Student offered credit card

Benclark88

My son had a similar situation and ended up coming out of University with a 2k overdraft with one bank and a 1k overdraft with a second. Both of these banks offered him credit cards which is outrageous. They try and force you into debt as they reckon you will come out of University and get a "high paid" job and be able to payback all the interest. Its is a joke and probably accounts for this countries current situation

katejo

I got my first credit card at 18. I just learnt to use it sensibly and never got into any trouble with it . Not everyone goes out on a spending spree. Just make sure that he understands the rules re. Payment and how interest is charged

iAMaLONDONER

callum9999 wrote: »

How patronising can you get. 19 IS a "real" adult...

And how on earth do you know what "experience" he has? By the time I was 19 I'd travelled extensively and held jobs on 3 different continents - which is probably better than what many "real" adults (whatever they are?) achieve in their whole life...

Can i just ask was that through a gap year or did you live in 3 different countries??

iAMaLONDONER

izools wrote: »

Apologies for such a long rant, had my mother in the back of my mind then... but I trust you get my point

I assume your mother was a bit overbearing....?

[Deleted User]

Cerys1 wrote: »

it nevertheless strikes me as deeply irresponsible behavior by the bank.

Next, you'll be saying that Tesco was irresponsible for giving him a carrier bag to take his shopping home, because he could be stupid and suffocate himself with it.

Seriously - the risk is the same. Both the carrier bag and the credit card CAN have bad consequences if used wrong, but can be useful if used right.

sharpy2010

Benclark88 wrote: »

My son had a similar situation and ended up coming out of University with a 2k overdraft with one bank and a 1k overdraft with a second. Both of these banks offered him credit cards which is outrageous. They try and force you into debt as they reckon you will come out of University and get a "high paid" job and be able to payback all the interest. Its is a joke and probably accounts for this countries current situation

This is so far from being correct and shows a woeful understanding of current UK politics, but never mind, well done for trying anyway.

simongregson

I agree that the poster is being very overbearing. I can remember having both a credit card and overdraft from the start of university. I never paid any interest on the credit cards but used them for everyday spending and used the overdraft to pay big bills like rent and for times when there was a gap between getting money coming in (as loan payments and grants were termly). And guess what, I got a job over the summer and cleared the overdraft every year.

When I graduated I was able to get the best deals on reward credit cards etc. as I had a good credit rating. That was 16 years ago and I can never remember my parents questioning how I was running my financial affairs even once.

So my advice is to let him get on with it!

Kaspian

When I hit my 18th birthday, along with the birthday cards that hit the mat, I was greeted by around 5 or 6 credit card applications.

It's perfectly normal to be offered them. In my opinion, credit cards are the ONLY way to spend. As a student myself, I'd be lost without mine. With my CC, I know that I have a set limit and once that's spent I have to pay it off in full to use it again. So, this helps me limit my spending to that amount as I do not see my cash in the bank as spendable.

Also, credit cards have a lot more protection/guarantees which can safeguard you against fraud or other problems.

Cash is dangerous, you can lose cash, it can be stolen and spent without a pin code.

Hope this helps.

izools

Benclark88 wrote: »

My son had a similar situation and ended up coming out of University with a 2k overdraft with one bank and a 1k overdraft with a second. Both of these banks offered him credit cards which is outrageous. They try and force you into debt as they reckon you will come out of University and get a "high paid" job and be able to payback all the interest. Its is a joke and probably accounts for this countries current situation

So he owes about three grand or so?

Big whoop. This really isn't much debt and tbh quite easy to handle on the most modest of salaries.

No one forced him to open the accounts, agree the overdrafts, or spend the money, and from the sound of things he didn't spend a great deal anyway.

sirwiggum

I recall the summer before university, I got my first current account. I went to Ulster Bank and asked for a student account, to place my summer job wages into.

They set me up an basic account with a cash card. Fair enough I thought.

I went to university, made friends, they were able to buy books from Amazon with debit cards, pay rent installments from overdraft before student loan payments came in.

I went back over the half term break to Ulster Bank and asked them for these facilities on my 'student' account.
The cashier was a 'Computer says no' type who just gave me a blank look and said I had to be in full time employment.

Bye bye Ulster Bank, went back to university and joined up with Lloyds TSB.
They bundled in a 2k overdraft and a 3.5k credit card (!), Barclaycard at the student fair also signed me up and sent a 1.5k credit card.

I lived off these until graduation, when I ran into financial difficulties with a low paying graduate job. At this point, Barclaycard accepted the debt management proposal, but Lloyds TSB didn't seem to understand how a student doesn't just walk into a 50k+ job.

If I was doing it again, I would. However I would probably be more careful after graduation, move back home for a bit, and treat Lloyds TSB with kid gloves as the last 5.5 years with a Default on file have limited my choices in terms of credit, car, only being able to rent (the credit checks for renting don't care about the default btw).