Learning about credit before you get it is a goal for George Vass
As general manager of the Community Futures Prince Albert and District, Vass has met with several entrepreneurs-to-be who have a poor credit history as a result of mistakes they made earlier in their adult life
"It's too easy to get credit cards," said Vass, who used to work with the Royal Bank of Canada while living in Alberta. "I could recall that when I worked at Royal Bank and this guy came in and showed me all these credit cards, and he thought it was prestigious. In reality, it's committing credit suicide.
Vass decided to create a budgeting and credit counselling program after he received information from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada regarding youth and money management. He is gearing the course toward those in grades 11 and 12, but also invites those who are older to attend the course if they are having issues with maintaining their finances.
"It's not something that is part of the training of life," he said. "Credit should be on the curriculum for all students.
Vass said he wanted to gear the class mostly to younger people because they are the ones who are about to delve into the credit world, between credit cards offered on campus, student and bank loans for school and other such money-based decisions in their early adult years.
He added that many young adults tend to get three or four credit cards, up their limits really high, and start using the cards for basic living expenses
"We live off of cards," said Vass. "They don't borrow from a bank, they borrow on plastic. Once you do that, there's no turning back.
Although he doesn't plan on going further into the world of credit counselling as a result of this venture, Vass said he wants to ensure young people stay away from using credit cards as a method of living and instead treat them as a something to be treated respectfully.
