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Credit Cards for Teens

March 18th, 2007 at 10:41 pm

Can't say I'm impressed!

I just saw a advertisement for a Mastercard on MuchMusic - the Canadian version of MTV. The ad was marketing a credit card to teens. At the end of the ad there was some captioning on the screen about kids ages 13 and up and something about parents needing to give permission.

I think it is a prepaid credit card. But to my mind, teens don't need credit cards before they are able to even properly manage their allowance.

The entire ad is talking about freeing teens from parental control of how they spend their money. Sounds more like a quick way to hook kids into using a credit card to me. Get them hooked on a credit card early and they'll be paying you interest payments forever. Nice eh?

Two thumbs down for Mastercard and MuchMusic

Text is http://www.muchmusic.com/muchmusiccard/ and Link is
http://www.muchmusic.com/muchmusiccard/
Text is http://www.muchmusic.com/muchmusiccard/teen.asp and Link is
http://www.muchmusic.com/muchmusiccard/teen.asp

I'm so glad I don't own a MasterCard cause if I did I think I'd close it immediately.

Oh just updating this to mention the $39.95 one year "membership fee" plus the $1.50 charged each time Mommy or Daddy reloads it plus a whole host of other fees ... nice deal for Master card ...

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Credit Cards for Teens”

  1. KEALINA Says:
    March 19th, 2007 at 05:39 am 1174282768
    1174282768

    yuck! bleh! etc, etc...
    this reminds me of the post someone made where the board game "life" now takes Visa...sounds like a bad idea to me...

  2. monkeymama Says:
    March 19th, 2007 at 02:35 pm 1174314947
    1174314947

    I don't think it's a bad thing. I had my first credit card at 16. I am not sure before then would do much good - never had much of an allowance - hehe. But my parents gave me a card, joint - with a $500 limit when I Was 16 and taught me all the evils of credit cards and how to use it. One of their finer moments I think. THey could have just left it as cards are evil, as they have with other kinds of consumer debt, but realizing I needed to start establishing credit, they just taught me how to use them to my advantage instead.

    Then again marketing the cards to teens, is a bad way to go. obviously they are hoping the teens get them with no permission, that they run up balances, etc. Most certainly a thumbs down for that. (Okay I just reread that - freeing kids from parental control is a bit much - my word).

  3. LuckyRobin Says:
    March 22nd, 2007 at 06:59 am 1174546789
    1174546789

    I think it would be okay for a responsible teenager. I once had to get my car towed and even though I had cash on me they would only accept a credit card over the phone, even if I paid in cash when they got there. They wouldn't even send someone. So I was stranded in the early a.m. one mile from work (they had closed) and five miles from home, with an engine that quit on me, and my parents were out of town that weekend. I sure could have used one.

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