I didn’t get my first credit card until I was 18. As far as I know, in the USA, minors can’t get approved for credit. You can imagine my surprise when I read on this banking news website that 50% of teens in the UK are in debt by the age of 17. I know that even as an “adult”, at the age of 18, I wasn’t equipped to deal with credit, debt, making payments, etc. I had no clue what a late payment could do to my credit, or that one late payment or bad account would affect me years later. I’m betting these teens don’t understand what they’re getting into either. Why oh WHY are credit card companies allowed to solicit and sign up minors? The research quoted in the article stayed that 1 in 20 young people in the UK didn’t think that they had to pay back money borrowed on a credit card. That’s truly scary. Maybe people should be given a test before they get a credit card to make sure they understand how it works?