Credit Card Companies getting young people hooked on Plastic


Jacquelyn Michels is the kind of sensible soul who initially didn't want to go anywhere near a credit card, which is probably why her mother could dare to hand her daughter a credit card at age 17.

"I didn't want one," said Jacquelyn, who will be a senior when she returns next week to Chippewa Valley High School in Clinton Township. "You know with credit cards, there's a lot of interest."

And we know that credit card companies are even more interested in promoting plastic, especially to college and high school students.

"Young people are the most prized niche market of the banking industry,"

said Robert D. Manning, professor of consumer financial services at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.


A survey by college loan lender Nellie Mae showed that nearly three out of four college students used credit cards for school supplies and nearly one out of four used credit cards for college tuition.


Consumers who are 18-25 years old have even been dubbed Gen P. And the P isn't for paper. Forget cash. Forget checkbooks. Generation Plastic rarely leaves home without a debit card or a credit card.


Gen P parents and consumer watchdogs see the potential for real trouble.

"Until you learn how to manage cash, you're not likely to learn how to manage plastic,"

said Jean Ann Fox, director of consumer protection for the Consumer Federation of America.


Although all that plastic is certainly convenient, no one should expect teens or young adults to easily understand all the late fees, over-the-limit fees and the overall costs of borrowing.

"There's got to be a great level of conversation between the parent and the child,"

said Donovan Shand, vice president of retail product management for Comerica Bank in Detroit.

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