Comments on: Can College Students Handle Credit?

By: Chase (from The Credit Blog)

Chase (from The Credit Blog) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:37:37 +0000

Hey Stephanie, that is CRAZY that 7 to 10% drop out of college for credit reasons alone! It makes sense though I think it’s the stress of being able to afford college… not easy, especially today!

By: Bookmarked - Carnivals and Links - July 18 | Student Scrooge

Bookmarked - Carnivals and Links - July 18 | Student Scrooge — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:39:57 +0000

[...] over at Poorer Than You wrote on whether college students can handle credit. This is a subject I have thought about quite a bit lately, especially as I have had several [...]

By: J

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:17:23 +0000

I made a little post, inspired by the affinity card link, on how one can game cards rewards to maximize benefits.
http://jadedconsumer.blogspot.com/2008/07/not-to-schools-credit.html

FSU’s affinity card contract certainly represents a conflict between the students and the institution selling their names to financial predators offering crummy terms. Students wanting to support their schools have better options.

Keep up the good work!

J’s last blog post..Not To A School’s Credit

By: Chris Hoyer

Chris Hoyer — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:50:23 +0000

Another great column, Stephanie. One of our investigators got his hands on one of those secret ‘afinity’ contracts, this one between Florida State University and Bank of America. There you can see the amount of money thrown at the college to allow those T shirt promotions and, more insidiously, to use the student and alumni personal information sold to the Bank by the University. In that case the proceeds didn’t even go to the college but rather their athletic booster club. All this was happening in secret while the Student Government was running a program to avoid these cards. The irony makes my head hurt. Keep up the good work. Here’s the link:
http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/2008/07/10/fsu-profits-off-of-student-credit-card-debt/

By: Hot Weather Roundup — Broke Grad Student

Hot Weather Roundup — Broke Grad Student — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:03:46 +0000

[...] Can College Students Handle Credit? at Poorer Than You [...]

By: Sir Tickleass McNonymous

Sir Tickleass McNonymous — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:53:03 +0000

Absolutely not… I’m 1800 in debt! I’m so poor I’m willing to sell my ass on the streets.

Anyways, good post. You should check out my blog at http://collegeandyonder.org

By: Peter Mottola

Peter Mottola — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:09:08 +0000

My parents entrusted me with a credit card right before I entered High School. By the time I got to college I didn’t really think about it anymore.

As in all things, educating kids before they’re in the thick of things is probably a good idea.

By: J

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:30:30 +0000

Some reasons I think cards are so abundant when vendors can set up on campus are that (a) freebies (hat? shirt? frisbee?) and insta-credit offers (free gift card, cash off first bill, etc.) are offered on an “only if you act now” basis, and it’s a hard sell to escape; (b) attractive salespeople can get attention that leaves victims socially unable to escape without awkwardness, unless they take the literature; (c) credit cards are largely a phenomenon of convenience, and the very people you want using them (if you are a card issuer) are the very people who would be loathe to struggle to find a card off-campus.

At different times I’ve had Discover (there used to be a high-roller Discover with a cash-back over 2%; the current program rotates certain purchase types like restaurants or travel and gives then 5% temporarily, which is good if you pay attention), an American Express (the Blue Cash gives me 5% on groceries, fuel, and some other common purchases and 1.5% back on other purchases, like graduate tuition and new appliances), a Chase-issued Mastercard (3% back at restaurants is great when Discover isn’t running a 5% month, and one of my favorite restaurants has a deal with Continental whereby I register my 3% card with the program and earn miles atop the 3% while I eat), a Visa issued by Capital One (for use abroad; the 3% foreign surcharge ordinarily added to V/MC bills internationally doesn’t apply to CapitalOne cards, and CapitalOne even eats the international 1% charged by the card-brand licensor). Advanta is evil, but they have a program whereby they pay 5% back on utility payments, so I auto-pay my phone and electricity with an Advanta-issued business card.

I pay every card every month. If I can avoid using a card in a month, I do — there’s no reason to use one if you can avoid the hassle of looking after the bill. The trick isn’t to spend more on cards, but to spend on cards the same money you’d otherwise not get cash back for. I mean, you were going to spend that money on electricity, fuel,. telephone … just get a kickback!

You are spot-on, though: most folks don’t spend the attention needed to game their cards. They just use them as if their pockets were deeper and are shocked to discover they owe tens of thousands in high-interest debt.

I recently blogged on Mastercard as an investment. http://jadedconsumer.blogspot.com/2008/07/cream-of-credit.html Some of my other investing ideas are also on the site. Of course, managing one’s wallet so one has something to invest is a necessary first!

One thing I’ve done when I realize I have a credit account that is really unused is to call and cancel the account. This has actually saved my bacon, as I’ve had folks try to “steal” credit accounts that I’d closed. Had I not closed the accounts, I’d never have noticed thieves having the account statements shipped to a new address and the cards filled with charges. As it was, I got a letter explaining the address change would not be honored because the account was closed, and inviting me to re-apply!

Keep up the good work!

J’s last blog post..Cream of the Cards

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:33:38 +0000

Thanks to everyone for the responses - I can see where the statistic comes from! Of course, the problem isn’t with you guys - smart use of multiple credit cards is obviously possible, but the problem lies in the fact that many college students aren’t getting their cards so…. strategically. It’s an issue when someone is doing more of a “max out one card, get another” deal.

@L - Thanks for coming by my site! I wanted to let you know that I’ve been reading your blog for a few weeks, since I learned you guys were in Rochester. And to be truthful, there is an element of “just getting the piece of paper” in why I went back to RIT, but that’s a long story.

By: L@spillingbuckets

L@spillingbuckets — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:50:06 +0000

Oh, and also - Ry wishes he had dropped out of RIT… we’ve got SO many loans (no cc debt though) and he hated his major at the end. Props to you for actually doing it and not “sucking it up” to get the paper.

L@spillingbuckets’s last blog post..Why we closed Prosper.com and opened Kiva.org