Credit Cards Blog

Unless you live under a rock or have an active social life, you probably haven’t heard of the Credit Card Act of 2009. This giant piece of legislation, that I’ve mentioned before, is designed to protect consumers in a very tumultuous time of economic uncertainty. This is true for protecting students who are entering school, or leaving school as the case may be, and experiencing large amounts of debt and educating themselves on credit.

So, let’s take a look at ‘youth and credit’ as I’ve heard it called. The Credit Card Act of 2009 (CCA) seeks to protect youths from being preyed upon by credit card companies. It severely limits the amount of marketing to them and limits the issuing of credit cards to students under 21 (I should say anyone under 21). In the case of youths under 21, in order to request a credit card they must show proof of their income to prove they have the ability to pay their credit card bill or they must have an adult co-signer if he or she prefers a credit card in their own name, i.e. a student credit card.

Now, I’m sure we’re all familiar with the ‘sign up and get a free pizza / t-shirt / free-piece-of-crap-gift-I-really-want-right-now’ gift. Well that sight is no more . . . at least on college campuses. The practice can only be done outside of 1000 feet of campus property. This is good news for some and bad news for those looking for the next locale for obtaining a free lunch or free crap.

I’ll be delving into more details of the CCA and youth (students) in the days to come.