Majoring in Credit-Card Debt

Many times when it is mentioned how much credit card debt college students carry, the credit card companies’ strategy is hardly examined beyond the fact they offer free goodies to get students to sign up. This article looks at how some companies are pursuing unethical tactics to get students cards, even when they don’t qualify. HEre’s an excerpt:

Ryan Rhoades, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh last year with more than $13,000 of debt, remembers his credit-card company’s employees telling him not to worry about being unemployed. Lukasz Kozoil, formerly a student at DePaul University, says that Citibank’s representatives told him to fill in his tuition on a card application where it asked for income. (A spokesman for Citibank says, “no representative from Citi is authorized to fill in tuition cost on a credit-card application.”) Woodworth got his American Express card without a job, and it had a credit limit of $6,000. “Within three months, they upped it to $10,000,” he says.

Ryan Rhoades, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh last year with more than $13,000 of debt, remembers his credit-card company’s employees telling him not to worry about being unemployed. Lukasz Kozoil, formerly a student at DePaul University, says that Citibank’s representatives told him to fill in his tuition on a card application where it asked for income. (A spokesman for Citibank says, “no representative from Citi is authorized to fill in tuition cost on a credit-card application.”) Woodworth got his American Express card without a job, and it had a credit limit of $6,000. “Within three months, they upped it to $10,000,” he says.

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Thanks to Slevinat Flickr for the photo!