Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days!

   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days! #1  

ultrarunner

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I was 12 when I opened my checking account... had a job with a school work permit and was paid by check each week $50 less deductions...

From the $50 it was $20 bucks to the folks for room and board, $20 to savings, about $4.25 withholding and $5.75 spending money for the week... I could get a burger, fries and a coke for $1 for lunch.

I walked into a Bank of America with my paycheck and told the man at the desk I wanted to open a checking account with my paycheck... he looked it over and commended me for being responsible... also gave me the talk about never writing a check for more than I had in the account...

Short answer is I walked out with a checking account in my name with no other banking relationship or adult signature... made me feel about 10 feet tall... the manager said if I was old enough to earn a paycheck, I was old enough to have a checking account.

Tried to do the same for my god daughter and was told it simply is not possible and for her to get and account, I would have to sign for it and I could only do this if I was a parent or grandparent...

My brother worked summers for the park district as a lifeguard... he had all the training and was paid every two weeks... at 16, the local Savings and Loan granted him a Mastercard in his name with no cosigner... the Branch Manager approved it and said he was going out on a limb because if my brother choose not to pay... there was little the bank could do.

My brother still banks with this institution and has done millions of dollars of loan referrals from his Real Estate Business...

I guess loyalty and building life long relationships are no longer worth the trouble...

By the way.... my brother had over $5,000 in the bank and his credit limit was $200...
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days! #2  
I live close to a college town and everything there is paid for with credit cards. Even the parking meters and car washes are set up for credit cards.
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days!
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Must be a lot of parents on the hook?
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days! #4  
That's what I'm thinking when I'm in line and they pay for an ice cream cone with a credit card. I doubt that they could make change using real money. But then again I don't think many can anymore. The cash register figures all that out. Every now and then I'll catch myself putting groceries on the counter and making sure that the same items are grouped together. That made it easier and quicker for the cashier using the old push key type registers to ring up the order back in the day.
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days! #5  
I ran those old electro-mechanical registers. I think we provided plenty of employment for the NCR repairman.

There were several things you had to keep track of besides making change. I don't remember all the keys, but I'm sure there were "meat" and "produce" keys, I think "grocery" was default. There was a "tax" key for taxable items--you needed to know which were taxable. Bottle deposits, .02 each, you did in your head.

It was misery getting stuck on a register that wasn't working smoothly.
The good old days!
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days! #6  
I never worked in a grocery store but did pump gas when I got out of high school. We kept a $50.00 wad of bills in our shirt pocket and a metal coin changer hung on our belt to make change. Had to be able to count backwards in those days. And the customer would already have the proper change figured out in their heads. These days when I go to a service station I have to sometimes help the college folks put air in their tires. They can't seem to figure that out. Tires don't have internet access on them yet.
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days! #7  
My oldest got a checking account and debit card at age 16 with no hassles. She uses the debit card like a plastic check book. She has to balance it every month just like a check book. And the card doubles as an ATM card should she (rarely) need any cash. On spring break this year she went to NY to muck out hurricane damaged houses. She activated her card in NY, NJ, and all states between there and home. That way she didn't have to take a wad of cash with her for food/shopping; she just used her card.

Treated correctly and handled wisely, a credit/debit card is no different than a check book used to be and a whole lot more convenient. :thumbsup:
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days! #8  
Maybe it's just me but if someone has to scan a parking meter with a credit card for 25 cents maybe plastic gone too far?
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days!
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I enjoyed my cashier jobs... working the lunch line all 4 years of High School and also behind a auto parts counter...

Don't know if my mental acuity is sharp enough for the lunch line these days because the first year it was all with a cash box and the old brain upstairs... also had to watch some that were always trying to see what they could swipe... one went on to be an NBA star.

Think it is shame no one, at least it seems no one at the Branch Level can make a decision anymore...

If you are old enough to pay social security and bring home a pay check... you should be able to open a bank account without Mom and Dad...

Then again... I know of plenty of 20 somethings that have never held a job... sounds like we are going backwards as a nation to me.
 
   / Credit Card and Checking Accounts for Teenagers... not like the old days!
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Maybe it's just me but if someone has to scan a parking meter with a credit card for 25 cents maybe plastic gone too far?

Some of our new meters only take plastic... no more coins.

I might be because some of the meters charge $6.00 an hour for parking...
 
 
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