Because 16 years old do not have a card with no spending limits, and with very low online spending limits. Most of those cards are even just for withdrawing
AWS doesn't check if your credit card will be able to handle a $5k charge before letting you rack that up, and in fact AWS doesn't support setting any spending limit.
You just have to put in any valid credit card at all when you sign up, use AWS, and at the end of the month you'll have a bill. At no point does your credit card limit or a spending limit enter into things.
I got mine when I was 12, IIRC. Not a credit, of course, it was a debit card, but not all countries bother to differentiate between the two, it was just a “bank card”. And I believe it had a credit card BIN because all local banks did that to get more in processing fees.
I do not specifically believe you can run up a $6000 bill on AWS with a kids card. It beggars belief as does the idea that this is a literal rather than mental child
Would they be given their own credit card, or would it be under the parents? Over here minors can't enter into debt contracts like credit cards, so it'd be a direct debit until they are adults.
The minor wouldn't be the actual person entering a debt contract here, the parents are agreeing to be responsible for the debt. The minor is only an authorized cardholder.
Think business accounts. The name on the card might be some agent of the company but they're not directly responsible for paying the debt. The business is responsible for the debt.
> In basically all of the western world minors can enter into debt contracts, but are generally not seen as particularly creditworthy.
No, that's not legally permitted in many places. I was under impression that minors can't enter into debt contracts anywhere in EU, but that, too, was an incorrect assumption.
I was under the impression they could do it but there was a high chance of a debt like this being unenforceable, so companies don't want to. Or maybe that's another way of saying they can have debts but not debt contracts.
I think you mean debit card? In the UK at least you need to be 18 to agree to agree to a direct debit too. Rarely comes up since they're mostly for bills, but e.g. for a phone/SIM on contract it has to be in a parent's name for that reason.
I'm reminded of the bot @needadebitcard on Twitter 10(?) years ago, that reposted pictures of people's cards that they posted on Twitter for the public to see.
its really easy to use social media bots scrapers and AI img extraction etc. dont even need tons of resources. But i was mostly talking about forums and carders which has never really stopped being a thing.