SALT LAKE CITY — When did you get your first credit card? These days credit card offers come at a younger age via social media advertisements or right to your mailbox addressed to your teen in high school.
A recent Trans Union Report states that 50% of 18- —to 24-year-olds have at least one credit card. According to Wallet Hub, having credit is a chance to develop financial responsibility. It helps one learn how to budget, pay bills on time, and use credit wisely, and it sets the foundation for a healthy financial future and credit score.
Those are a lot of benefits, but having a credit card can also sink you. Not paying a balance can ruin a credit score and bury you in debt.
Chris Markowski, a financial planner, shared that credit cards are a good teacher, but you need to set up your child for success and teach them how to use them. “If you are going to have a credit card, and again, you want to build up credit which is fantastic but you only sign up for that credit card if you understand that you know what you are getting points or you are using it for accounting purposes that’s what I do, I use a credit card but it’s paid off in full every single month, it’s a means to pay but you must be responsible with that thing.” Markowski continued to say, “You do not use it ok unless you are in an emergency.”
“Going out to dinner, or going on a vacation or buying clothes, no you buy what you can afford,” said Markowski.
If you are going to get a teen a credit card or maybe send your student off to college with one, financial experts recommend getting a low spending limit as they learn and live “buy now, pay later.”
