On May 22, 2009, President Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009.However, students may not know that the government has taken measures to protect them from some of the dangers of having credit cards.
The law set up new restrictions for credit card companies and included protections for college students with credit cards.
One of the stipulations of the CARD Act is that credit card companies can no longer go onto college campuses and offer free items to students who apply for cards.
April Halaychik, assistant director of loan operations and debt management at Enrollment and Student Services, said that NSU has never allowed credit card companies to advertise on campus.
Martin Herrera, senior biology major, thinks this is a good thing.
“I don’t think they should be able to play with the people who rack the most credit card debt,” he said. “I’m here to come to school, not get free trinkets just to get a credit card.”
Another stipulation in the CARD Act is that late fees cannot exceed $25. However, Halaychik said that students should not let this tempt them into making late payments.
“Even if the late fees are low, students have to remember that it’s still going to ruin their credit if they make late payments,” Halaychik said. “So it’s not to say, ‘Oh, it’s only 25 bucks, I’ll pay it late,’ because that means your credit is going down.”
Halaychik said that the CARD Act requires students under 21 to have their parents cosign a credit card application unless they can prove that they can make the payments.
Andrew Ibrahim, freshman business administration major, said “Your parents have been involved with your whole financial life before you got a credit card. Why shouldn’t they be involved with it after?”
Halaychik said that students do not have to avoid credit cards, but that they should know if they are disciplined enough to have one.
“If you’re really undisciplined and if you’re going to get a credit card, give it to your parents to hold or cut it up so that you can’t use it, but you still have it on your credit because it’s good to be able to build credit early so that you can get those things in life later that you want,” she said.
Halaychik said that students’ credit can impact whether they can rent or buy a house and the type of vehicle they drive. Also, employers will often check on a potential employee’s or a current employee’s credit to see how trustworthy they are. This is why students who choose to use a credit card should be sure that they pay it off every month to build good credit.
“It’s so much easier to maintain and build good credit than it is to try to recover from bad credit,” Halaychik said.
