Why Parents Should Never Lend Kids Their Credit Cards
Why Parents Should Never Lend Kids Their Credit Cards
With modern society increasingly turning cashless, internet purchases have never been more easily accessible and instantaneous. Especially for children.
Handing over your credit card to your child not only has financial risks. It also creates long-term habits that encourage irresponsible and mindless spending.
Here is a list of reasons why parents should never lend their kids their credit cards.
No control of your child’s spending
Along with countless other parents, I have children obsessed with video games such as Fortnite and Roblux. Controlling screen time is often tricky, but how many parents are also aware of the possible financial risks these games may cause?
With V-Bucks - Fortnite’s much coveted game currency - players can create unique avatars with greater functionality. To purchase the main game, credit card details are required. Unbeknownst to many parents, the same details can be used for in-app purchases such as V-Bucks. It’s as easy as continuously hitting the “Purchase” button.
And there lies the dangerous possibility of large, unauthorised credit card charges.
Risk of Fraud
Regardless of making an online purchase from a secure and trustworthy site, cybercrime can be a terrifying reality.
Children can unknowingly (or knowingly) use your credit card details to buy an item from a phishing site, disguised as a legitimate website.
Don’t let your child’s excitement for a desired toy or game be the opportunity for a potential hacker to steal your credit card identity.
Operate with borrowed money
A credit card is essentially borrowed cash. As it is cash that cannot be physically seen, this can be an extremely complicated concept for young minds to grapple.
In addition, there is the requirement to pay back that loaned amount within a certain time frame.
As much as I love my children, I cannot rely on them to clean their rooms when requested, let alone pay back a loan. I’m sure there are other parents who feel the same way.
Allowing a child to borrow their parent’s credit card is potentially introducing them to the undesired world of debt.
ZAAP: Planting the Financial Seed
ZAAP is a prepaid debit Mastercard pocket money digital tool and allows children to see their balance, track their spending, and encourage savings. As they can only spend what is in their account, children will:
- Avoid debt
- Learn how to be financially responsible
- Build good money habits
- Learn the importance of saving money by setting savings goals
- Make secure purchases online or instore through “Tap & Go”
ZAAP’s Benefits for Parents
By using ZAAP, parents can reclaim their own credit card control while their children establish financial independence.
Parents can:
- Rest easy as they no longer need to use their own credit card to make online purchases on behalf of their children.
- Avoid the stress of unexpected credit card charges
- Have full financial control. Funds can only be transferred to the child’s ZAAP account through the Parent Wallet, the primary account where parent funds are held
- Choose to make transfers regularly, or on an ad-hoc basis. Great for pocket money or cash gifts on special occasions like birthdays and Christmas
- Take comfort knowing their children are developing important money management skills
About the Author
Grace is a freelance writer with over 25 years’ experience in business, having held senior roles in marketing, finance through to sales.
Graduating from the Australian National University, Grace spent 10 years working with multi-nationals in Asia. She is multi-lingual, fluent in Japanese and Bahasa Indonesia.
On returning to Australia, she then carved out a successful career in financial services, IT and telecommunications.
In addition, Grace has run her own small business focused on issues such as parenting, financial literacy and digital security.