A debt management agency in the UK is calling for the age limit on credit cards to be raised from eighteen to twenty-one, stating that issuing credit cards to those in their late teens is promoting a culture of debt from an early age. The agency claims that making consumers wait until they are twenty-one before enabling them to get a credit card will allow them to learn more about the dangers of debt, and will result in the cards being used more sensibly and responsibly by younger spenders rather than being used to spend erratically.

The debt management agency claims that debt levels amongst the 18-20 year olds are growing, and that much of this is fuelled by credit cards. Many students that have just left college and get a credit card can easily get carried away with the freedom and financial flexibility that is suddenly at their fingertips, and this can lead to a rush of spending leaving them with a pile of debt that they could then be paying off for many years to come.

One official stated that “raising the legal age at which people have access to credit cards would provide a quick and effective solution.”

The agency stated that those under the age of twenty-one tend to find it all too easy to lose control of their finances when they have credit available, and that issuing credit cards to consumers at this young age could lead to a lifetime of debt.

However, many officials think that it is unlikely that credit card companies will raise the minimum age for credit cards, as this will further affect their profits, which they are already trying to claw back after a ceiling limit was placed on penalty charges by financial regulators in the UK last year.