18-35 Year Olds Use Credit Cards Less

When I turned 18, I couldn't wait to get a credit card. I was psyched the day that it arrived in the mail; I think that I went shopping with it the very next day. However, that does not mean that I was irresponsible with it. I understood that this was money that I had to pay back. I always paid more than the minimum every month and I was never late with it. During my early 20s I carried around about $3000 of credit card debt and then I paid it off. I haven't had any credit card debt since.

I was surprised when I read that debit cards are the more favored payment method over credit cards. Only 59% of 18-35 year olds use credit cards; in the "senior" population that number is 70%. So what's going on here? Is the younger generation smarter or less responsible? Or do they think they can't handle the responsibility of a credit card?

As of right now, I am still within the 18-35 year old bracket (Kudos to the news article that said this bracket was "young adults" - thank you!) and my husband and I almost exclusively use a credit card for everything. Groceries, gas, medical bills, vehicle registrations, almost everything we possibly can. We do this because we can afford to pay off the balance each and every month and collect rewards points for all of our purchases. Last year we were able to get almost $600 in rewards back which we put toward our Christmas purchases. It was awesome!

Credit cards can be your friend as long as you don't abuse them.