Student credit card predators move just off campus
The Consumerist had an interesting post recently. It seems the recent fight against credit card companies recruiting students on campus has legislators up in arms and lenders getting creative.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that state legislators are aiming to curb Bank of America’s credit card recruiting efforts on state college campuses. Ohio Attorney General Mark Dunn recently sued credit marketers with Citibank ties for advertising “Free Burritos” available to hungry Ohio State students. The advertisement failed to mention that students would be required to complete a credit card application.
Syracuse University has a ban already in place against on-campus credit card marketers. Marketers are also prohibited from giving gifts in exchange for credit applications under university guidelines. Citi decided to go just off campus to the Pita Pit and hand out free food in exchange for the completion of forms that allow mtvU credit card applications to be mailed to the consumer. Sneaky, sneaky. Of course, the event was heavily marketed with on-campus flyers, but the actual dirty deeds were done off campus.
Really, something must be done, and sooner rather than later. Legislators seem to be slowly trodding their way toward that goal.
