over the limit? If yes then you could tell them about your experience and how you do not want them to go through that.

Credit card companies make it easy for you to receive additional cards for use in purchasing goods and services by your spouse or family members. This is why it is best to really discuss what you wish to do with your teens so they can have the idea in their head while you wait for the card to arrive in the mail.

You can have extended conversations with your teens to make sure they understand the importance of their actions when using the card. If you feel that you should punish them for making a mistake, let them know beforehand so they can think about what they do before they end up doing it.

You can give your teen options, such as an allowance for credit that they must repay, or understandable purchases that they may make every once in a while with advance knowledge of the charge before it is made. This can help build trust between the teens and parents.

Closing Comments

You can let a teenager grow up and experience responsibility by giving them chances, or you can let them try on their own and get into far worse debt and credit situations. Why not guide those who need guidance and give them a reason to like you because you are the "cool" parent?

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