Why do people mess up their credit at ages 18-21?..

[vanillabean]

You mean aside from raging hormones, lol? Advances in neuroscience indicate that various brain centers connected with decision-making and judgement such as the prefrontal cortex don't fully develop until young adulthood!

[Dalanar]

iono, just human nature of being in college and naive and irresponsible.  

[ddemari]

im 29 and my bankruptcy from 10 years ago is just now fading off my reports. I was credit obsessed as a teenager for some reason. My parents both with FICOS in the 830-850 range practiced amazing financial characteristics. I, loved to spend and show off as a kid. When I was 16, I had my mom open a Discover card and add me as an AU. So from 16-18 I had the Discover with a 25k limit and perfect payment history. On my 18th birthday I applied for the American Express Blue Credit Card, it was pretty new then. I was still in high school about to graduate, income was about 15k a year working part time job, instant approval 5k. then within 6 months. 

amex gold, then amex platinum, then 2-3 citi cards 5-15k limits, chase united card 20k limit, chase slate 15k limit, MBNA mastercard 10k, Providian Visa 26k limit. Im 19!!! 

I had about a 1 1/2 year run before I had to file bk. I will say this, I will never burn a bank again and I would kill to have the opportunities given to me 10 years available to me now within the sense I maintained those cards for 10 years. Lending practices as we all know have completely changed, but my god they used to give u a 5-10k credit card for just having an address back in the day. 

[macuserftw]

When I was 18, I moved away from home to attend college. I had an apartment with a roommate I met through the school's roommate resource and it was agreed that we would split the rent and utilities 50/50. My bank at the time (BoA) offered me their Visa Platinum CC tailored to college students. I started out using the card very responsibly and paying off each tiny balance in full. Then my roommate decided to move out without any notice (she moved in with her boyfriend at the time) and I didn't have enough to pay 100% of the bills. I couldn't find a new roommate in time (it was mid-semester).

So, I used my CC to pay all of my utility bills until the semester was over. Once my CC was maxed out, I had to move back home. Luckily I was able to easily transfer to another college closer to home and finish out my degree.

Sometimes things happen I guess. I'm finally on the right track to rebuilding though.

[BootStraps]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

You mean aside from raging hormones, lol? Advances in neuroscience indicate that various brain centers connected with decision-making and judgement such as the prefrontal cortex don't fully develop until young adulthood!

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I was thinking the exact same thing.

The brain, and full comprehension of consequences, completes maturation at about 25.