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Bill bans campus credit card giveaways
State lawmakers voted Tuesday to try to protect college and university students from their own financial irresponsibility.
On a 6-3 vote, the House Committee on Higher Education approved legislation to ban credit card companies from offering gifts while soliciting new customers on campuses of state universities and community colleges. The panel agreed with Rep. Ed Ablesser, D-Tempe, that the enticement of T-shirts, hats and other items convinces at least some students to get - and use - cards they don't need.
"The role of government is to protect," the first-term lawmaker said. "This bill would effectively eliminate manipulative techniques in courting an application for a credit card."
Ablesser said nothing in HB2518 prohibits students from getting credit cards or even bars banks and others from passing out applications on campus. But he said there are some students applying for credit cards they don't need solely to get the gifts.
Tuesday's vote came over the objections of Tanya Wheeless, president of the Arizona Bankers Association.
"No one is required to fill out an application," she told lawmakers. And Wheeless said those who the lenders feel are qualified are not required to use those cards when they arrive in the mail about three weeks later.
"They will have already gotten the T-shirt or baseball cap at that point," she said. "They could simply tear it up - they could call and cancel it."
Ablesser said there are many students who do that.
"Those are the responsible students," he said. "The ones that I'm concerned about, the one that this bill addresses, are those students that don't know how to manage their money, that don't understand fiduciary responsibility, that haven't been taught it and can end up in a cycle of debt that will lead to poverty, that will lead to a tremendous amount of stressors."
Ablesser also said these solicitations are not rare. He said students are approached not only on campus but also with applications in the books they buy and on the Web sites they visit.
But Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, said Ablesser's idea of the role of government is misguided.
"I don't think protecting people from themselves is reasonable," he said.
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