Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Cash is flowing like a river: UPDATED

So at the supper table today Thomas announced, kind of quickly and quietly, that he now has a Visa credit card. It arrived today.

Ahem, WHAT?

This boy who can’t remember to take out the trash, or has to do his laundry at one in the morning because he can’t remember to do it during normal human hours, is now the proud owner of plastic?

Sheesh, I wasn’t allowed to have one till I was like 28 years old, after I already had two children and a solid full time job.

What gives? What are the people down at Visa Central smoking in between cold calls over the supper hour?

He says it will give him a chance to build a good credit reading. True enough. But it will also give him a chance to build a very bad credit rating, this boy with the memory.

So, is visa so desperate for customers that they are now getting cards to high school students? With nice high limits? Get em hooked on credit early and they’ll be yours for life.

To be fair, Thomas has always done well with his cash and has saved a good chunk of change for his future. This just smells a little of Visa robbing the cradle. I mean, don’t you even need a job to get a card??

Times. They are a changing.

Maybe my first grandchild will be accepted on his fifth birthday. If so, he’s buying dinner.

UPDATE:

Well so my “FAMILY” tells me that I “MISHEARD” Thomas at supper and that he said he had “JUST APPLIED FOR A CARD AND WAS GOING TO PICK IT UP LATER ON THIS WEEK”

I think they’re all wrong on this one, every last one of them. I think they are living in denial, not wanting to face the fact that Thomas is growing up now and has a credit card.

That’s what I think anyway.

And what’s so wrong with it anyway, I mean look how Shauna turned out and she had a card when she was just a baby!

This could be the best thing ever for the boy, this “Almost having a card but not quite…”

 

:)

10 comments:

  1. I got my first credit card in high school, but the limit was $500. It was a lot of money to me at that time, but it taught me a lot of lessons about responsibility.

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  2. So they have got one barb of the hook under his skin already!

    Welcome to a life of good credit, Thomas. And watch out 'cause they are glad to have new debtors paying all that interest.

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  3. Yesterday I overheard a woman say, "I've been going to the casino and I just can't win!". No kidding? That is how they make money. So be careful, but be able to get yourself out of a pinch, rent a car, travel and the like. He's all growed up now.

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  4. I got my first Visa the first year I was out of high school. I remember my first purchase - a $90.00 three way jacket. My limit was $500.00. Then it was $1000.00. My first year of marriage it went from 1500 to 3000, right before Christmas. How convienient!! Darn bank! :( Then the interest kept building and we could only afford minimun payments... anyway, my mom helped us pay it off (they took a settlement) and I haven't had one since. Until this week. We just got one. That will be used ONLY for emergencies. I hope.

    Well, good luck, Thomas!!

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  5. I find that it is just way to easy and convenient to have a credit card. I buy things at the end of the month, put them on the card because I will pay them off when I get paid. Then other things come up. Then the amount owing gets higher, along with the interest. I just paid my card off, and I am really hoping to keep it that way!

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  6. So, how will you feel if Thomas uses his credit card to buy his beloved parents a gift that they really, really want ? Ahh, the ethical dilemmas of the 21st Century......

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  7. Yeah, credit cards are a sometimes necessary EVIL. Really, I don't like them one bit although I do have one and I wish I didn't.

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  8. I upped my credit limit by a HUGE amount just before we bought the van, thinking I could put it on the credit card, get the points, and then pay it off with our line of credit. Unfortunately, they won't let you pay more than $3,000.00 towards your car with a credit card.

    Now I have this huge limit that I'll never need, but it's there and it may get me into trouble some day.

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  9. i don't think credit cards are such trouble. i got one two years ago. you just have to be smart and not spend money you don't have. only use your card if you have the money in your debit account to pay if off right away. thats what i use my card for anyways. i think its all in the way you look at it. if you think oh, now i have so much left before i max out so therefore i have so much to spend then you'll eventually screw yourself. if you look at it like its a tool to build credit, purchase things online and while you are traveling, and realize you are spending your money not just taking out credit then it won't be such a temptation to max out your card on stuff you don't really need, or can't afford. they aren't evil, its all about your attitude towards them and how you use them.

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  10. I think Thomas is probably more mature and responsible than most high-school grads, and will manage his credit well. Unfortunately it's very tempting to get in over one's head, start carrying a balance and paying outrageous interest rates. I know from bitter experience (and like you I was in my mid-20s when I got my first credit card).

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