Have you ever signed up to a credit card to get a Free T-Shirt?
While I hate to admit it, I certainly have! Of course, those were in the ol' college days when i was pretty naive about things. But man, i shiver just thinking about it! Thank goodness i'm a bit older and wiser now...or at least older ;)Anyways, I was reminded of it when I got a press release from someone over at TrueCredit.com. They commissioned Zogby International to do a survey of college graduates and came out with a pretty interesting list of stats regarding credit card usage.
Here was the most interesting quote i saw:
"The TrueCredit.com survey also revealed that four in 10 people have signed up for a credit card to receive a free gift or special offer. More than half of those respondents (52 percent) left college with credit card debt. "
FOUR in TEN! I knew giving away free stuff worked, but my damn that's some good marketing. I always fell for the shirts that had our school logo or something similar on it - it beat spending $35 on one from the bookstore anyday! haha...
I wish I could remember all the card details, but sadly it's been too long. There was ONE, however, that started charging me monthly for it!!! I was smart enough to cut up the card, but sadly forgot to call and cancel it right away - after i got the free gift of course. I think i had like $40 on it that I "owed" but i called and bitched and got them to wave it AND cancel it...although looking back it was totally my own fault. i never read anything! ha ha, how many times have we heard that one before :)
The survey also said that 1 in 4 students leave with more than $5,000 in credit card debt! That makes me sad :( I seriously doubt this is all because of a few free t-shirts, but it certiainly helps.
When will middle and high schools start teaching about personal finance?! Maybe they've started already, i'm not sure, but even just ONE class can go a loooooooooong way. The kids won't remember everything because sometimes you have to learn on your own, but i gaurantee they'd pick out at least 1 or 2 things that struck them.
I'm just glad i'm over the free t-shirt thing...and it turns out i can get shirts basically free from TJ MAXX, Rugged Wearhouse, thrift stores, you name it! Yeah it may be a few more dollars, but no way in hell you're getting me to sign up to any more funky credit cards again. Now, if they start handing out Saucony running shoes or gift cards to Amazon, i might be in trouble ;)
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ps: Funny enough TrueCredit.com offered me a free tee just for posting about this survey! haha...I turned it down, but i still wanted to share it with you because i thought it was pretty cool. just thought I'd throw that out there in case you were wondering if this was a sponsored post or anything, which just so you know i never do. Here's the entire article if you'd like to read more about it: Experts at TrueCredit.com Examine College Debt and the “Cost of Free”
Labels: credit cards
posted by J. Money at
10:30 AM
12 Comments:
I almost signed up for a credit card in college because it had our mascot on it. It was really cute, actually....but I ended up not doing it because I already had two Amexes (I eventually cancelled one of those). I already had too much junk and tshirts to go through the effort of filling out an application for more, hehe.
Wow,those statistics are scary! You are right, we really need to start teaching middle and high school kids about personal finance.
I was pretty responsible in college but I never felt bad about carrying a little credit card debt, now I hate it!
oh yeah, forgot about those mascot ones! those would have sold me too had ours ever had one :(
All i know is that these type of c/c offers are the scariest if you ask me.
Interesting, I did fill out some of those, but never would put my SSN or for the most part much true information. Just got the t-shirt at the desk. Yea, this is probably wrong and all, but so is what they are doing.
Actually - I hate to admit it, but last week, coming back from Las Vegas, I signed up for a new credit card - it is a miles card for an airline that automatically provides you with 25,000 miles (a free domestic US ticket) the first time you use it.... So, right or wrong, I've signed up for it and am planning my next trip using that airline.
I don't feel too bad. I don't have any store cards... What I do have is an Alaska Airlines card, an American Airlines card, a general miles card (from Wells Fargo), and now a US Airways card.
I only carry one card (the Wells Fargo) on me to use for purchases -- and I don't use it often, preferring to use my debit card and to pay for things with cash, not on credit. I use a different card (Alaska Airlines miles card) for my on-line internet purchases. The third card (my American Airlines Card) I use for on-going purchases (i.e., my netflix account). Once I get this new card, I'll make one purchase, pay it off, and wait for the miles to post into my US Airways frequent flier account... The card will remain in a drawer for one year until the time comes for renewel - if they do the same program (25,000 miles) at the time of renewel with no annual fee (which is what I was told when I signed up for the card) then I'll use it again. If they don't offer the program again, it gets cut up and cancelled and I'll just enjoy my free vacation.
I've never signed up for a cc for a t-shirt. Credit card companies weren't allowed on the college campus, so I never had the opportunity.
Now that I'm a grad student I watched hundreds of kids line up at BOA for free t-shirts and footballs.
I did this a bunch of times during the first week of college to get those free tshirts! I mean, everyone was doing it so why not??? I had no idea about the implications and I had no idea what a credit score was back then. Time to educate our youth!
I've never signed up for a t-shirt, but there have been other offers that have tempted me. Last night I was at Target buying my daughter a camera. I could've save $25 by applying for the Target credit card, but I passed.
In retrospect it may have been a better decision to apply for the card, pocket the $25 and then destroy the card upon receipt.
Anonymous - I think the difference between you and others out there is that you actually hav a PLAN! and i commend you for that :) i'm more scared for those who just sign up for a shirt, baseball, whatever and then start swiping away without paying attention to rates, payments, etc.
Saving Diva - that is AWESOME that they weren't allowed! that's one way to keep them at bay....i bet they've upped the ante on some of the new giveways too since i was in school.
Doctor S - Peer pressure!!! gotta love it...that's how i actually started drinking beer...well, actually that's not totally true - i got bored watching all my drunk friends stumble around and talk gibbersh. and if you can't ignore them, join them ;)
Dale - Oh yeah, have no problem at all w/ signing up for store cards! You're fine without them of course, but those 10% offs and stuff can save you MAD money...i actually signed up for a Target one 2 years back and saved $20, then cut the card like you said, paid the bill and called and cancelled shortly after. it takes a little work, but it can pay off.
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You know, I took Personal Finance in high school, but they didn't teach anything about credit cards, compounding interest, different types of student loans - none of that! They taught us how to write checks, and then we had to play a stock market game where we chose companies to invest in. I know investing is important but knowing the dangers of credit cards ahead of time may have helped me to avoid them in college! I had two credit cards and FOUR store credit cards my sophomore year in college. I used them to furnish my apartment, then buy clothes to furnish my closets, then to pay for groceries when I was flat broke! Needless to say, I maxed out all of them, could barely make minimum payments and was getting charged outstanding interest rates! Luckily, an auto accident in which my car was totaled allowed me to pay off the cards and start anew. Now I have one card that I use for emergencies and for gift purchases that I know I'll be able to pay off immediately. But this post has made me think... Maybe teaching personal finance to high schoolers would be fun! ;-)
Hah! I learned how to write checks and balance a checkbook and all in Senior year of high school too ;) The stock games sounds a bit familiar as well, but you're right in that teaching about credit cards, emergency funds, 401k, etc etc would be MUCH better than gambling in individual stock picking like that. What high school student knows the ins and outs of the market? And say a student doubles or triples his/her money in the "fake" market and then thinks he/she can make it big in real life and tries to outgame it all? The odds are against them, and if they give up on investing because of it matters get worse. You teach them how to save 10% of all their income and pay off their debt on-time, that will stick with them for the rest of their lives...
man you got me fired up! haha...I think this calls for a separate blog post, thx for the idea.
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