New credit card law effective Monday

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Editor’s note: This story was changed to attribute the final quote to Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess

Come Welcome Week next fall, MSU students won’t get free T-shirts, water bottles, towels or pizza for signing the dotted line on a credit card agreement.

Starting Monday, no student will be offered a freebie in exchange for a credit card plan. Also, no student under the age of 21 will be able to sign up for a credit card without a parental co-sign or proof of the ability to pay.

The new regulations are part of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (or Credit CARD Act), which was passed by the U.S. House and Senate last spring and signed into law by President Barack Obama last May. A section of the law is aimed at protecting young consumers from credit card debt.

“My view is there will always be new tricks and traps,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which lobbies for consumer rights. “This bill, however, stops the worst tricks and traps.”

About 75 percent of MSU students have accounts with MSU Federal Credit Union, or MSUFCU, said April Clobes, MSUFCU’s vice president of e-commerce and marketing. Of that percentage, about 50 percent have credit cards with the credit union, she said.

“We look at our students as adults and they can make on their own — or with the help of parents — an informed decision about credit cards,” she said.

Prior to the Credit CARD Act, MSUFCU offered incentives for students to sign up, Clobes said.

“I can’t say, ‘If you sign up for our Visa card, you get a T-shirt,’” she said. “That’s really not the focus of our card in general.”

Noah Nelson tries to steer clear of tables offering free pizza and free shirts. The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities junior said he knows many students who have been “sucked in” to credit card agreements.

But Nelson said he does not believe such marketing techniques should be prohibited.

“If you’re offered something for free and you get something out of that, I think it’s a good deal for both people,” he said, adding that many of his friends use credit cards responsibly.

The law also requires colleges and universities to disclose any partnerships they might have with credit card companies.

MSU previously had a partnership with Bank of America, which currently offers an MSU card. The card, however, is targeted at alumni, and only about 2 percent of students at college sign up for it, Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess said.

“We do have a Michigan State University card, but keep in mind the target market for the collegiate affinity card has always been alumni and nonstudents,” she said.

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