Reeling in Credit Cards on Campuses
View PDF | Print View
by: barrywaters
Total views: 98
Word Count: 448
College campuses offer a lucrative venue for companies marketing credit cards. Walk on any campus and you will see representatives from various companies giving away shirts, mugs and applications for credit cards. College kids are an effortless target. Most are experiencing the sense of being independent like never before in their lives. The idea of having credit cards in their name can seem like the ticket to financial freedom.
Banks have a tradition on many campuses. Bank of America and Michigan State University, for example, have a multi million dollar contract that gives the bank access to the names of students currently enrolled. The bank gives the college money for any new coeds who get credit cards with them. Contracts like these often offer universities even more money, if their students carry balances on those credit cards. These mutually beneficial relationships put students in the middle at a time when many of them are not yet able to budget or fully appreciate the long term effects of debt. As a result, many student groups are raising concerns about credit card issuers exploiting students. The relationship between banks and universities also came under a microscope when hearings were held on Capitol Hill last June to scrutinize campus marketing practices.
Credit card companies claim they are acting in good faith and helping students learn to become responsible consumers. Student credit cards offer an opportunity for students to develop a relationship with a bank and build a foundation for their credit history. Banks offer seminars on responsible spending, budgeting and paying off balances on credit cards. They also claim that student credit cards have some built in protection that other cards do not offer, such as decreased credit limits. Some banks are even giving students the option to open debit cards in lieu of credit cards. Academic institutions say that any contracts they have with banks are undergone lawfully, benefit student programs and are in the best interest of students. In spite of those claims, there has been a movement to rein in the right to use student data when universities establish new bank relationships.
Like everyone else, students are feeling the affects of the economic downturn. Some may open credit cards to help with expenses. It appears that banks and universities will continue to have marketing contracts and relationships, albeit at less aggressive levels than in the past. Students are likely taking notes during the current economic downturn and will research and understand how to be responsible credit card consumers.
Related topics Low interest credit cards Best credit cards Secured credit cards
About the Author
Get more about credit cards for bad credit, read this web site.
Rating: Not yet rated