For awhile now students, especially college students have been the target of the credit card industry. After all, college graduates earn on average much more than non-college graduates. So they're a logical "market segment" for the credit card industry to want to mine. Banks and other credit card issuers feel that if they can make college students their customers at an early age, they can keep them as customers for a very long time. Long-term profit is the goal here, nothing more. In some ways, this view is very similar to the way the cigarette industry has viewed young people in the past. And they haven’t exactly had their best interests at heart now have they?

The problem is that the credit card industry's marketing to young people has been rather shady. Students on college campuses are often bombarded by credit card materials - applications & brochures. In fact it's not uncommon on some campuses to find credit card offers pre-stuffed into the bottom of every bag in the student store. That means every purchase comes with an advertisement for a credit card.

Credit card reps can also often be found in the common student areas hawking their wares behind some portable Visa or MasterCard display. Many times these reps are students themselves which is a great marketing ploy because it gives them instant connectivity with their peers and a certain implied authority when it comes to student credit. They're salesmen and saleswomen masking as peer counselors. But in reality, they're not really qualified to dole out credit counseling because they have little real-world experience. Plus there's that nasty conflict of interest because they're getting paid.

When a college student applies for their first college credit card, a special "student" credit card, they're almost always accepted. These are easy credit cards to obtain in spite of the fact that these students have little or no credit history and little or no income. These introductory cards usually have lower limits than the kind of cards you or I might receive, but they are no less financially dangerous. That's because it's not uncommon for a student's credit limit to be raised after a very short time with the card which just increases the potential for more debt. Also, a lot of students apply for more than one card and that just multiplies the problem.

This has been a growing problem for some time now. College student credit card debt has been growing. We've been graduating students with a heap of debt. It isn't enough that most students need to take out loans to pay for college, many are adding needless credit card debt on top of it. The result is a sea of graduates saddled with what amounts to a mortgage payment the day they accept their diploma. That's not the way to start out in life.

Thankfully, public outcry has been loud enough and long enough that Congress finally sat up and took notice. Recently they passed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009 (commonly referred to as the Credit "CARD" bill). The bill addressed several aspects of credit card industry practices and in particular, the practices and policies aimed at young consumers.

One of the strongest provisions in the bill directly impacts an applicant's qualifications. No longer can a credit card issuer approve an application for anyone under 21 years of age unless the applicant has a co-signer (someone who's over 21) or unless the applicant can provide proof that they have the independent means to repay any credit they would receive. In other words, the applicant must prove they can pay back whatever they borrow before they'll be allowed to borrow it. As logical as that provision seems, it hasn't been the way student credit cards have been approved in the past. And we wonder why so many young people have so much debt?

Another section of the bill prevents credit card companies from raising the credit limit for anyone with a co-signer unless the co-signer first approves. This will prevent many students from "doubling-down" on their bad debt, i.e. maxing out at a $500.00 limit and then having it raise to $1,000.00 only to see that limit maxed as well.

And simple bribing is out too. Companies will no longer be able to provide gifts to students in exchange for filled-out credit card applications. So no more prepaid phone cards, or spa coupons, movie tickets, or any of the other myriad things reps have been giving out just to get a warm signature on the bottom line of an app. Of course this only applies to the college campuses themselves, which means the credit card companies will find a way to move their marketing operations to the malls across the street from the schools. That lessens the impact somewhat, but still, it’s something.

Lastly, and this is my favorite, the colleges themselves are going to have to publicly disclose whatever marketing agreements they have with each and every credit card company that they allow on campus. You didn’t think these companies were allowed to set up shop without some kind of quid pro quo did you? No, the colleges and universities have been getting something in return for their cooperation all along.

In the past, it’s all been very hush-hush and with good reason. After all, it's a little bit of a conflict of interest don't you think? Here they have this captive audience of fledgling consumers whomy they’ve pledged to educate and protect and yet they selectively expose them to certain companies without also providing even the smallest amount of education or protection.

When a company is allowed to do business on any campus, it gives them a measure of implied authority and approval. That means students are more likely to trust what they’re being told and buy what they’re being sold. But in reality these credit card companies aren’t given their licenses to sell on campuses just because their products are so beneficial to the student population, rather they’re there because they “pay to play.” I’m not sure that quite smells right. No wonder university administration departments have been so reluctant to share their marketing agreements with the public.

There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is the Credit CARD act of 2009. Students will now have to earn their college credit card before they can use it. And that’s a good thing because you can’t truly value something if you haven’t had to work to obtain it. That work and that value will cause more young people to take credit seriously and learn how to use it properly. Maybe then they won’t end up repeating the same mistakes of their fathers and mothers.