The Truth of Credit

If you were in college and someone offered to pay for your beer for the semester would you do it? (Probably!) Would you do it if you knew that you would be paying for it over the next 15 years? (God I hope not!) That’s essential what college students are doing with their credit cards. In a recent study  by  U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, which surveyed students at 40 schools across the country, nearly two-thirds of all students have at least one credit card. Of those students the average senior had more than $2,600 in credit card debt, and the average freshman’s balance was more than $1,300.

Now, obviously this is nothing new to this scenario. Recently, however there has been a major push by some public interest groups to draft some “Fair Marketing Practices” for these students. Can you really see colleges letting this happen this? Not when some of their biggest supporters and alumni are credit card industry execs. The college student is way to much of a profit center for these companies and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

The TRUTH is regardless of whether public interest groups are successful in reining in questionable marketing practices, the best defense for college students is the same as for any other card user: If you can’t pay off your balance every month, you’re probably better not having a card or you should use it only in emergencies.

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