Consequences from getting a credit card as a minor?

December 4, 2010 1:22 PM

When I was a dumb 16-year-old, I got a credit card from one of the largest issuers in the US. On the application, I was 100% truthful, except that I added 3 years to my DOB so that I would be over 18. I paid the card off in full, and closed it. I've also filed disputes with credit bureaus to correct my DOB. Are there any other ramifications I'm not considering?

Posted anonymously in case this might put me in jail. Send private comments to [e-mail].

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Other than your credit report being wrong, you'll be fine. If you hadn't paid it off, you lied on your application, and you were declaring bankruptcy, that particular bit of debt wouldn't be dischargeable (if they caught it).

I wouldn't go shouting this mistake from the rooftops, but it's not going to come back and haunt you or anything, at least once your credit file gets fixed.
posted by wierdo at 2:50 PM on December 4, 2010

You miswrote your birthday, is all. So what.
posted by jayder at 3:21 PM on December 4, 2010 [4 favorites]

The bigger crime here is closing your account -- length of credit history is a factor in credit ratings. I had a credit card from freshman year of college that I basically ignored, and it's been a great boon even though I never activated the cards, let alone used it until much later.
posted by pwnguin at 3:48 PM on December 4, 2010

You miswrote your birthday, is all.

Read it again. He said he wasn't truthful.
posted by davcoo at 7:09 PM on December 4, 2010

I think jayder's point was that the credit reporting agencies have no way of knowing if this was a mistake or a deception. Seeing as the account is since closed and paid in full, they aren't going to care one way or the other at this point.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:46 PM on December 4, 2010

I did this by one year... it shows up as a note on one of my credit reports, but that's all. It never affected an application, even for mortgages.
posted by hey you over in the corner at 8:11 PM on December 4, 2010

I think jayder's point was that the credit reporting agencies have no way of knowing if this was a mistake or a deception.

Yes, that was my point.
posted by jayder at 7:41 AM on December 5, 2010