Irresponsible credit limit for teenager

flowerandpot

My teenage son with a small part-time job was recently given a £3500 credit limit with 0% interest for 18 months, from NatWest. This is over 3 times what he earns in a year! He thought he only had to repay £5 per month and did not understand the concepts at all. I believe this is utterly irresponsible. Does anyone know whether he is obliged to repay the money?

CG19a

I would imagine that since he will be over 18, although a teenager, he is considered an adult and will have to repay it all.

HappyMJ

He is obliged to repay the money. So that will mean another part time job paying him more income to be able to repay the credit card.

Hard lesson to learn but at least he now knows what credit is.

Saturnalia

Yes, he has to pay it back. What has he spent the money on? Can any of it be sold to raise some of the repayment money?

Matty5487

He is an adult, he can make his own decisions in the eyes of the law, he has made decisions, he is now responsible for them.

Sure it might be irresponsible of them but their scoring software has obviously deemed he is likely to be a profitable customer, rightly or wrongly and allowed the card to be issued.

If he doesn't understand the concept of a credit card, may I ask how he went about applying and obtaining one?

On the upside, debts on a 0% on an 18month isn't as bad as it could be. Imagine if it had been a high interest CC! Work out how he is going to pay it off, or if he really can't speak to CAB

gazza975526570

No - he doesnt have to pay it off.

In fact there is a load more other banks and financial institutions for your son to contact to get more free money.

If only everyone had the sense to do this then no one would have any money problems.

You can even get cashback through TCB/Quidco for some of them


WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!! FREE MONEY!!!!!

corbyboy

There's no concept of a teenager when it comes to the legal age of responsibility for taking out a contract. If he is over 18 he is not a teenager, he is an adult.

Also, how much of his credit limit has he spent? If all of it then there is no way he will only be repaying £5 per month. It would be more like £80-100 per month.

rartherinv

He may be a "teenager" in your eyes but if he is old enough to get a credit card then he is a man by law and is probably a lot smarter than you think.

Speaking from experience of being a young man with an "overly caring" mother, he probably knows exactly what the terms are and is just fobbing you off with the "it's only £5 a month" line to get you off his back when you have told him he should not be doing it.

The best way to look after him is to help him understand the risks and rewards of easy credit and make it very clear that the bank of mum and dad will NOT be doing any bailouts, it would be a long painful journey if he did not borrow what he could immediately repay with his salary.

Why not get him on these forums? Email him the link to this thread and let him see that you are really looking out for him and not just being a nag. Soon he could be stoozing his way to prosperity and learning to save aggressively, instead of the worst case scenario which all parents will fear for their children.

ILW

I blame the parents.

lolavix

Of course he has to repay it if he spends it. But no one is making him spend it. At 19 I has 2 accounts with £5000 overdrafts as the bank made an error and opened 2 - but I didn't go mad spending just because it was available.

maginot

flowerandpot wrote: »

My teenage son with a small part-time job was recently given a £3500 credit limit with 0% interest for 18 months, from NatWest. This is over 3 times what he earns in a year! He thought he only had to repay £5 per month and did not understand the concepts at all. I believe this is utterly irresponsible. Does anyone know whether he is obliged to repay the money?

It is a bit irresponsible from Natwest. When I turned 18 I only got £500 from the bank, however I didn't spend any of it.

But yes he is obliged to pay the money back :rotfl:

It is also a bit irresponsible to allow your son to get to 18 and have no idea how credit works. When did he think the £3500 would be paid back if he only paid £5 a month?