A report from bankrate.com showed that nearly two-thirds of adults younger than 30 don't have a credit card. A separate poll from creditcards.com recently found that the same age group isn't using cash as often as older people, either. What does that leave?
"Millennials, they love their debit cards," said Jeanine Skowronski, a credit card analyst at Bankrate. "By and large, I think what's going on is that Millennials are extremely debt-averse. They grew up or are looking for a job in a time when the economy really is not that good."
Or, in the case of Christine Buzard, it just hasn't been a priority.
"I'm pretty good about paying my bills and everything like that," said Buzard, 23, who lives in Lakeview. "It's just been the hassle of starting it, which sounds silly, but I haven't gotten there yet."
Yes, avoiding credit cards makes it less likely that consumers will get over their heads in debt. But there are some big disadvantages to using debit over credit, Skowronski said.
First of all, if your debit card information is used fraudulently, then it's your checking account on the line-not just your credit limit. Plus, by law, your liability for credit card fraud can be less severe than it is with debit.
"Credit cards have a little bit better protections," Skowronski said. "By law, cardholders could be held liable for up to $50 with a credit card, and with debit, it's up to $500 if you report within 60 days."
Secondly, without a credit card, you use some of what Skowronski terms "short-term liquidity"-you don't have a cushion in case of emergencies. When Buzard's bank invalidated her debit card pre-emptively after Target's data breach last year, she had to start using checks.
"I felt like my mom at the grocery store when I was little," she said.
Most importantly, credit cards are a way to build a credit score-and without a decent score, it will be difficult to buy a home or a car.
That's a paradox of the credit system: If you avoid credit cards out of a sense of financial responsibility, you can't prove to future lenders that you actually are financially responsible.
There are other, smaller ways that relying on a debit card can trip you up. You may need it to rent a car; you could pile up overdraft fees; you could cut yourself off from better rewards and warranties.
Buzard said she intends to get a credit card sooner rather than later, and is confident she will use it responsibly.
"It's definitely been on my list of things to do to establish credit as an adult in the world," she said.
mcrepeau@tribune.com | @crepeau
INFOBOX
Using debit responsibly
If you love using your debit card, here are tips from Bankrate's Jeanine Skowronski on how to manage them responsibly.
» Check your checking account every day to catch potential fraud as soon as possible. "It's really about constantly monitoring your account," she said. "Go in there every day, log in and look at all of the charges."
» Set up text or email alerts if your bank offers them. That way, you'll know if your checking account balance dips below a certain amount.
» Be very careful of overdrafts. "That's a $25 or $35 fee," Skowronski said, and that can snowball the longer the problem is left unaddressed.