Groups move on credit cards
Ben Fornell - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Metro
- Page 1 of 1
There's no such thing as a free lunch, according to the United States Public Interest Research Group.
A member of the Iowa chapter of PIRG was on campus Wednesday with clipboards and giveaways similar to those that credit-card companies use to lure college students into high-interest credit plans.
A large banner with a parody of the Visa logo - Freesa, it read - hung on a table where Kathleen Cogan, a campus organizer with Iowa PIRG, was asking students to sign a petition that would limit what she called the "sleazy marketing" by credit card companies to students.
Such practices include direct marketing of credit cards to students and offering a free T-shirt or fast food in exchange for a card application.
The table was sponsored by UI Student Government, which is working to get such practices banned by the Iowa Legislature. The lawmakers' Joint Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on the matter Oct. 29 and 30.
The UI has been criticized for its credit-card marketing practices to students since it was revealed that the university has allowed the Bank of America exclusive access to student information and university assets to promote its cards.
The UI sponsors an "affinity credit card" issued by Bank of America but with the Hawkeye logo. In exchange, the university receives more than $1 million per year.
Matt Pfaltzgraf, the governmental-relations liaison for the UISG, has been leading the charge against UI-sponsored credit-card marketing. He said that most students have credit cards, but that the decision to sign up should not be based on a free sandwich.
"I don't want to end the Alumni Association's relationship with Bank of America; I just don't want it to involve students," Pfaltzgraf said.
He said credit-card use is dangerous, and it should come with an education like owning a handgun or driving a car.
"You're not just handed the keys and told, 'Now go learn on your own,' " he said.
He said that one of his main goals is to increase credit-card education on campus for students. He feels that the cards are a major factor in why students at Iowa graduate with an average of more than $25,000 in debt despite the fact that Iowa is one of the cheapest states in the U.S. for college education.
"They think it's something the can worry about after they graduate," Pfaltzgraf said. "It can do a lot of damage before that."
E-mail DI reporter Ben Fornell at:
benjamin-fornell@uiowa.edu
A member of the Iowa chapter of PIRG was on campus Wednesday with clipboards and giveaways similar to those that credit-card companies use to lure college students into high-interest credit plans.
A large banner with a parody of the Visa logo - Freesa, it read - hung on a table where Kathleen Cogan, a campus organizer with Iowa PIRG, was asking students to sign a petition that would limit what she called the "sleazy marketing" by credit card companies to students.
Such practices include direct marketing of credit cards to students and offering a free T-shirt or fast food in exchange for a card application.
The table was sponsored by UI Student Government, which is working to get such practices banned by the Iowa Legislature. The lawmakers' Joint Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on the matter Oct. 29 and 30.
The UI has been criticized for its credit-card marketing practices to students since it was revealed that the university has allowed the Bank of America exclusive access to student information and university assets to promote its cards.
The UI sponsors an "affinity credit card" issued by Bank of America but with the Hawkeye logo. In exchange, the university receives more than $1 million per year.
Matt Pfaltzgraf, the governmental-relations liaison for the UISG, has been leading the charge against UI-sponsored credit-card marketing. He said that most students have credit cards, but that the decision to sign up should not be based on a free sandwich.
"I don't want to end the Alumni Association's relationship with Bank of America; I just don't want it to involve students," Pfaltzgraf said.
He said credit-card use is dangerous, and it should come with an education like owning a handgun or driving a car.
"You're not just handed the keys and told, 'Now go learn on your own,' " he said.
He said that one of his main goals is to increase credit-card education on campus for students. He feels that the cards are a major factor in why students at Iowa graduate with an average of more than $25,000 in debt despite the fact that Iowa is one of the cheapest states in the U.S. for college education.
"They think it's something the can worry about after they graduate," Pfaltzgraf said. "It can do a lot of damage before that."
E-mail DI reporter Ben Fornell at:
benjamin-fornell@uiowa.edu
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