Would you give your child a credit card? It can be a good tool to teach them about money management – but it can also go horribly wrong.
Every child is different and some handle more responsibility better than others, but at some point money matters become an important part of their education. Some parents have chosen to allow their child access to their credit card, which Matt Schutz of CompareCards.com warned can be a risky proposition.
“If a kid goes off the rails and runs up your credit card bill, it can impact your credit report,” explained Schultz.
A new survey by CompareCards shows 52 per cent of parents have let their kids, under the age of 18, borrow their credit or debit card. Forty-eight cent of parents regretted it and 29 per cent said their child had used their card without their permission.
Jill Amery who runs the website called UrbanMommies.com says if you are planning to trust your child with your credit, it’s best to start off with a pre-paid card or debit card.
“Show them that at any time they spend money that has to be covered off,” Amery said.
And if you trust them with a credit card, Amery says always be prepared for things to go wrong to cover the debt.
Amery also advises parents to put controls in place. Just like there are apps to monitor and control their online behavior, there are ways to monitor and control spending.
Apple has a family plan that places restrictions on purchase sharing and on children under 13 from attaching a credit card to an account.
“You just have to set it up as a family plan and Apple knows their ages,” Amery explained.
You can also set up alerts on your credit accounts to let you know whenever a purchase is made or goes over a certain amount.
But before you even think of trusting your child with credit it’s recommended you have a serious conversation about setting boundaries and the consequences if they aren’t followed.
“It can be an awkward conversation but it’s really important to have that conversation in advance instead of waiting for after disaster has struck,” Schultz added.
