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Rosa Gale

Sept 9, 2010

Professor. Thornton

English Tues-Thurs 10:50-12-05

Students, Building Their Credit or Digging Credit Pitts

With student debt at an all time high and credit card companies ³helping to build these

mountains of debt´ (Silver-Greenberg), many financial experts have continued to study and

overlook problems not only within credit card companies and the common trends they pose on

students who are bound to be the next victims of becoming new card owners, but they also

address the issues of the stereotypical naïve mentality and un-educated attitudes students may

have on their overall spending habits. With these continuous studies, experts and government

officials are trying to find new solutions to improve not only the debt crisis that so many

individuals find themselves in, but also to find solutions for the prevention of debt for the future

generations to come. Although building credit is a very important main necessity in the society

we live in today, it seems that more and more students are digging themselves into a financial

debit pit before they even graduate; mostly due to credit card companies luring in students to the

³get -it-now, pay- for-it-later´ lifestyle expressed in author¶s Christine Dugas¶s article

³Generation Y¶s Step Financial Hurdles; Huge Debt, No Savings´. By comparing various

similarities within a couple of different articles, the notion and question that has regressed with

negative effects for the student, if, credit is not used wisely is, whether there can in fact be a

solution(s) to help eliminate these problems for students and their bad credit debt.
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³Come one come all, sign up and get free gifts´. ³Need money now, just pay it off later´.

As if at a circus, credit card companies are finding new ways to lure students into their tents of

attractions. With such an array of gifts being offered who wouldn¶t be ensnared in this financial

credit web. ³It¶s kind of like this magic piece of plastic´ Susan James¶s ³Credit Card Borrowing

Tightens for the Under-21¶s´. Credit card companies based as sole profit corporations, compete

to entrap as many students as possible by offering credit limits that are so beyond the logical

means for a public that is generally not well versed financially and most times a public whom are

unemployed, as was similarly discussed by author Sliver-Greenberg. Though credit card

companies are quick to be criticized by experts and analysts, many credit card companies are

even quicker to respond. According to author Sliver ± Greenberg, Credit card companies argue

that they do in fact provide contracts and rule books that contain all their policies and

information to, so they say, help educate the card owner. But as quoted by Law professor of

Harvard University, Elizabeth Warren, ³how [can] any college student understand the terms of a

card/«when the agreements themselves are unreadable´ (qtd. Silver-Greenberg).

Although many experts argue the point that it is the credit card companies fault for many

students and the immense debt they find themselves; This is primarily due to the fact that they

scheme Students with offering them gifts, and targeting many students on campus or on even

luring them on the internet. Once the student is hooked in and trapped, many credit companies

start allowing a monthly credit limit that is usually not met with employment (James). It is still

argued by many that it ultimately falls down onto the individual themselves for the situations

they get themselves into. Credit and or debit, if used wisely and responsibly is not such a

negative matter as suggests and is argued in author Susan James¶s article; that if one were in fact

to be wise on spending and paying of the credit card or any debt, this will no doubt give good or
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decent credit scores, rather than the torrential debt down pour many today are faced with.

Though author Susan James discusses the matter that it is ultimately down to the individual who

gets ultimately get themselves trapped into debt it must be note as argued in author Dugas¶s

article that students who receive a credit card(s), some having more than 2 or 3 are generally

speaking very optimistic about paying the debt once they¶ve graduated and are settle in their

career, sadly, that is not case. Many students end up having to drop out of school with debts that

are usually unfathomable to believe; This is mainly due to the fact that the new kids of

³Generation Y´ (Dugas) happens to live in a society with neat new gadgets, gizmos and all sorts

of doohickeys that in other words tickle their fancy buttons and with credit cards being as

available as they are today, and offering all sorts of gifts, it turns out that the wants wins over the

needs. Because of such availability this is usually is overlooked by the individual and is one of

the main causes that many students find themselves head over heels in such horrendous debt.

As laws are being made, critiqued and overviewed, the new legislation will put a

limitation on the credit level that is available for the student, thus credit card companies cannot

³charge more than 20 percent of earnings´(James) and that in order to even apply and receive a

credit card the student would need a co signer, that serves as not only a safety net for the credit

card company but supposedly a safety net for the student, to be in the constant shadow of

guidance and responsibility. With that being said although there will still be ways for companies

to reach out to students, (James), and corner them in debt due to the stereotypical mind set of

students primarily shown in author Dugas¶s article in the article ³under 21? No credit for you´

entails points of the new legislations laws against credit card companies but argues that although

the laws may help the student some in ways, it is not entirely beneficial to the student.
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With all the studies that have been produced to show the causes and effects of not only

debt as a public but the debt a student has to face, we are shown that although many credit card

companies are invasive and the real culprits behind a student¶s, we also have to factor in the

thought process and naïve behavior students take on to get themselves in such a mess. With new

laws and regulations, it will hopefully slow sown and or eliminate most cases but in turn one still

has to look at all the factors including living situation, school tuition and etc which would be the

main factors to student debt.

Work Cited


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James, Susan. ³Credit Card Borrowing Tightens for Under- 21s´. v

 21 Aug. 2009.

Web. 1, Sept. 2010

Silver-Greenberg, Jessica. ³Majoring in Credit-Card Debt´.  
 

. Bloomberg

Businessweek. 5, Sept. 2007. Web. 9 Sept. 2010