More on College Credit Card Marketing

Posted by: Meredith K. | Apr 23,2008


Or should that be: Moron College Credit Card Marketing.  A recent study of college students showed that 4 out of 5 undergrads agreed that credit card companies should lay off marketing on college campuses.  Basically, this is seen as a way of saving students from themselves.  Says one student, ““There are so many discounts available for credit cards — free $25 at Amazon, Discover cash back, Macy’s 10 percent discounts. If it weren’t for all these bargains I would have never signed up.”

Argh, $25?  Really?  That’s enough to make you want to sign up for a credit card that is likely going to cost you hundreds of dollars in interest?  I’ve never quite understood people’s willingness to sign up for a credit card just based on a promotional offer.  A number of rewards cards claim, “Get $50 cash back after your first purchase!”  These tactics must be successful or they wouldn’t be as prevalent as they are.  These offers aren’t just for student credit cards but general rewards cards as well.  

It just doesn’t make sense to sign up for a credit card for such a small payoff.  What you should really be looking at is the APR and fees, not some small-fry freebie upfront that you’ll quickly spend.  

No doubt it’s students who are the most susceptible to offers such as this. For a while I advocated that colleges should provide financial seminars on campus or just that students should know better about spending wildly on credit.  Now, I’m not so sure.  If a college student is so easily duped into signing up for a credit card by the promise of a $25 gift card, that same student is likely going to spend unwisely on credit.  So maybe college students really do need to be saved from themselves and college credit card marketing needs to be stopped entirely.  Don’t even give college students the option to sign up for a card because clearly students can’t help themselves.  

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