Credit Card Company

Colleges Should Close Gates to Credit-Card Companies

Eighty-four percent of the student population overall have credit cards, an increase of approximately 11% since the fall of 2004 according to the most recent survey from Sallie Mae (2009), a leading originator of federally insured-student loans. Credit card companies are increasingly mercenary in their efforts to woo more students to sign up for credit cards. They set up booths outside libraries and cafeterias and lure the students with offers of free gifts to sign up for credit cards. On average a college student receives at least four phone calls per month and applications in the mail from credit card companies pressuring them to apply for a new shiny credit card (Money.cnn.com). These credit card companies have infiltrated the college campuses and are leading students down the slippery path of credit card debt. These credit card companies should not be on campus marketing to students as students are incapable of managing credit card debt.

Students are a vulnerable group directly targeted by credit card companies. The promise of a free iPod, t shirt and sometimes a free meal is oftentimes irresistible to students as they are a needy group. The companies lure them in with these free offers to sign themselves into a mountain of debt and fees. The students generally do not research the interest rate or fees or other charges that come hand in hand with that new credit card, they are so blinded by the “free” thrown at them by the companies.

Credit card companies approve card applications for college students who have no verifiable income to cover their debts, no job, and no co-signer to cover their debts if they default on payment. This practice is akin to putting a bottle of vodka into the hands of a thirsty alcoholic, and is most definitely destined to cause terrible and long lasting damage. Most students who attend college are not working and have student loans with which they pay their...