What do you think????

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2004
What do you think????
4
Mon, 01-10-2005 - 9:23am

I was listening to the radio this morning on the way to work. I listen to a news station (NJ 101.5) in the morning because they have good traffic reports. They always talk about interesting topics....this morning's topic was debt related.

In NJ they want to pass a law that says any person under 21 would need a parent's cosign to get a credit card, making the parent's responsible if the child defaults.

It is true that CC applications are solicited to college kids, many times freshmen who are barely 18. They offer free tee shirts and water bottles and all sorts of incentives. Often the cards have very high interest(24.99%) and relatively high limits compared to the kid's income. From experience I do know that it's very easy to run up high balances in college, since your income is usually pretty low, and books and tuition are pretty expensive....

What do you think about this?....

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Mon, 01-10-2005 - 9:53am
Personally, I think it is crap. I got married when I was 19, and by this time was definitely responsible enough to handle my own affairs. Sure, dh and I have lots of debt, but we also have circumstances that are quite different from the average. I think a better idea would be to require high school seniors to pass a class in personal finance in order to graduate. People need to be responsible for their own actions. At 18, you can join the armed forces, you can own a gun, you can vote. You should be able to handle your finances! Heather
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2004
Mon, 01-10-2005 - 10:08am

I personally don't agree with the law either. At 18 you should be responsible for your own finances. Many parents pay tuition, which I don't agree with either, but it's understandable, because college is expensive. I think it's up to the student to be responsible with CC's. If they're not, they should be held responsible and pay the price, not their parents. According to this law, if the kid defaults on the card, the parent's credit could suffer.

I agree that kids should take a class in personal finance. I think this is another dumb NJ law...this state is full of them....

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 01-10-2005 - 1:45pm
While I do not think a parent should be responsible for the debt of their over 18 year old children, I think it should be harder for students to get credit cards. I only heard part of this and my take was that anyone under the age of 21 and still a dependant could not get a credit card without their parent's consent.
Kids run up so much debt in college that they can't afford to live off of entry level jobs. More over they never learn to control their finances and they never learn to control their spending impulses. Here are my thoughts: Should parents be responsible for their kids debt? No. Should credit card companies be more responsible about who they give credit to? Yes. Should finance be taught as part of the curriculum in high school? I think so. And not the crappy economics lessons I had added into my history class. Something practical and useful. We (as a society) teach kids about everything except money. Its more taboo than sex.
Anyway, I'll hop off the soap box now. I am really into making sure my DD doesn't make the same mistakes I did.
Sandra
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
Mon, 01-10-2005 - 8:18pm
I agree cc companies should be more choosy who they give cc too. If you are going to give a college student a cc, you might as well consider there is a higher chance of not getting the money. It is about personal responsibility and cc companies share in that if they give out cc to everybody. KWIM?
So I do not agree that parents should cosign for cc. When you turn 18 you are legally considered an adult and with that comes adult responsibilities.
I totally agree with the personal finance classes in high school. We never had anything like that in school and I think it would help. The only thing we were ever taught was how to write a check correctly. Yeah I know how to do that real well. lol