Company Press Release
SOURCE: StudentCredit.com
SUBJECT: New Online Service Offers Free Information to College Students about handling Credit
In an effort to counter the problem of credit debt among college students, a new company, StudentCredit.com, has started a nationwide campaign to get good credit information and education to college students.
The average student obtains their first credit card by running into a table marketer on a college campus offering a free T-shirt or bottle of soda to fill out a credit card application. Usually there is no information given out by the marketer on how the student should handle credit, and in this process, students rarely read the fine print of the specific card they apply for. Very often there are interest rate changes or hidden fees the student may not be aware of.
The student fills out the application without this information presented. A few weeks later, the card arrives with a credit limit of $ 500-$ 1000. Now the student has the similar buying power as his or her parents. Normally, that student will go out and buy some clothes, CDs, eat at restaurants, and buy drinks for friends, etc. The student may even use the card to purchase textbooks for the year.
Suddenly, the credit limit is reached. Students usually work only part-time, and they end up making minimum payments. It is a fact that credit card companies usually give students a credit limit equal to or more than what they earn in an entire year. So that student may also miss a payment. Now there are late charges involved. Students very often have to go to their parents to help pay the bill.
This happens to college students all across the country. It is a fact that credit debt has been a problem for students, as well as adults. According to the Consumer Federation of America, aggressive marketing by banks and lack of initial information towards college students has resulted in many students running up unmanageable debts. There have even been extreme cases of desperate students taking their own lives. (See the following link on this story)
From CNN.com: http://cnn.com/US/9906/09/college.kids.debt/index.html
Credit card companies actively seek out college students because they are the next generation of consumers. College graduates make more in the work place and the card companies want to get a head start with those future workers. Unfortunately, in order, to attract these new consumers, the credit card companies often resort to cheap gimmicks to get people to sign up.
Recent college graduates created StudentCredit.com specifically to help college students. The emphasis of the company is to provide information for students to learn good credit management skills before they acquire a credit card. StudentCredit.com offers extensive information about how credit works, how to get and how to maintain good credit. The students can also get information on how to get a copy of their credit report and how to repair their credit if it is already damaged. The company web-site features a variety of credit cards the students can apply for at their convenience, not under pressure from a table marketer or a flashy mail campaign. StudentCredit.com does not want any student to apply for a credit card until he or she has acquired the skills to manage one responsibly.
"StudentCredit.com is a free service that provides a convenient, responsible way for students to learn about and obtain credit. Credit is something the vast majority of College Students are seeking and we felt there was a need for a more educational approach by providing key information and education about good credit," said David Ogden, CEO.
As part of its national campaign, StudentCredit.com has printed good credit brochures for distribution to college students. This brochure is not a credit card application. In the brochure, cards are not mentioned, nor is there an application to fill out. The brochure simply lists an overview of the good credit information on the company's web-site. Over one hundred thousand (100,000) of these brochures have already been passed into the hands of students across the country. Many colleges, Duke and Clemson University, to name a few, have worked with the company to get these brochures to their incoming freshmen for this school year.
To date, over 250,000 students have visited StudentCredit.com and utilized the free services. No other web-site offers the combination of good credit information, services, and variety of cards.
For further information:
CONTACT:
David Wise
David@StudentCredit.com
(407) 453-2206
Or
Russell Gentile
Gentiler22@aol.com
6755 South Tropical Trail
Merritt Island, FL 32952
