Rem Imaginis

I work in financial crime, and there are significant problems with treating “just get a credit card” as a reasonable solution to age verification. I’m particularly conscious of the financial and consumer-risk implications of making a credit card the sole means of age verification. Requiring age verification is one thing; making a credit card the sole method is another. Many Australian adults, myself included, deliberately do not hold consumer credit products. I have a Visa debit card; I do not have a credit card, and I do not want to open a credit facility or a Buy Now Pay Later account for the unrelated purpose of proving that I’m over 18. Applying for credit isn’t a financially neutral act, particularly for people seeking home finance: the application appears on your credit file and available card limits can factor into borrowing-capacity assessments. The Australian age-assurance framework does NOT mandate credit cards specifically. They’re one of several permissible methods. Age verification may be required, but requiring adults to take out a financial product they neither need nor want should not be the price of accessing age-restricted content. There need to be reasonable alternative verification methods. P.S. I just tried with my Visa debit card and got auto-rejected. So, there’s that 🤷‍♀️