Notre Dame students' opinions vary on new credit card law

The question: Does it promote responsibility or just treat college students like kids?

By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a private Catholic university which was established in 1842 and remained an all-male school until 1972. Its library system is one of the 100 largest in the United States.

If students at Notre Dame are interested in applying for a credit card, they have to do it on their own and not through a credit card vendor on campus. Credit card companies are not allowed to recruit new customers at Notre Dame, university spokesman Dennis Brown said.

Brown said credit card vendors are subject to the university's general policy concerning noncampus organizations, which prohibits noncampus organizations from soliciting customers on campus.

At football games, though, there are a couple of credit card booths that are not targeted toward students, Brown says.

The booths sell affinity cards, which are credit cards that are co-sponsored by a bank and an organization -- in this case, Notre Dame. The Notre Dame affinity cards, Brown said, are meant to be purchased by alumni, and the university receives a portion of the revenue from the card sales.

"Those are primarily directed toward alumni," Brown said. "Students could apply if they wanted to, but that is not the purpose or intent."

The university also has its own credit union, the Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, located in the lower level of the LaFortune Student Center.

Here's what some students at Notre Dame have to say about the new credit card law and managing credit cards:

"As soon as they turn 21, what's going to change? Are they instantly going to know how to spend money? There are a lot of people out there that are under 21 that are a lot smarter and know what to do with their money a lot better than even people in their late 30s."
-- Amanda Ionovsky, 19

The University of Notre Dame's administrative offices are in the Main Building, which is famous for its gold dome.
Photo: Josh Barone

A mural known as "Touchdown Jesus" on the Hesburgh Library

"Just knowing how many problems have been caused by people spending money irresponsibly, I'm more willing to accept more regulation from the government about things like that."
-- Ben Pfeifer, 18

See related: Sample credit card contract for parents and their young adult children, Law alters cozy relationship between colleges, credit card issuers, Study: Undergraduates relying heavily on credit cards, A comprehensive guide to the Credit CARD Act of 2009, Obama signs new credit card reforms into law, Interactive timeline: How the credit card bill became law, when its provisions take effect, Will the new credit card law hurt more consumers than it helps?, Annual fees return in credit card mail offers, How to cope until the new credit card rules take effect, What the new credit card rules mean for you, New credit card rules don't cover business, corporate credit cards, Federal banking regulators finalize sweeping rule changes for credit cards

Published: September 30, 2009

	Three most recent Student credit cards, young credit stories: Rate survey: Credit card APRs remain in holding pattern – Interest rates on new credit card offers remained unchanged this week, according to the CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report ... Rate survey: Credit card APRs unchanged as holidays near – Interest rates on new credit card offers remained unchanged this week as banks took their traditional Thanksgiving break from changing rates, according to the CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report ... Rate survey: Credit card interest rates hold steady – The average interest rate on a new credit card offer stayed static this week, according to the CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report. However, that doesn't mean that all of the nation's largest credit card issuers were sitting on their hands ...

	CreditCards.com's newsletter Did you like this story? Then sign up for CreditCards.com’s weekly e-newsletter for the latest news, advice, articles and tips. It's FREE. Once a week you will receive the top credit card industry news in your inbox. Sign up now!