To be blunt, no they shouldn’t. Teenagers are generally irresponsible about many things in life and the last thing they need is a credit card to go hog wild in spending without understanding the consequences of their actions. Our nation as a whole lacks financial literacy. How can we expect our youth to understand credit when most adults don’t know how to manage their own credit problems? There are always exceptions to this rule and there will be teens that can manage a credit card effectively. However, they must prove their competence before getting a credit card.

If you are a credit illiterate parent, you will find it impossible to effectively teach your children how to be financially responsible. Your children have been watching you and modeling their behavior from your actions their whole lives. How can you honestly expect a 16-year-old to live by the golden financial rule of “saving 10% of your money and don’t spend more than you have?” This information will mean nothing to them as they have watched you spend to the point where you are sitting on a mountain of credit card debt yourself.

Teens, like adults who can’t manage the cash they have coming in, will surely fail with credit card debt too. How can you tell if a teen is responsible enough to handle a credit card? The odd thing here is that the teen that is most responsible to manage a credit card is one who realizes that he/she really doesn’t need one in the first place. They know that the simple axiom of saving money and not spending more than you have makes sense and they live that way.

One reason touted for teens getting a credit card is that they have a chance to build their credit history. In reality, teens that get credit cards end up doing more harm to your credit score than good to theirs. They will continue to spend until their balance grows to the point where they are unable to pay it off. When they don’t pay their bills they will cause damage to their credit. There are other more sensible ways for teens to build credit by paying other bills on time like cell phones, utilities etc. If they reach a point where they need to take out a loan and get denied, chances are the loan is not essential anyway. The only essential loans that they may need are a mortgage loan or a small business loan for which they could get a cosigner. Forget car loans. Have them save money and buy a used car.

I hope I have been persuasive enough to convince you to not get your teen a credit card. The benefit to cost ratio of getting a credit card for most irresponsible people, is extremely low. Teens are in an even more complex time of their life when they can’t understand the long-term consequences of their actions. It is better to teach them real financial responsibility, paying cash for purchases, and they will grow and prosper having a true respect for the use of credit when they are older.