‘I Will Encourage Him to Shred That Card’: Dad Kills His College Freshman’s Credit Card Live On Air
A Alabama dad called into a national radio show certain he had cracked the code for setting his scholarship-winning son up financially, and the hosts dismantled his entire plan before he hung up.
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Kevin from Mobile, Alabama, called The Ramsey Show proud of a move he had made for his college freshman. The son won scholarships and owes no tuition, so Kevin added him as an authorized user on his credit card to cover campus living expenses and start a credit history. By the end of the segment, Kevin said he would tell his son to shred the card and use cash instead, noting the boy already has a debit card.
Hosts Rachel Cruze and Jade Warshaw, both Ramsey Solutions personalities, turned around his plan inside one call. Warshaw said a zero or unknown credit score is “just as effective as a high credit score.” Cruze went further: “the main reason you use that score is to go into more debt.”
Cruze put a price on the habit. She said the average family owes about $12,000 on credit cards. At the Federal Reserve’s average card APR of 21%, that balance costs roughly $2,500 a year in interest alone. That money buys nothing.
Kevin Made the Right Call, and the Zero Score Has a Price
Shredding the card is the right move for this family. Credit card cost lives entirely in carried balances, and card rates sit near historic highs. The Fed’s average hit 21% in February 2026, and anything above 20% counts as record territory (post-2023). Those rates track the prime rate plus a margin, so they fall slowly even when the Fed cuts.
Warshaw’s “just as effective” line holds in a narrower scope than it sounds. Cruze said a mortgage via manual underwriting is the one borrowing route that does not need a score. In manual underwriting, a human reviews rent history, bill payments, savings, and job stability instead of a FICO number. Whether a lender offers it, and how strict its terms are, varies by lender.
Warshaw acknowledged the toll. The son may have to pay larger deposits for apartments and show alternate trade lines like cell phone and insurance payments to qualify. For cars, saving cash avoids a market where the average new car payment is around $900 a month, according to Cruze.
Most families are keeping up with their card payments. Card delinquencies were 2.85% of balances in April 2026, down from 2.95% earlier. That sits in the “normalizing” range of 2.5% to 3.5%. Kevin’s decision rests on behavior, and the economy is no excuse either way.
One Rolled Balance Decides Whether the Card Helps or Hurts
The variable is simple: does the balance ever carry past the due date? If Kevin pays every statement in full, the card costs zero interest, and his son’s file gets Kevin’s payment history. On paper, that is a free credit boost.
Once a balance rolls, the math turns. Interest compounds monthly at rates near 21%, and a family that drifts to Cruze’s $12,000 average is paying about $2,500 a year for the privilege.
Cushions are thinning too. The personal savings rate fell to 4.4% in the second quarter of 2026 from 5.3% in the first, which makes rolled debt more likely when a surprise bill lands.
Authorized-user status also carries risk for the son. A late payment by Kevin can land on his son’s file. An 18-year-old swiping freely for living expenses removes the friction that a debit card’s empty balance provides.
Steps to Take Before the Card Hits the Shredder
- Remove him from the account. Cutting the plastic leaves the authorized-user link in place. Call the issuer and have the son taken off so the account stops reporting to his file.
- Put recurring bills in his name. A cell phone plan, renters or auto insurance, and eventually rent become the alternate trade lines Warshaw described. Keep every statement in one folder, because manual underwriters want proof of on-time payments.
- Fund the deposit gap now. Open a savings account set aside for a future apartment deposit. A larger cash deposit is the main cost of having no score, and it is a cost he can prepare for.
- Ask lenders early. Before house hunting, call local banks and credit unions and ask whether they manually underwrite mortgages and what documentation they require. Terms differ, so get answers in writing.
- Freeze his credit. Ramsey hosts have advised, “if you freeze your credit, nobody else is getting to it either.” A frozen file blocks identity thieves from opening accounts in a college student’s name.
A credit score measures how well you borrow, so a family that never plans to borrow on a card misses little by skipping it.
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Jake has been been working in financial media for almost 15 years. He focuses on all things personal finance for 24/7 Wall St. with high hopes to educate and entertain. Most recently, Jake spent 12 years working various roles at The Motley Fool. He started copy editing fool.com content, worked on premium and marketing campaigns, and helped launch The Ascent, a personal finance brand.
His work has been featured on platforms like MSN, Yahoo Finance, USA Today, and more. He's written about credit cards, social security, ETFs, savings accounts, and just about anything else you can imagine when thinking about money. Jake love to cook, play golf, and tell people he's never had a cavity. (It's true!)
