Good education, good job, bad credit (USA TODAY)
**As part of USA TODAY’s Financial Diet, five families or individuals are working with members of the Financial Planning Association to improve their financial pictures. Today, reporter Mindy Fetterman profiles Juanda Smith and outlines advice from her planner. We’ll return to her in three months to see how she’s doing.
Smith has a good education and a good job. At 28, she earns about $60,000 a year working for a consulting firm in Atlanta.
But the credit card debt and bad credit score she accumulated during her years as a computer sciences student at Spelman College “are things that haunt me.”
So much so that she’s had trouble renting apartments and getting utilities hooked up. “You know how it is when you’re in school. You get a credit card for $500, and before you know it, the late fees and charges add up, and they increase your limit, and then you’re really in debt,” she says.
“I didn’t understand the big picture of credit. I’d say, “Oh, I forgot to pay this week.’ Then, a week turns into a month, and a month turns…more
April 28th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
Historically, the practices of today’s credit card industry were termed “USURY” or “LOAN SHARKING”.
April 28th, 2005 at 4:25 pm
Black Enterprise has been doing this for a few years now.
April 28th, 2005 at 9:27 pm
Most colleges hand out credit card applications at their
textbook stores whether on campus or others off campus.
For an 18 to 22 something year old this is dangerous
and should not be allowed. The colleges are paid to supply
names and give away applications for credit cards.
I know of college student who put down family income
of his father and mother and his and got credit limit
far above his parents. A college teacher said long ago
that freshman must be forced to take Money Reality
101 upon entering college.