Banks Committee
Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING CREDIT CARD OFFERS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
SUMMARY: This act requires the Board of Governors of Higher Education, by January 1, 2010, to adopt policies regulating credit card issuer marketing practices on Connecticut's public college campuses. The act defines “marketing” as activities a credit card issuer's agent or employee attends and facilitates to offer a credit card to students enrolled at a Connecticut public college. The act exempts (1) activities open to or accessible by the general public, such as advertisements in posters, newspapers, magazines, television, radio, Internet, or other similar activities; and (2) activities or merchandising conducted within the physical boundaries of an on-campus financial services business.
The act also prohibits credit card issuers from taking any debt collection action, including telephone calls or demand letters, against a student's parent or legal guardian who has not agreed, in writing, to be liable for the student's debts under the credit card agreement. The act defines a “student” as a person who is under age 21 and enrolled full- or part-time at a public college.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2009
POLICIES
Requirements and Prohibitions
The policies regulating credit card marketing on public college campuses must require credit card issuers to:
1. register with a public higher education institution before marketing on a campus;
2. at least once every year that they market on campus, personally appear at an on-campus location open to all students to provide educational information and answer questions (the school must advertise the appearance); and
3. distribute credit card management education material along with any marketing material.
The policies must also restrict the time and place for marketing credit cards and prohibit:
1. credit card issuers from soliciting undergraduate students during orientation and class registration periods,
2. public colleges from disclosing undergraduate students' identifying information to credit card issuers unless the schools provide the students with notice and the opportunity to opt out of the disclosure in accordance with federal Family Educational Records and Privacy Act regulations,
3. public college employees from marketing credit cards to students, and
4. the use of gifts and incentives in marketing at intercollegiate athletic events.
OLR Tracking: SC: SNE: JL: ts