College costs money. If your parents aren't upper-middle-class, that means borrowing money.
Then you show up at college, and on your way to class on day 1, you are accosted by various banks handing out credit cards (or at least this was the case in the late-90s when I was at UVA).
Then, you finish college, and because real wages haven't changed in 40 years, you borrow more money to pay rent, pay back student loans, etc.
Americans have an unhealthy relationship with consumerism and credit. Doesn't help that credit is currently cheap, so buy-now, pay-later is the norm.
It's completely crazy, no disagreement. But, it's been this way for decades.
Good to know! When I was in school, they'd camp out for the day near the student section in the football stadium and hand out free stuff to anybody who took a card. Free gifts and big credit lines to drunk 19 year olds - bonkers.
Did anybody actually give them real info? To us it was just a game of filling out made up details, and recalling enough to survive their quizzing to win the prize. That's probably impossible with online verification now, though.
what does it specifically say? I remember seeing prominent BofA and some other bank's booth at my college's welcome week in 2017, and a decent number of people crowded around. Felt very scummy.
Looks like the Act prevented the extension of credit to students >21yo and banned the handing out of food/gifts. But, didn't outright prevent banks from setting up tables to push their services.
From Wikipedia...
Eliminates excessive marketing to young adults. Consumers under the age of 21 must prove that they have an independent income or get a co-signer before applying for a credit card. The Act also prevents credit card companies from mailing offers to consumers under 21 unless they "opt in," and prohibits companies from wooing students with T-shirts, free pizza and other free gifts at university-sponsored events.
Wikipedia claims:
“Eliminates excessive marketing to young adults. Consumers under the age of 21 must prove that they have an independent income or get a co-signer before applying for a credit card. The Act also prevents credit card companies from mailing offers to consumers under 21 unless they "opt in," and prohibits companies from wooing students with T-shirts, free pizza and other free gifts at university-sponsored events.”
Not sure how much companies toe the line/what was going on at the event you saw.
I think it's a little more nuanced than the wikipedia article suggests, I saw some other sources saying that they're allowed to hand out stuff, but not if it's like a reward for signing up for the card. For example: handing out a shirt in exchange for applying wouldn't be allowed, but handing out a shirt to anyone that visited the booth would be ok.
(2) INDUCEMENTS PROHIBITED. —No card issuer or creditor may offer to a student at an institution of higher education any tangible item to induce such student to apply for or participate in an open end consumer credit plan offered by such card issuer or creditor, if such offer is made
Then you show up at college, and on your way to class on day 1, you are accosted by various banks handing out credit cards (or at least this was the case in the late-90s when I was at UVA).
Then, you finish college, and because real wages haven't changed in 40 years, you borrow more money to pay rent, pay back student loans, etc.
Americans have an unhealthy relationship with consumerism and credit. Doesn't help that credit is currently cheap, so buy-now, pay-later is the norm.
It's completely crazy, no disagreement. But, it's been this way for decades.