Finance

Credit Card Companies Target College Students - Part 1

Schools Allow Credit Card Companies to Prey Upon College Students?

Written by Gaurav Bhola, MSM, Managing Editor & Community Manager on September 7, 2007 11:07 am EST

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As new and existing college students start school this semester, they will be greeted by more than professors. They will encounter an affable smile, a pleasant disposition of a friendly stranger bearing gifts. Yes, this warm and fuzzy stranger is willing to part with his $1 frisbee, $3 pen, a $5 shirt, or possibly an older version of the iPod for free, in return for your valuable private information and John Hancock at the bottom of the credit card application. Welcome to the new millennium, where schools allow purveyors of plastic money to roam free the corridors of higher learning looking for their latest vulnerable prey, the college student.

These credit card predators offer the above free allurements and enticements to hook students and eventually trap them in a cycle of debt. For schools to allow these card companies on campus to target students is at minimum stupefying and at worst complicity in the exploitation of naïve students. My previous articles about the student loan scandals and how many universities are part and parcel of the college loan debacle, reflects an atmosphere on campuses that taking advantage of students is okay.

Families send their children off to college to obtain knowledge, not credit card debt. Alas, that is what is occurring and it is getting worse. Students are starting their lives at school with new hopes and dreams, which turn into nightmares of unending consumer credit debt. Remember, on top of any college student loan that they may have, credit card debt is an added crushing weight.

For it is, majority of college and university students do not have the life experiences nor the financial sophistication to understand the complexities of credit cards, even many adults dont. Students dont understand interest rates, fees, and consumer rights associated with these instruments of debt.

So it is little wonder, that college students are racking up thousands of dollars in credit debt and ruining their credit rating. Consequently, bad credit will lead to bad credit scores on their credit reports, taking years for credit repair. So, along with counseling on their school subjects, students will need credit counseling as well. It is not surprising without any college, university, and governmental oversight, students and their families are left to their own devices to be vigilant against predatory marketing by credit card companies.

Part 2: Coming soon…

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