News Article Published:
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Category:
Financial Services
Universities in the US state of Iowa have been criticised for trying to market credit cards at their students.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller slammed the practice - saying that he can understand why the state universities want to get exclusive agreements with the Bank of America to market the university-branded credit cards - but adding that students can get into financial trouble as a result of the campaigns.
"Respectfully, I'd say the better practice would be to not be involved at all," he told the Iowa legislature's Government Oversight Committee.
"Students can easily get into trouble. They are just starting to manage their financial affairs. ... They don't, basically, have the income to pay off a credit card. It's a very easy trap to get into," the Des Moines register quotes him as saying.
Privately-run alumni associations at Iowa's three state universities could receive as much as $8.4 million from Bank of America for helping to run credit card marketing campaigns aimed at students during the next five years. The cards bear the logos and names of the publicly-owned colleges.
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