What's in millennials' wallets? Fewer credit cards

[momopi]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... full.story

Boom-bust cycles leave the millennial generation more wary of credit card debt and more prone to thrifty lifestyles.

[MrPatrick]

This isn't surprising. I'm 26 and very few of my friends seem to use credit cards regularly. (Maybe they're keeping it to themselves?)

I guess the misconception is that carrying a credit card is inherently dangerous, when in reality in the right hands there's really no better way to spend your money, since using a card builds credit and can earn a cardholder cash back. Obviously, in the wrong hands, you could have a financial disaster.

I think a lot of 20-somethings are going to realize that building credit is important when it's too late; i.e. they've waited too long to open a card. I've seen some decent fair credit credit cards from Capital One that have no foreign transaction fees, but even these cards require a limited amount of credit.

I can see a small army of late-20 and early-30 somethings applying for secured cards over the next few years, since those will ultimately be the only cards they're likely to be approved of. Then again, who knows - maybe the less likely it is for young people to carry credit, the less weight will be added to past credit history. It's possible, but unlikely.

[Jester]

http://www.backtothebible.org/10-financ ... lical.html