>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Getting snared in credit card traps can be as easy for college students as withdrawing money from an ATM machine.

At EOU, though, it may soon become harder for credit card companies to lure students into such traps.

Eastern’s administration, at the request of its student government, is taking a serious look at putting new policies in place to protect students from credit card companies. The policies would make it harder for companies to contact EOU students in person or via mail.

College students receive numerous credit card offers, making it easy for them to obtain too many and to build up large debts, said Mike Sattem, EOU’s student body vice president for political affairs.

Sattem led a drive to get EOU’s student senate to pass proposals regarding privacy and credit card solicitation. The proposals, passed by the senate in March, are asking Eastern’s administration to adopt policies that would:

• prohibit credit card company representatives from soliciting students on campus unless special permission is granted. EOU’s administrative cabinet approved this policy last week. The proposed policy has been sent to the Oregon University System’s legal counsel. If given the green light by legal counsel this solicitation policy will be put in place, said EOU President Dixie Lund.

• restrict the amount of information the university can give out about students to their name and e-mail address. Presently more information than this including student mailing addresses is available to companies that pay a fee of $30 to $100.

Lund noted that all students presently have the right to prohibit the release of any information about them, including their name.

EOU’s cabinet is seriously studying this new privacy proposal.

Sattem said the availability of student addresses under the present policy allows companies to continue sending credit card applications to students even after they have moved multiple times.

EOU’s student senate passed its proposal request following the release of a report on college college students and credit card marketing by the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) in March. The report was based on a survey of 1,500 college students at 40 large and small schools between October 2007 and February 2008. About 75 of the students surveyed were from EOU.

The report analyzes how students pay for their education, how many use credit cards and  their attitude toward credit card marketing on campus.

The survey’s findings confirm that students are using credit cards extensively and that a significant number are being hit hard by late fees and significant interest payments on high balances.

Despite the hazards they pose, Sattem believes credit cards are an excellent tool if used properly. He said he has one and has never had a late fee or missed a payment.

Unfortunately students just out of high school are often unfamiliar with the rules of personal finance and may do things like using one card to pay off the debt of another. Such students may incur debts they are unable to pay off until years after college.

Sattem, a senior from Salem, hopes that the proposed policy changes will make it less likely for students to fall into such traps in the future.

“We don’t think credit cards are bad but they can put students in bad situations.’’