Coming in roughly nine months, along with a slew of other credit card reform laws are some specific changes that will effect students. Everything is about to change. Unfortunately this could really hurt some students that rely on credit cards to help them make ends meet.
Student credit card reform changes
The new law will ban credit card issuers and banks from giving credit cards to anyone under the age of 21. There will be some students who get by this through proving their ability to handle the debt or finding a valid co-signer for the account such as a guardian or parent.
Tough time to be a student
The life of a student is characteristically marked by a lack of funds. Many students barely have enough for food, books, and rent. Credit cards have always been a part of being a student. College is often a time when students rack up not only huge student loan debt, but also credit card debt as they are often too busy studying to have a full time job or excel in the business world. The end result is often huge mountains of student debt, which many choose student consolidate loans or student loan consolidation programs.
To help alleviate this problem, credit card reform laws were made to specifically deal with issues related to students and credit card debt. I realize the intention is honorable, and while it may help many students avoid getting buried in credit card debt, it is going to hurt many students in the short term.
Students use of credit cards has been rising over the last few years. Many students are unable to pay the balance and are accumulating more and more debt. The students start missing payments and then late fees, charges, and interest rate hikes start to kick in. The vicious cycle of credit card debt is beginning at an earlier and earlier age each year.
The new credit card reform laws will also restrict how and when fees and charges are added to accounts. These changes are of course unwanted by the big banks and credit card companies. As a result, the next nine months we could see some nasty interest rate hike, fees, charges, and credit limit decreases on students credit card accounts.
It’s clear that things are changing quickly and its too early to know how it will all turn out. One thing is certain though, the days of free flowing credit are gone and may not return for some time.