The Citizens Advice bureau is seeing more and more young people with debt issues. In fact, in 2010 around 233,000 under 25s asked for help with their debt problems†. With this statistic in mind, it's more vital than ever that young adults are taught money management skills.
Prepaid cards could be the way forward, as they don't involve paying interest or running up long-term debt and there are no unexpected penalties to pay. They can encourage better budgeting and provide an easy way to pay bills.
What's more, you can order one in minutes online without jumping through hoops and be holding a prestigious looking Cashplus prepaid Gold MasterCard® within as little as three working days.
In fact, as long as the main cardholder is 18 or over and lives in the UK, acceptance is guaranteed. And for younger teens aged 13 upwards, you could just take out an account in your name and then set your youngster up as an additional cardholder. Just how cool would the average 13 year old find having their very own Gold MasterCard card?
Once your young adult has their prepaid card account, they'll be able to conveniently keep track of what they've saved online, by phone and text. Regularly monitoring spending and the balance should lead to good long-term financial habits.
And by being able to easily see where they've spent their money, from online music sites to high street shops, youngsters should find it easier identify areas where they could perhaps spend a little less frivolously in order to meet their financial goals more quickly.
They could also use their prepaid card to learn how to become responsible for paying bills on time. For example, if they have a magazine subscription, and they had a Cashplus prepaid card account, they could set up a Standing Order* to take care of the monthly payment.
A prepaid card's also great as a money management aid because there's little or no financial risk. After all, there's no interest to pay and no risk of running up a large credit bill. What's more, some prepaid cards, even offer free purchase protection – very reassuring if your young adult's tempted to make their money go further by taking advantage of seemingly ‘too good to be true' deals online.
So if you recognise the value of teaching young adults how to manage their money, prepaid cards with their bank style essentials and credit card type benefits could provide a great way develop skills.
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About Advanced Payment Solutions Ltd (APS)
APS is the leading European prepaid card provider, with more than 500,000 cards issued and £500,000,000 in payment turnover. Its flagship product, the award winning Cashplus prepaid Gold MasterCard® is the UK's first general purpose prepaid card for consumers and in the last couple years APS has developed a growing interest among small businesses which now exceeds 2,500 who are utilising the benefits of the Cashplus prepaid Gold MasterCard to manage and control their business expenditures.