All kidding aside, it is a little bit ridiculous to assume that your average college student doesn’t understand that when you use a credit card you should pay the money that you spend back.

All the more reason for parents to teach kids about credit and using credit cards responsibly from a young age.

I was telling him about the new law that requires proof of income or a co-signer for those under 21, and he thinks it’s a fabulous idea! He says that, in general, young adults (especially those in college) cannot handle credit cards, and that they would be better off if they couldn’t get any. Since he frequently works with his friends and acquaintances on finance and budget troubles, I suppose he has a unique perspective based on actual experience.

Correct me if I’m wrong but students are in college because they are somewhat smart yes? Then they should be responsible enough to be able to manage their finances. It’s better to learn the hard lessons as a student rather than a father of two.

Gen X were the latch-key kids, whose generation saw the greatest rise in parental divorce. they are pessimists and happen to be the biggest demographic consumers of self-help books. That’s a lot of depressive adults and easy pickings for predatory bankers regardless of their age bracket.

Gen Y aren’t so depressive, but they have no loyalty to anyone but corporate brand recognition and trends. Once again an entire generation of young adults and teens that are easy pickings when it comes to the vultures on wallstreet and commercial bankers.

Had deregulation of the banking system in the 1970′s not occurred we wouldn’t have the spiraling debt cloud over our nation that creates bubble economies and forces our congress and central bankers to print more money to reinflate the collapsed bubbles. (stimulus package, perpetual war spending based on lies, larger gov’t, IMF, eternal national debt that can never really be paid off, etc…).

It’s a vicous cycle that has created a brand new industry, F.I.RE (financial, insurance and real estate). Those industries have taken over the country and reduced manufacturing, and subsitence economies to a minuscule size that we used to rely on to bouy the rise and fall of the national and global economies.

So maybe some peope think it’s cool to give kids some responsibility as an adult, but it has proven disasterous in less than 30 years with no end in sight other than pushing the middle class closer and closer to the poverty line.

And you know what? At 21, I have never made a late payment. I have never carried a balance. And, just last year, I got my own rewards credit card and now I get cash back for using it. (In essence, I get paid to use it as I normally would. And I do that.) My credit card companies aren’t mean, or evil. They’re businesses. The goal of any business is to make money, bottom line. We just have a “good” relationship — They make a little money off the merchant fees generated by me using the card, and I pay them back when they expect me to.

Not everyone has horrible discipline, as DR points out. I’m endlessly amused that those who look at my credit report find it stunningly good for my age. When I got my car loan in June, the only reason my husband had to co-sign was because of the age of my credit. (Three years at this point!) If age is all that’s working against me, waiting surely wouldn’t have done me any good.

Personality should dictate whether or not someone can handle credit, not age.