Prime Time 8. Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks, Schulbuch

S Unit 7: Big money Reading–writing: Should teenagers have a credit card? (B2) a) Read a blog post from a teenage blog about giving teenagers access to credit cards. b) While reading, think of subheadings that summarise the most important information of the respective paragraphs. 1 This is a question I have been thinking about for some time now. I have also done a lot of reading to find out what other people think. It’s a huge issue out there and quite controversial. I have been amazed to read the things that people think about teens. How we are irresponsible and out of control, even how our brains are incapable of making a distinction between spending real money and “plastic” money. So, should teenagers have a credit card? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons and I will tell you what I think at the end. I also want to point out I’m pretty sure that a teenager can’t have a credit card in just their name before they are 18. They could really only get a card as an “authorised user” on a parent’s card, so that’s really what I’m talking about here. 1. Even though I am only 18, I have already learned that just sliding a card is so much easier than pulling cash out of my wallet. And yes, I have slid my debit card at a store and been declined (SO EMBARRASSING) because I had forgotten about something I had bought and didn’t have enough money to cover the new purchase. A credit card is different because the money doesn’t come out of the account right away. Getting the bill at the end of the month can be a huge problem if you don’t keep track of your spending. Having a credit card as a young teen can help you learn to keep good track of your purchases and make sure you have enough money to pay everything off at the end of every month. 2. Some people say that having a good credit score doesn’t matter, but I don’t think that’s true. If you are right out of high school or college, you are probably going to need to rent an apartment, purchase a car or qualify for a home loan. Having a good credit score will matter when you try to do these things. I have also read that more and more employers look at your credit score before hiring so it definitely matters. 3. There will be some teens who will not handle the card responsibly and will get themselves or their parents into debt. However, there are a few easy ways to make sure this doesn’t happen. Parents should educate their children from a very young age about how to handle their money. This will really help a teen make good choices with a credit card. Additionally, the teen could have a credit card with a very low spending limit. This will make it impossible to make any huge mistakes. 4. If a teen went into serious debt, it could affect their parents’ credit score as well as their own. A bad credit score could affect a person for years. One way that parents could help avoid this problem is to go over the credit card bill each month with their teen and make sure that the spending is appropriate and under control. There was a time when I would have said that teens should never have a credit card, but in the last year or so my perspective has changed a little bit. The big issue is education. If parents and schools would step up and teach kids and teens how to handle their money responsibly, how credit cards work and how to avoid credit card debt, many teens wouldn’t have a problem in the first place. (Eva Baker, teensgotcents.com , 12 March 2017) c) Inspired by the blog post above you have decided to write one for your own blog discussing how young adults are best educated to handle money responsibly. In your blog post you should: describe what challenges young adults face nowadays in times of consumerism discuss problems that can be caused by not being able to handle money responsibly suggest ways and methods to educate young adults on money matters Write around 250 words . 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 136 Semester self-checks Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv