College ads to borrow money for holiday gifts

[disneysteve]

My daughter told me this morning that the school radio station is running ads from ABCO credit union, which is on campus, to get students to take out loans for holiday gift giving. What the hell is wrong with these people? We constantly hear about the student loan crisis. How does anybody anywhere think encouraging even more student borrowing for consumer spending is an appropriate thing to do?

[james.hendrickson]

For the virtue of people who might be lurking on this thread, taking out a loan to buy any kind of depreciating asset is a terrible idea. You really should only use debt to purchase assets that appreciate or provide long term value, like a house or an education.

[StormRichards]

I remember credit card companies setting up in the campus lobby soliciting students to sign up for a card.

[bjl584]

I remember credit card companies setting up in the campus lobby soliciting students to sign up for a card.

I remember this as well.

When I was in college in the late 90's it was still legal for the credit card companies to give out gifts if you signed up for a card. The credit card companies were constantly in the student union lobby areas giving out shirts, coffee mugs, pens, backpacks, and who knows what else.

[bjl584]

My daughter told me this morning that the school radio station is running ads from ABCO credit union, which is on campus, to get students to take out loans for holiday gift giving. What the hell is wrong with these people? We constantly hear about the student loan crisis. How does anybody anywhere think encouraging even more student borrowing for consumer spending is an appropriate thing to do?

That's crazy, but it doesn't surprise me. My bank currently has signs in their lobby advertising HELOC loans.

One of the posters talks about using the money to take a vacation.

[james.hendrickson]

I remember credit card companies setting up in the campus lobby soliciting students to sign up for a card.

Um hum...I totally remember this also.

The really challenging thing about credit cards is they are super convenient, and a lot of people are able to use them responsibly, but a lot of people frankly get hooked on credit card debt - which causes a lot of stress and huge opportunity costs.

What would be helpful is if states did a better job educating kids about credit at the high school level.

[cornfieldj]

Student newspaper might consider writing an editorial about taking advertising revenue from companies who don't have the students' best interests at heart. Just a thought...

[msomnipotent]

It wasn't that long ago that you didn't even need to have a job to get credit cards. My younger sister got 2 Visa cards while in college with no job. They figured her parents would bail her out. It wound up being me.

[rutgers07]

I've got a private therapy client who has 3 kids, no job, bunch of medical issues, virtually no money, but takes out an $800 loan every year to fund Christmas. It's insane.

[StormRichards]

I've got a private therapy client who has 3 kids, no job, bunch of medical issues, virtually no money, but takes out an $800 loan every year to fund Christmas. It's insane.

The local news recently covered a house fire in a really bad neighborhood. The house was destroyed. I don't recall if they mentioned whether the single mom was employed or not, but it is a very low (or no) income area. They interviewed the mom, who was in tears, and she commented how they had $1,200 in Christmas presents hidden in the closet.

Based on the neighborhood and her appearance & grammar, it is highly unlikely she could truly afford to spend $1,200 on presents.

[GoodSteward]

The local news recently covered a house fire in a really bad neighborhood. The house was destroyed. I don't recall if they mentioned whether the single mom was employed or not, but it is a very low (or no) income area. They interviewed the mom, who was in tears, and she commented how they had $1,200 in Christmas presents hidden in the closet.

Based on the neighborhood and her appearance & grammar, it is highly unlikely she could truly afford to spend $1,200 on presents.

This is the mindset of people today. We have some gifts in the living room, however, if my house burned down I would be more upset over losing personal items and things with sentimental value. Not a stupid gift. House insurance will fix that, but it can't replace the blanket my grandmother made(she has passed now) that I used as a child and now my 2 year old loves.

[thestrongprofessional]

Money education in school

I agree with everyone. I think there should be more of an emphasis on money education in school. The only education I got about money was the education I sought out for myself. Although my parents have great intentions, they were never taught about how to deal with money and therefore have issues with it. I hope that one day financial education will be required coursework in schools. This will help avoid some of these situations from happening in the future.

Raphael