Au pair wants to open credit card…

[Anonymous]

To what degree to I intervene with this? I don’t know her intentions about timely payments…

[Anonymous]

Not your business .

[Anonymous]

She’s an adult so stay out of it.
My first credit card had s limit of $300. I paid it off every month and after a few months it went to $500, and so on.

[Anonymous]

My AP told me that all the APs open cards, run up balances and then leave the country. So it could be that your AP is being advised by her peers to open one.

My AP did open a few. I took the "not my business" approach so I have no idea if she paid them or what. But, she is STILL getting credit card offers at my house 2 years after leaving. The credit card companies are relentless once you open that door.

[Anonymous]

To think that people knowingly invite someone who thinks credit card can be left unpaid just because they can leave the country, is beyond me. I am only hoping this is not true.

[Anonymous]

i mean, invite to live in their house. Scary!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My AP told me that all the APs open cards, run up balances and then leave the country. So it could be that your AP is being advised by her peers to open one.

My AP did open a few. I took the "not my business" approach so I have no idea if she paid them or what. But, she is STILL getting credit card offers at my house 2 years after leaving. The credit card companies are relentless once you open that door.

Why does the State Department allow this kind of fraud?

[Anonymous]

All of my aupairs have opened their own Discover cards. All have left them unpaid with thousands of dollars of debt when they left. One left with an AT&T bill for an iphone that we got collection notices over for years in the mail.

They are adults. It's their debt. You do nothing. You aren't their parents. It's not your credit report. You nod and say, "alright then".

They pass around links for $50 referral bonuses when they get their aupair friends to sign up for one too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My AP told me that all the APs open cards, run up balances and then leave the country. So it could be that your AP is being advised by her peers to open one.

My AP did open a few. I took the "not my business" approach so I have no idea if she paid them or what. But, she is STILL getting credit card offers at my house 2 years after leaving. The credit card companies are relentless once you open that door.

Why does the State Department allow this kind of fraud?

It's not fraud. They have social security numbers and driver's licenses. They order their own Discover cards which are incredibly difficult or impossible to get in their home countries. They live the american dream and run up credit card debt. If they don't stay in country, most of the debt wont' follow them and it's just free money. If they stay in country, they either are in school or getting married. Either way, the debt can be traded off for a student loan or an engagement ring.

An aupair has zero housing costs during the year. Zero car insurance. Most of the time a paid for cellphone and data. A newly minted Discover card with a 23% interest rate. It's not fraud, but the outcome is rarely responsible spending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My AP told me that all the APs open cards, run up balances and then leave the country. So it could be that your AP is being advised by her peers to open one.

My AP did open a few. I took the "not my business" approach so I have no idea if she paid them or what. But, she is STILL getting credit card offers at my house 2 years after leaving. The credit card companies are relentless once you open that door.

Why does the State Department allow this kind of fraud?

It's not fraud. They have social security numbers and driver's licenses. They order their own Discover cards which are incredibly difficult or impossible to get in their home countries. They live the american dream and run up credit card debt. If they don't stay in country, most of the debt wont' follow them and it's just free money. If they stay in country, they either are in school or getting married. Either way, the debt can be traded off for a student loan or an engagement ring.

An aupair has zero housing costs during the year. Zero car insurance. Most of the time a paid for cellphone and data. A newly minted Discover card with a 23% interest rate. It's not fraud, but the outcome is rarely responsible spending.

Borrowing money with no intention of repaying it is fraud...

[Anonymous]

Someone with no values and basic honesty is watching your kids and you are ok with that? Lots of trolls around here because it cannot be true,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone with no values and basic honesty is watching your kids and you are ok with that? Lots of trolls around here because it cannot be true,

You think it's a troll posting that you can get a credit card as an au pair? Just ask your au pair. It's common place. I think it's odd that host families don't have any idea what their au pairs are up to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone with no values and basic honesty is watching your kids and you are ok with that? Lots of trolls around here because it cannot be true,

I’m one of the PPs who had an Au Pair who opened a credit card. I have no idea if she paid her balance or not. The Au pair program is weird in that you are supposed to treat her like a daughter in some ways (cars, gifts, including her in holidays and vacations), but she is not your daughter. At the end of the day she’s an adult who will make her own decisions. I absolutely told my AP that I didn’t think a credit card was necessary for her, just as I encouraged her to pay her taxes (which she didn’t do). But I can’t make her do anything, and I can’t step in like I will with my own kids.

Honestly, I don’t think my AP’s “financial values” mattered that much. She was a kind person, not a partier, didn’t sleep around, etc. It’s sort of like my work colleagues - as long as they are pleasant and do their heavy lifting, I don’t know/care if they have credit card debt. Millions of Americans do (I do not), I don’t think it necessarily means those people lack values - though I understand the sentiment.

This is one reason I didn’t like the AP program. They are impressionable young women who don’t always make the best decisions, but you can’t step in like you could with your own 22 year old.

[Anonymous]

Never mind the credit cards. The ignorance of the people commenting here is astounding.
If an Au Pair is able to open a card, it's between them and the card issuer. Everybody else needs to stay out, including State Department.
She might be able to get a secured card, and we know what that means, right?! There's no fraud, she can only charge as much as the collateral.
It's the credit issuers job to keep card users accountable. Whether they committed a fraud at some point or not, is decided in the court, not on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never mind the credit cards. The ignorance of the people commenting here is astounding.
If an Au Pair is able to open a card, it's between them and the card issuer. Everybody else needs to stay out, including State Department.
She might be able to get a secured card, and we know what that means, right?! There's no fraud, she can only charge as much as the collateral.
It's the credit issuers job to keep card users accountable. Whether they committed a fraud at some point or not, is decided in the court, not on DCUM.

While I agree with this, the sad part is that the government does turn away visa applicants because of debts, inability to show they can support themselves here and a whole list of requirements that means the State Dept is involved in a visa applicants or holders finances. I think au pairs need to be treated less like family members and more like visa holders and adults who live with a family. I do not want the responsibility of counseling a 20-something about their finances who isn't my child.

Host families need to wake up though. Au pairs do a lot of things worse than opening credit cards.