Credit card applications are readily available on college campuses
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Before his recent graduation from college, Jason Britton confronted his mounting credit card bills, worked to pay off thousands of dollars in debt and got on with his life. Sean Moyer and Mitzi Pool took another path.

Moyer, a University of Oklahoma junior, had earned the minimum wage as a part-time salesman and gift wrapper in a department store. Yet, by the time he hanged himself in his bedroom closet, he had 12 credit cards and had amassed $10,000 in debt on them.

Moyer, who died in February 1998, still gets credit card offers in the mail, his mother told CNN.

"Pre-selected credit line of up to $100,000 from Chase (Manhattan Bank)," Janne O'Donnell said, reading off the envelope of a letter that arrived for her son last week. "He owned Chase when he died. And we get these at least once a month, so it never stops."

Pool had only three cards, but they were maxed out and $2,500 is a heavy debt load for an 18-year-old. The University of Central Oklahoma freshman also hanged herself, her checkbook and credit card bills spread out on her dorm bed.

Her mother, Trisha Johnson, told CNN she didn't even know Mitzi had a credit card until after student's 1997 death. "She (took) two trips to Corpus Christi (Texas) and they ate at fancy restaurants and the hangouts down there and the bars, I guess, and the gas (and) the motel.

Janne O'Donnell says her son, Sean, who committed suicide, continues to receive credit card applications in the mail

Hooked on credit?

Consumer groups are citing the deaths to underscore their criticism of credit card companies, who they say are aggressively trying to get college students hooked on credit.

And Georgetown University sociologist Robert Manning, who studied credit card debt among college students, maintains that marketing of the cards on campuses "now poses a greater threat than alcohol or sexually transmitted diseases."

"Typically, students slide into debt through the extension (by credit card companies) of unaffordable credit lines," Manning said Tuesday at a news conference organized by the Consumer Federation of America.

Also attending were officials of Consumers Union and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

'My last conversation with my daughter'

The Consumer Federation released Manning's study showing that some students are forced to cut back on their courses or spend more time working to pay off credit card debts.

Britton, for example, worked 60 hours a week -- in addition to his studies -- to pay off his credit card bills.

"By the time I finished my third year at Georgetown (University)," he told CNN, "I had 16 credit cards and roughly $10,000 to $12,000 in debt."

"(Credit card companies) make it easy for you," Britton says. "Every place you go on campus -- the student union, the bookstore. It's every time you walk into the cafeteria. It's every place."

About 70 percent of students at four-year colleges have at least one credit card, and revolving debt on these cards averages more than $2,000, the study said. In the worst cases, students are forced to drop out of school and work full time.

At the news conference, Johnson recounted how her daughter Mitzi had phoned her on a December night in 1997, crying because she had lost her part-time job and didn't know what to do.

She already had maxed out three credit cards after three and a half months of college.

"I tried to assure her that ... we would sit down and go over her bills and work some plan out," Johnson said. "This was my last conversation with my daughter." Later that night, she killed herself.

Web site advises students on credit

The credit card companies contacted by CNN for this story -- Visa, MasterCard and American Express -- declined to do an on-camera interview.

But the companies have defended their college marketing practices in the past, maintaining that most students use credit responsibly and appreciate getting the cards as a way to establish a credit history.

Referring to the suicides of Pool and Moyer, a statement issued by Visa said "the loss of a young person is tragic under any circumstances, and it is very troubling to hear of the loss these families suffered."

"Visa and its (member banks) feel a strong responsibility to educate college students about wisely managing their personal finances," the company statement said. "We see financial education as an important tool to prevent problems before they occur."

Russell Gentile agrees. The founder and president of StudentCredit.com recommends a $1,000 credit limit for new cardholders as students build the good credit history they'll need after graduation.

Gentile says students and parents should discuss responsible use of credit cards

The Web site, which offers credit cards, also provides advice about how to use them wisely. Students should only charge what they can pay off each month, Gentile told CNN.

He recommends that before students head off to college, they talk with their parents about credit card responsibility.

"When they go to college," Gentile says, "(students should) beware of some of the tactics used to solicit them for credit. Learn proper credit principles before you get a credit card."

Colleges benefit from student credit use

Consumer groups criticize colleges and universities for allowing what they said was aggressive marketing of credit cards on campuses and benefiting financially from it.

Credit card companies pay colleges and universities fees to be able to sponsor school programs and student activities, to rent tables on campus used to solicit students to apply for cards, and for marketing agreements such as "affinity" cards linked to colleges, the consumer activists said.

Stephen Brobeck, the Consumer Federation's executive director, said Congress should adopt a measure requiring people under age 21 to get a parent's approval or demonstrate sufficient income before obtaining credit cards.

Manning's study, which was partially funded by the Consumer Federation, was based on interviews with and questionnaires filled out by students at Georgetown University, American University and the University of Maryland, all in the Washington area.

Correspondent Brooks Jackson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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