It seems that college students are inundated with credit card offers. Some of these cards have fine print which show, for example, that if you miss a minimum monthly payment, it gets raised dramatically. Students also "face peer pressure to live a flashy lifestyle when they're on their own for the first time."
So consumer groups are trying to limit and regulate the offers for credit cards that appear on college campuses. I wonder how much pressure there is for students to live a flashy lifestyle and therefore spend alot of money (which they may not have and need to put on a credit card).
You can read about this in the article Project targets credit cards on campus
1 comment:
Rather than say that it is too "easy" for students to obtain credit cards, it may be better to think of it in terms "not being hard enough".
Semantics? Possibly, but if you consider than students are making adult decisions everyday, then it's perfectly reasonable to assume that (given the right opportunity) students will engage in actions that allow them to consider the consequences and choose the best outcome for their lives.
I would submit that providing students with more information about how the credit card industry works ("sneaky" tactics employed), together with a TOTAL ban on on-campus solicitation (all marketing forms) with a mandatory requirement to opt in or out from all "first card" solicitations will provide an extra layer of "hoops" to jump through, and may just be enough to help prevent some opportunistic or reckless behavior.
Hey how about (dare I say!) legislation that requires cards be issued with a limited period of validity for first time card holders, with renewals being subject to achieving a certain performance metric? No Pay, No Play (for one year?).
To learn more about opting out, check out:
www.optoutprescreen.com
Peace...
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