Have you ever tought of applying for a credit card when you were 6 years old? Didn’t you hate that you didn’t have access to credit when you were 6? Today’s kids can easily get a credit card with $0 income. CBS 2 Chicago reported a story of a six-year-old applied for a credit card and got it approved. This 6-year-old boy named Bennett Christiansen from Aurora, IL. His new credit card was approved by Bank of America with $600 credit limit.

The following is a part story from CBS 2 Chicago:

An Aurora mom was somewhat amused last April when she received a credit card application addressed to her then-5-year-old son. As a test she had young Bennett Christiansen fill out the application and she sent it in. She was stunned when Bank of America sent her kid a shiny new card with a $600 limit.

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Christiansen said she decided to allow Bennett to fill out a credit card application from Bank of America. He accurately wrote in his birthday in 2002, his annual income of $0, and the fact that he is an “other,” that is, neither a homeowner nor a renter. He signed his name in writing that was obviously that of a child, she said.

A short time later, Christiansen said she received a credit card with Bennett’s name on it.

As we can see from the report, Bennett even put his real birthday (2002) and actual income ($0) but he still got approved by Bank of America—even he signed his name in writting like a child. Interesting! I guess the credit card appoval department or the credit analysts were not aware that their approval system was not working at that time.

Obviously, Bennett didn’t have any credit history at the time of application.The question is why Bank of America would like to issue a credit card to a guy without any credit history and income at the age of 6. I think there is something to do with the approval system. Current online application process system can determine whether or not to approve your credit card application in about 60 seconds. If the system can’t reject your application and can’t approve your application at the same time, a human (credit analyst) will look over your application and then decide whether to approve your application or not. That’s why sometimes you will receive a call from new account department to verify yout identity and confirm your annual income. If you don’t have any significant flaws (too many inquiries, bankruptcy, too many balances etc) on your credit report, you applicationis likely to get approved. At least, I’m sure that “not enough credit history” is not an excuse to deny your application.

Another possible reason why Bank of America approved Bennett’s application is banks never put cosumers’ best interest at heart. Their purpose is to get as many consumers as possible. Most consumers at U.S. are carrying balances each month and is being charged huge amounts of finance charges. The more people they can get to carry their credit cards, the more potential debtors they’ll have as income sources. Banks never care whether the person is real or not. They are more than happy to hand out credit cards like candy. As a matter of fact, you can add your cats or dogs as your authorized users although they can’t swipe credit card at the checkout.

Real the full story of “Mom Shocked When 6-Year-Old Gets Credit Card” at CBS 2 Chicago.