Generation plastic
70% use cards on purchases of less than $2
BY LORE CROGHAN,
DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
Allie Nudelman
The 25-and-under crowd is hooked on debit and credit cards.
They use plastic instead of cash - no matter how small the purchase.
A whopping 70% of those 18 to 25 years old buy stuff for less than $2 with their cards, a new survey by Visa USA said.
For the most part, their parents don't. Just 26% of those 45 and older use cards for those tiny purchases.
During the past three months, one in three from the younger generation used cards to pay for a single cup of tea or coffee - the cheap kind that costs less than $2.
Nearly two thirds of them never leave home without a card in pocket or purse, the survey said. Sixty percent rarely carry cash.
Why are young people more prone to use plastic than cash?
"They have come of age during a time when the immediacy of electronic information, communication and commerce are the norm," Visa's Niki Manby said.
Surprisingly, 84% of those 18 to 25 said they keep better track of their monthly expenses when they use cards. And they'd better.
The ones who don't get slammed by their banks. Once their balance hits zero, every single debit-card purchase - no matter how small - incurs a fee of $27 on average, said Greg McBride of Bankrate.com.
That's an expensive cup of coffee, even by New York standards.
Allie Nudelman
# Age: 20
# What she uses her credit card for: Everything.
Allie Nudelman's parents tell her it makes more sense to get cash from an ATM for small purchases, but the fees are $2 or $3 at the machines around NYU where she's a student. Nudelman, who's from North Brunswick, N.J, buys MetroCards with her credit card. She lives at South Street Seaport, and needs to take the subway to get to and from school. She also uses plastic for $5 and $6 meals. Some of her friends don't carry cash with them.
"They've had their bags stolen," she said. "A credit card is easier to cancel."
But Nudelman always has some money with her - about $40. She got into the habit last year while living in Chinatown.
"People expect you to pay cash down there," she said. "They have a $10 minimum for credit cards."
Kerri Mulder
# Age: 24
# What she uses her debit card for: Everything, except really big stuff like plane tickets.
Kerri Mulder got her debit card at age 17, when she started college.
She uses it to make buys as small as $5.
Sometimes the NYU grad student gets cash back with her purchases, because you need regular money to buy ice cream or peanuts from street vendors, she said.
Mulder, who's from Lynchburg, Va., doesn't keep track of her debit-card transactions. She doesn't really know at any given time how much money she has spent.
"I kind of have a general idea," she said.
If she wants to find out, she checks online. And she reads her monthly bank statements.
Kevin Connaghan
# Age: 20
# What he uses his credit card for: Everything but lunch.
"Cash is easier if you eat with other people, and I hate to eat alone," said NYU student Kevin Connaghan.
How does he keep track of his spending? "I don't," confessed the Greenwich Village resident. He's got a $1,500 credit-card balance.
He knows what a check register is, but doesn't use one.
"I keep carbon copies of my checks," he said.
Kevin Guzewich
# Age: 20
# What he uses his credit card for: Everything but theater tickets.
Kevin Guzewich needs cash for student rush tickets, because that's how you have to pay for them.
Otherwise, the NYU student relies heavily on his credit card - even for very small purchases, if he's shopping online. The other day, he used his credit card to buy a used book for $4.50 from Amazon.com.
It's only natural that people his age use cards instead of cash.
"We've grown up in an age where we are used to technical things," said Guzewich, who lives in Greenwich Village.
yourmoney@nydailynews.com
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