Majoring in Credit-Card Debt

[Anonymous]

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/sep2007/db2007093_443488.htm

Aggressive on-campus marketing by credit-card companies is coming under fire. What should be done to educate students about the dangers of plastic?

by Jessica Silver-Greenberg

This story is the first in a series examining the increasing use of credit cards by college students.

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Next in the series.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditnews&thread.id=381

Message Edited by Noah_Bodie on 09-05-2007 03:25 PM

[Anonymous]

It all comes down to parents who apparently can't be bothered to teach their offspring the fundamentals of how the planet they live on operates.

[Anonymous]

I agree.  I thought everybody understood credit cards when I got my first one as a teenager.  But then again, all my life my dad emphasized that you only use a credit card when you know you can pay it off the next month when you get the statement.  But my dad's approach is fueled by a deep, deep hatred for paying interest, which he has passed on to me, lol. 

Also, I just saw the Discover Card ad that proclaims a benefit where they'll pay your 6th month's interest if you simply make your payments on time, up to twice a year.  I was horrified, as this implies that it's normal to carry a balance and have habitually recurring interest payments.  I guess Americans are so credit-ignorant that this doesn't ring an alarm in the minds of the average consumer. 

I should call my dad and thank him for the basic credit lessons of my youth

[Anonymous]

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annointedWRX wrote:

I just saw the Discover Card ad that proclaims a benefit where they'll pay your 6th month's interest if you simply make your payments on time, up to twice a year.  I was horrified, as this implies that it's normal to carry a balance and have habitually recurring interest payments.

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It's actually worse than that.

Credit card lending is so obscenely profitable that Discover gives up more than 16% of their interest income.

[Anonymous]

Yes Noah, "obscenely profitable" is definitely the way to describe this.  People have been up at arms about oil companies' record breaking profits in recent quarters, but prettying up usery and seducing unwitting customers like Discover is doing is probably even less ethical and possibly as profitable.  Yet the consumer bears a lot of the blame, and it almost makes me wonder why I'm not in the credit card business...as much as I'm outraged by their ad, it's hard to blame Discover if consumers are choosing to donate their hard earned money to credit card companies.

Message Edited by annointedWRX on 09-08-2007 10:44 PM