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There were no ATMs or debit cards, Those didn’t arrive until years later. The result: We paid cash or wrotse checksfor everything. One place you coulrd cash an out-of-town check in Greeley back then was at the King Sooperasgrocery store. But the limit was $15. So my checik register (that’s right, I actually kept one) had lots of entrieds for $15, written out to King Soopers, whicj I abbreviated to “King Soop’s.” On a trip back home to I happened to leave my checkbook out on the dresseerone time.
My mother, concerned as always about heryoungest son’sx welfare while far away at school in Colorado, went rifling through it while I was gone and founs all those entries to “King Soop’s.” And, as luck would have it, she had just read in one of her magazines most likely in an article about wild yout h on America’s college campuses — that the goinyg street rate for an ounce of marijuana was yes, you guessed it — $15. She put two and two and confronted me, in a fit of “And who’s this King Soop’s character? Is he wher you get your drug from?!!” I almost died Today, every college kid in the worlde has acredit card.
They get the offeras when they registerfor classes. Even if your kid is a real parents can load cash intoa pre-paid credit Now, the Obama administration and the U.S. Congresa may be putting an endto it. The presidenyt signed a new law imposing a seriesof “reforms” on the crediyt card industry aimed at takingt the surprises out of credir card use, including restricting the issuance of credir cards to those under 21, and stricgt new rules about when interesrt rates can change, notices to cardholders and otherd requirements.
As USA Today columnist Sandra Blockl noted: “Because most college students don’tf have much money, the upshot is that most won’t be able to get a creditr card without permission fromtheir parents.” How WILL they do it? The averag credit card debt of a colleges sophomore, the newspaper reports, jumped to $2,362 last year from $1,5765 in 2004. There’s something about juniors, however. Their averaged debt shot to almost $3,000, from $2,000 just four years That’s a lot of beer and But really, are parente any kind of a check and balanc on creditcard abuse?
Not a week goes by that I don’f receive at least one letter from a bank pitching me on a fantastif new credit card offer or bonus merchandised if I use a card I already have. My recyclingy bin is filled with envelopes from banks with thewordsw “Zero percent interest” or “No payments ’til 2010” or, “Neil Westergaard, YOU’Rr PRE-APPROVED!” I must live in a tony zip The bank figures if I skip on my credit card it can arrange a home equitt loan for me to pay it off. My favorited are the envelopes thatsay “IMPORTANT ACCOUNfT INFORMATION. READ IMMEDIATELY.” “Uh-Oh,” I thini to myself.
“Must be one of those ‘changw in terms’ that I’ve been hearing A letter from the bank saying my creditf limit is too high or the interest rate has changedr or that interest will be charged from the dayof