Friday, October 12, 2007

Step away from the credit card

Great story from Business Week:

A different breed of credit card marketer flooded college campuses across the country on Oct. 10: a counter-marketer. Credit card companies have been storming college campuses in recent years to seize a slice of the promising college market. But as student debt levels have surged, in some cases to dangerous levels, credit card companies have come under increasing scrutiny by federal and state lawmakers. Further hearings on credit card industry practices (BusinessWeek, 9/6/07) will continue through the fall before the Senate Banking Committee.

Now, activists groups are adopting the credit card industry's own practices to try to stop students from drowning in debt. Instead of credit card applications, these marketers are handing out information booklets outlining credit traps and unfair practices that can victimize students. Instead of Frisbees and T-shirts, these marketers are passing out lollipops that read, "Don't be a sucker."
The push for easy credit and overspending has sent the U.S. savings rate to its lowest level since the Great Depression. Send in the repo men.

1 comment:

JorgXMcKie said...

Depends on how you define 'savings rate'. I 'save' in my 403B, a couple of investment accounts, and my house, principally. Got a smallish money market for quick access and precisely *ZERO* money in a traditional savings account that essentially costs me since it pays less than inflation.

More and more people are learning how to manage money, and, surprise, surprise they tend to have more money than those who have 'savings accounts'.