Legal age is "18", Good or Bad? (Credit Score / Credit History Issues)

[mightymuffy]

That would be a "secured card", if I'm not mistaken.

Yep, although the 'in thing' here now seems to be loans/CCs given if you've got a guarantor, again with the astronomical APR..... assuming the lad can afford the repayments then I suppose these may be a good idea. Sounds to me more like only one step up from the loan sharks of yesteryear these places, and it's a slippery slope if repayments can't be met... and besides, who looks at an advert that says something like APR 399.9% and thinks "yeah, that's a fukkin sweet deal!!"

 

[Clydefrosch]

actually, i dont think 18 is a good legal age these days when it comes to financial responsibility, because, pretty much 99% of the population doesnt learn the slightest thing about how the world of money works. few people learn how badly a few bad decisions with your new, fresh creditcard can hurt you in the long run, before something bad happens. and those colorful flyers never mention all those negative aspects.
everyone is just thrown into this mess and most are lucky enough to have parents who can help and answer questions until you slowly get the hand out of things. but some people have moron parents. or know only people who never had to worry about this stuff in the first place.
when 18 as a legal age was established where I live, the world was a lot less complex. at 18, you had all the knowledge accumulated to go through life mostly without problems. today, things are different. vital information is kept from children (in favor of useless geography and history/other crap), not included in the school curriculum, adults have problems distinguishing the vital from the nonsense information, and theres a million things diverting the attention of the young, growing mind.
so no, 18 isn't a good age for legal responsibility. it has always been a rather random number to begin with, but it's become a less and less justifiable random number as time moved on. if young people are actively educated on these things prior to the age of 18, then it might be a good age again. but not as things are now.

you however, have to deal with it now, i'm sorry for you. even though, from an objective standpoint, it seems a bit ridiculous you cant open an account at all?
considering the facts that surround your credit rating, you acted rather quickly, got out of your debt fast and responsible. there are people out there who take a lifetime to repay their debts.
as a financial institution, I probably wouldn't give you a no limits account either, but whats the problem with an account with a strict credit limit? like 100$ max or whatever? i mean, if you have an income too?
current credit ratings certainly have broken the system partways at least. I get that a financial institution would want to base its money lending policies on some information, but credit ratings seems awfully skewed towards negatives. there should be an additional rating for getting your act together. personally, I'd rather lend someone money who quickly got his act together after fucking up as a youth, than someone who, in his 30's keeps falling back into the negatives at the end of every month (though thats an entirely different problem altogether)

 

[Cartmanuk]

I sort out all the bills and everything, close my account.
Go to Barclays, only to find out that my credit score is so bad that I cannot even open a Current Account! EVEN STUDENT ACCOUNT IS BEING DENIED! They were willing to give me student account without the benefits(such as the interest free overdraf).

Your first mistake was closing your bank account, just having and account in credit or not is better for your credit score then having no account at all.
Also credit scores are updated on 1st of every month so when you paid all of your bills, you should have just waited 3 months.

By the way I had an issue were in 2004 someone took out a £27,000 loan in my name. It killed my credit for 5 years and it was never sorted out as it was less common then.

 

[Vipera]

You expect people to hit maturity for their actions around 21. Not sure why they kept it 18 after ww2

 

[Apex]

Unfortunately, having some form of credit is necessary in the future to establish credit, which is how banks know you're reliable enough to give out a loan to.

That being said, I have never had a credit card, for better or for worse.

 

[sandytf]

I suggest that you talk with a professional financial planner. While you will need to pay for the appointment, a financial planner will be able to explains all of the relevant rules and regulations as well as assist you in developing a plan to improve your financial situation. Credit score calculations can be very tricky and you don't want to risk making any more mistakes. Additionally, a financial planner should be aware of different services and programs to help accelerate your financial recovery.

 

[FAST6191]

You expect people to hit maturity for their actions around 21. Not sure why they kept it 18 after ww2

Various aspects of psychology, as far as risk taking goes anyway, might argue 25 is the point where things start to get better. Or if you prefer see car crash death rates by age, or some aspects of recruitment where risk is involved (both taking those that will risk things before 25 and waiting until 25 where risk taking is not as desirable).
However I am not sure a move to 21 or 25 in all aspects is a good move at all, maybe in a perfect world but that is not a place we can reach. I quite liked the ones where some places forced health insurance companies to be able to have parents keep their kids on their insurance until 25 or so, otherwise known as the good years to be messing around doing startup and lower paying but potentially more interesting/entry level in a field work.

Anyway I appear to live in a country where credit scores, as utterly screwed up a system (three private and basically unaccountable companies doing whatever they like, and then being trusted for lots... right then) as it is, does not really matter. Some are trying to change that and there is a slow slide into things. On emergency nets well healthcare is free, it is only me that I am responsible for, I am not reliant upon a vehicle, food is cheap (plus there is all sorts of wild food around here) and though I do not like doing it I could probably drum up some cash/invent a job/do one of those extremely low priority jobs. If it all burned down tomorrow it would be horrible, however my tools I truly and desperately need technically consist of some cheap screwdrivers and not a lot else.

 

[zeello]

instead of 21 why not make the legal age 100? (or infinite) If the problem with 18 is that its easier for unscrupulous companies to screw people due to bad decisions, then why not just ban it for all ages instead of just people aged 18-20??

Basically you wanted the law to protect you, but in that case what does age have to do with it?

 

[Minox]

As I see it the problem is not the legal age, but rather these companies preying upon young people who recently became adults and don't know what's best for them just yet. Economical responsibility is not something you suddenly come upon when you hit a certain age, it's something you have to learn through continous exposure to it. Preferably parents should provide their kids with a good learning ground regarding personal economics, but that isn't always the case.

 

[FAST6191]

Hmm, my friends and I seek to make the jobs of cold callers less than pleasant/profitable (I think I have even got myself blacklisted from a few of them). I wonder if we could figure out a way to make the jobs of these leeches worse. Perhaps not as they actually have people that care to really improve profitability and it would take actual effort vs just talking in circles on the phone as I read things.

 

[Blebleman]

When I turned 20, I thought 18 was too young.
When I turned 22, I thought 20 was too young.
When I turned 25, ....

That aside, I also think these 10 years are where the biggest changes happen in the least time.
Within the last 10 years, I've
1. Been through college + university
1.5 - forgot lots that happened in said places
2. Been through 3 girlfriends
3. Married one
4. Been through at least 5 jobs
5. Moved to Japan
6. Had a baby girl.
7. Went from being a hobby-nerd to a web/application developer

I still don't think I've got all my shit together. 18 is young!

 

[Hells Malice]

18 is perfectly fine. It doesn't matter what age you are really, stupidity isn't really an age thing. It's a learning thing. Either you learn the hard way, or by using your brain.

TBH i've had a card for quite a while now and never once have I had problems. I could have handled one as early as 14. I've always had a firm grasp on not spending money I do not actually have, or can feasibly gain within a short period of time.

It's the same thing with BC making people need to be older and older to drive. It doesn't solve anything, it just serves to punish those who ARE ready to drive at a proper age.

Btw it should be possible to get a card and slowly build your credit rating back up. There are ways to do that.

 

[raulpica]

I never understood the point in getting a credit card - it encourages spending more than you can afford and offers no significant benefit as far as I can tell. Most countries nowadays offer debit cards which more or less acts the same way as a credit card other than the fact that purchases are declined when you're out of money meaning that you will never spend more than you have.

I've got one and it saved my ass while searching for a job here in the UK. I ran out of cash (damnrentsaretoohigh.jpg) and my credit card came in super-handy. 10 months later or so I've finally almost paid it off. If it wasn't for it I'd still be in Italy now

 

[nando]

I've got one and it saved my ass while searching for a job here in the UK. I ran out of cash (damnrentsaretoohigh.jpg) and my credit card came in super-handy. 10 months later or so I've finally almost paid it off. If it wasn't for it I'd still be in Italy now

Not to mention youll never be able to buy a house without good credit which you'll never have without having a credit card for a while. Unless you are really rich and can just afford to pay cash but then like in my situation I tried to buy a new car cash and the dealer wouldn't accept my check because I didn't have a credit history. It would have been really weird to walk to the dealer with that much money in my pocket. I also couldn't use my atm for that amount. So there is that.

Also good luck renting a car

 

[Foxi4]

A credit card is a good emergency solution indeed, sometimes something pops up and you just need the money STAT. You have to use it responsibily, sure, but it does have its uses.

 

[FAST6191]

Not to mention youll never be able to buy a house without good credit which you'll never have without having a credit card for a while. Unless you are really rich and can just afford to pay cash but then like in my situation I tried to buy a new car cash and the dealer wouldn't accept my check because I didn't have a credit history. It would have been really weird to walk to the dealer with that much money in my pocket. I also couldn't use my atm for that amount. So there is that.

Also good luck renting a car

Wow, living in a country that deluded itself into thinking credit scores have some real merit (again three private companies with largely hidden data based on algorithms not shared with the public, said algorithms being known to be weighted towards those that actually have credit rather than just paying it off) sounds like it has some downsides. I know some of my friends that moved (back) stateside had a bit of trouble when US and UK credit peeps would not speak to each other, however I did not realise it was that extensive.
Mind you having lots of cash to buy a car is nothing unusual around here, it is probably the time most people see sizeable amounts of money.

I shall have to look up what it takes to buy a house around here, I never intend to so I am a only passing familiar -- bad credit will tank you but most around here seem to be more along the lines of "can you afford the deposit (which may go up depending upon credit), do you have a job (self employment can be tricky but is doable), can you then make the monthly payments?".

Car rental and credit never seemed to be a problem.

Question. How common is it to get a credit check on a potential new employee? Around here it would probably bring up privacy concerns, still doable but quite uncommon unless it really is necessary for the job (bank, lawyer, financial services, debt collection*...).

*this can include things like mobile phone companies though.

 

[Foxi4]

The belief in credit ratings is somewhat warranted. Imagine a scenario in which a person crashes a rental car - as a company you want the customer to be able to pay for the repairs regardless of whether they have money in their wallet or not, someone who can borrow money in an instant.

 

[FAST6191]

Is this not why rental cars have insurance, or indeed people have insurance on their home cars which probably covers rentals as well?

I have absolutely no objections to the idea of credit checking in various scenarios, just the present execution of the concept and amount of stock placed in it as well as some of the uses people have cooked up for it.

 

[Sicklyboy]

The belief in credit ratings is somewhat warranted. Imagine a scenario in which a person crashes a rental car - as a company you want the customer to be able to pay for the repairs regardless of whether they have money in their wallet or not, someone who can borrow money in an instant.

To be fair that has absolutely nothing to do with someones credit score. You can have a phenomenal score and not have enough to cover a totaled car. My credit score is pretty decent. That said, I'm about $950/$2000 debt/available not including cash assets. 1250 is definitely not enough to cover a totaled or even moderately damaged vehicle.

 

[raulpica]

Also good luck renting a car

I did, two times, without a single issue