Record says maximum credit card holders, who indulge in unscrupulous spending in their early teens, mostly end up spoiling their financial future. Most of these teens with little experience in money management use credit card as a pass for a free shopping spree. and destroy their financial future before it can even get started. However, if you take a little initiative and teach your teenage kids to use your building their credit score responsibly, they can start building their credit score at an early age. Read on to know the few ways, which can help you teach your teen children the basic lessons of financial planning.
- As a parent, your first and foremost duty is to make your teens aware of the consequences of irresponsible usage of credit cards and poor credit. Make her realize that for her little careless mistake, she might have to pay a huge price in future. A tarnished credit history will not only stop her from availing future credit and a house, but also prevent her from getting a good job.
- Your next step should be instructing your teens that ideally, one should always pay back the money he spends with the credit card. Educate them not to use the card if he can pay for the purchase in full with cash.
- Next, teach them to be protective about her credit. She must not allow anyone else to access her credit card number, no matter whether it’s her best friend or boy friend. He or she must not use credit card to flaunt or impress friends.
- Make sure your teens have a clear comprehension of the concept of not to “max out” of credit cards. It’s better to tell them to use credit cards only when it’s an emergency and the expenditure is an absolutely necessary. They must realize higher credit card balance can not only adversely affect their credit, but also could ruin their financial future.
- Few basic concepts must be made clear from the very beginning. Inform them about the advantages of paying the credit card bills before the due dates and the disadvantages of missed payments and late payments. It’s best to suggest them to make more than the minimum monthly payment on their credit cards, so that they can come out of debt maze quite faster.
- Last but not the least you can take a simple test before giving your teens a real credit card. Get them a mock credit card and monitor their spending habit closely in order to make sure that she is using the card responsibly.
Finally, in this age of post recession hangover, US have been concentrating more on savings, investment and frugality, rather than impulsive buying and wage garnishment. So, you can feel a little optimistic about your teen’s future, as he or she is growing up in a society, which encourages financial security and don’t glamorize credit card debt and living beyond one’s means any more.



