Credit Cards – Family Talk

I’m Miriam Neff and I’m Valerie Neff Hogan with Wise Women Managing Money.

M One important family money matter and training opportunity for teens is the credit card talk and learning experience. 

V An ideal time to talk is when they’re juniors or seniors in high school. Certainly, before college, where they will be inundated with credit-card offers and are liable to spend irresponsibly. The average credit-card debt among college students recently hit an all-time high of $3,173, and 40 percent of students said that they charged items knowing they didn’t have the money to pay for them.

This may sound extreme, however, think about this: what do you call it when you take something and have no intention or means of paying for it?  Theft.