Your two cents on student cards and bank accounts

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College is a time when many of us signed up for our first bank account. Often schools set up agreements with financial companies to offer cards and accounts to their students. Today, some students can use their student ID card to pay for everything from washing a load of laundry to shopping online.

With credit cards, financial companies have to publicly disclose these types of agreements with schools. However, we know less about these arrangements when it comes to other things, like debit cards to access your student loan funds and student checking accounts. We’ve heard from students that sometimes these arrangements are a convenience, while other times we’ve heard that they didn’t feel they had a choice. We want to see if students are getting a good deal and what schools can do to help them through the process.

That’s why we need your help. We want to hear about your experience with financial products designed for college students.

Email us at CFPB_StudentsFedReg@cfpb.gov by March 18 to tell us about any aspect of your experience .

Today, we’re launching an initiative on student cards and bank accounts and we want your input. We’ve published a Notice and Request for Information Regarding Financial Products Marketed to Students Enrolled in Institutions of Higher Education in the Federal Register. The title might sound a little formal, but the reality is simple: we want to hear from you.

We’ll use your comments to work with school officials on ways they can make sure that schools and students are getting off on the right foot when it comes to managing their money during college. We’ll also publish a summary for everyone who contributes and let you know how you can continue to help make sure the market is working for everyone.

Tell us your two cents today, and learn more about the CFPB’s work for students.

  • Ian S.

    When I was in college, I remember having to run around at the end of senior year to help students who had to take a mandatory quiz on how their loans worked before they kicked in. I was shocked at the degree to which otherwise intelligent students did not understand the basics of financial management. If any financial firm is going to receive a benefit from a partnership with a college, then they must fund an education program (online or in-person) available, and perhaps required, for all students to ensure that they understand the consequences of debt before they are allowed to incur this debt (this should happen with college loans as well as credit cards and other financial products). Of course, these firms should not create the education program, as this would be a terrible conflict of interest. The program, which could include lessons, quizzes, examples of the consequences of going over limits, late payments, etc., should be designed by a non-profit organization whose only goal is to teach financial management techniques that are responsible, as opposed to those that are profitable to the firms benefiting from easy access to students.

  • http://www.ssentherbalandtherapy.co.za/ Chief Dembe

    there are structural challenges in student loan allocation

  • Kim

    Rohit and Patrick,

    Love your blog! I write a blog about financial behavior @SquaredAwayBC (at Boston College) & wonder if we can connect.
    Hope to hear from you! Sincerely, Kim

The CFPB blog aims to facilitate conversations about our work. We want your comments to drive this conversation. Please be courteous, constructive, and on-topic. To help make the conversation productive, we encourage you to read our comment policy before posting. Comments on any post remain open for seven days from the date it was posted.