Creditors Scramble for College Students

Oct. 5, 2009— -- As college students across the country headed back to campus last month for the new school year, so did the credit card companies. And they're pounding the pavement.

The companies are scrambling to sign up young people for credit cards in a last-minute effort to beat the new credit card law that takes effect in February. Under the new rules, the Credit CARD Act of 2009 will restrict anyone younger than 21 from getting his or her own credit card, unless a parent, guardian or spouse is willing to co-sign or unless the underage person has proof of sufficient income to cover the credit obligations.

Not everyone thinks that's such a good thing. "One of the unfortunate consequences of this new legislation is that it will inhibit otherwise responsible kids from establishing a credit history," said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, a consumer financial services company.

Olivia Worley, 20, an early childhood education major at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, has one credit card in her name and believes building credit is an important step toward adulthood.

"You have to have credit established to buy a car, buy a house and even to set up your bills," Worley said. "Otherwise, your monthly payments are more expensive. If we can be 'legal' adults at 18 and start our own lives, then we need that credit because a lot of young people don't have a lot of money to shell out of pocket."

Eighty-four percent of college undergraduates have at least one credit card, up from 76 percent in 2004, according to Reston, Va.-based SLM Corp., the nation's largest college student loan company, commonly known as Sallie Mae.

Natalia Madrigal, 18, an undecided freshman at Arizona State University in Tempe, supports the new law and isn't trying to get a credit card before the law kicks in. "Most of the teens who have credit cards are in debt and I feel that if the law changes the age to 21, then the debt problem will decrease," Madrigal said.

Mary Ann Campbell, a professor of consumer finance at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, agreed. "This law will force them to be more cautious and responsible," Campbell said. "I've seen many students in much pain over excessive debt that repeatedly tell me they just had no idea it would accumulate so quickly."