Special rates, free food, T-shirts -and all you have to do is sign up for a credit card. No obligations. No catches. Harmless. Right?
With entire branches of credit card companies now dedicated to college promotions and independent contractors traveling from campus to campus, getting a credit card may be easier than getting the perfect, no-Fridays class schedule.
This week in Athens, Pita Pit, 8 N. Court St., and Citibank offered a free pita to students if they applied for a Platinum Select card.
Students filled out an information sheet, exchanging it for a Citibank goodie-bag. The independent contractor then encouraged them to visit a Web site for credit card education (www.students.usecreditwisely.com).
Yuri Bartz, a junior acting major, decided to turn down the offer, buying his pita with his own money.
I feel solicited
he said.
Both Pita Pit General Manager Brad Metzler and Citibank independent contractor Jeff Saunders spoke with The Post but later retracted their comments.
Ohio University sociology professor Deborah Thorne wrote her dissertation on personal bankruptcy and will be teaching a class about credit card culture Spring Quarter called Consumption and Debt.
(Bankruptcy is) where students are going to end up if they are not incredibly cautious about credit cards Thorne said. They'll become someone I am studying.
