Young Credit Card Users Score Lower On Personal Finance Survey than Nonusers

Personal Finance Information

The young adult users of credit cards scored significantly lower on a national, personal finance survey than those who don't use these cards. That finding has emerged with the recent publication of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy book, FINANCIAL LITERACY: Are We Improving? The book highlights the results of the latest Jump$tart survey of more than 4,000 high school seniors in 350 schools, which has been conducted every other year since 1997.

Lewis Mandell, Ph.D., Professor of Finance and Managerial Economics at the State University of New York-Buffalo, conducted the study and found that 31.8 percent of high school seniors used a credit card. These students were split almost evenly between those who owned a card in their own name and those who used a card issued in the name of a parent.

"One might suspect that students who use credit cards would score higher in the credit area of the survey than other students," Dr. Mandell suggested. "The results, though, show just the opposite: students who don't use a credit card at all answer credit questions more correctly than students who use credit cards."

The students who did not use a credit card at all scored best on the credit questions with an average score of 49.8 percent. This compares to a score of 45.4 percent for those who use the card of a parent and 46.5 percent for those who use their own card.

"This finding clearly demonstrates that students are simply not getting the personal finance information they need for coping with today's complex economic world," Laura Levine, executive director of Jump$tart, pointed out. "Since April is Financial Literacy for Youth Month, this recently published information highlights the need to recommit ourselves to ensuring that students do finally get this type of information in their classrooms."

The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to improve the personal financial literacy of young adults. It is celebrating its ten-year anniversary during Financial Literacy for Youth Month (April) in Washington, DC. One of its premier services, the Jump$tart Personal Finance Clearinghouse, is available to parents, students and consumers alike at www.jumpstartclearinghouse.org