When the babysitting and lawn-mowing money runs dry, teenagers can pay with the “American Idol” Clay Aiken MasterCard.
MyPlash, a subsidiary of MasterCard, unveiled the card two weeks ago.
MyPlash stands for “my plastic cash,” which may sound like “genuine faux money,” but consider the audience. Kids can also get a MyPlash card featuring Xzibit, host of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.”
MyPlash is quick to point out that these are prepaid cards requiring parental supervision for those under 18. This language gets lost on a website styled with street graffiti. It costs $6.75 every time you load the card with $250 of your own money – or your parents’ money.
MyPlash “connects you to your money and your favorite artist,” the website says. “Use MyPlash almost anytime. For anything. Anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Including online. And if you need cash. Just go to an ATM. …”
Prepaid cards are just part of the plastic youth movement.
Today, 11 percent of teenagers have credit cards in their names, according to a recent nationwide survey by Junior Achievement, a Colorado Springs-based group bringing financial literacy to kids.
The group found that 6.2 percent of all 13- and 14-year-olds have plastic in their pockets, too.
“That’s ridiculous,” said Amanda Nichols, 17, a senior at Denver’s East High School. “That’s too young.”
Nichols has had a debit card since she was 15. “Every once in a while, I pull out a bunch of receipts for $20, and I get kind of mad at myself,” she said.
Her priciest purchase was a $300 prom dress. She covers her bills by babysitting and working at a toy store.
Many American teenagers are not as responsible as Nichols, who plans to attend Tufts University next year.
“So many of the kids I’ve worked with by age 16 or 17 have accrued so much debt that they can’t get an apartment,” said Melissa Canaday, a former social worker who has worked with foster kids and juvenile delinquents in New York City and Denver.
Canaday, who recently became vice president for education for Junior Achievement’s Rocky Mountain division, said she has met kids who have lied about their ages or forged their parents’ signatures to get credit cards. And many of the parents she met who did co-sign applications didn’t have the capacity to care about the outcome.
“A lot of these parents put their electric bills in their babies’ names because they’ve already shot their own credit,” she said.
Young Americans Bank has issued more than 300 credit cards to teens, some as young as 12, said Debbie Pierce, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit, financial education group based in Denver.
She said some of these kids run businesses online and need plastic to buy and sell. Others use it as a learning tool because plastic is a way of life.
The bank doesn’t hand out cards without caution, scrutiny and education.
“The fastest-growing age group filing bankruptcy is 20 to 24,” Pierce said. “And more people (of all ages) filed for bankruptcy in 2004 than graduated … college.”
As for those in college, credit-card promotions are as ubiquitous as keg parties.
In a 2002 study, student lender Nellie Mae found college students had an average credit-card balance of $2,700.
In a recent poll by employment website Monstertrak.com, 62 percent of 6,933 college students surveyed said they planned to move back in with parents for at least a month after graduation. And 21 percent said they would return for at least a year. This comes despite a recovering entry-level job market.
“Saddled with high levels of debt, many graduates are returning to their parents’ homes … to save on rent, food and other expenses, while trying to put a dent in their debt load,” said John Challenger of Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Clearly, children learn from their parents. The average household carried $9,500 in credit-card debt last year, almost twice as much as 10 years ago.
Aiken, during his “American Idol” stint, revived the song “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
His cardholders may need one.
Al Lewis’ column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-820-1967 or alewis@denverpost.com.
