June 19, 2009
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News: Ohio House Passes CC Marketing Bill
Ohio state lawmakers have launched a new battle against credit card companies. Last week the Ohio House of Representatives voted on new state legislation that would prohibit financial institutions from participating in on-campus marketing of any form of credit card product. It appears Ohio isn't content with the new Federal law that would limit on-campus marketing practices. They are taking it one step further by banning it altogether. There is, however, one minor catch. Only those banks and credit unions that are located on-campus would be allowed to market credit cards. The Ohio House voted 70-25 on June 17th in favor of the new legislation that is being sponsored by Representative Matt Lundy, D-Elyria. According to Rep. Lundy, current marketing practices place extraordinary pressures on college students that seriously interfere with school performance and completion.
The bill which has been sent to the Ohio Senate for consideration also calls for higher education institutions to provide financial management courses as part of new student curriculum. Additionally, it prohibits higher institutions from forming, renewing, or rolling over any agreement with any individual, group, or organization for credit card marketing to students. The bill would also prohibit any individual or group from knowingly mail out marketing materials for credit cards to any on-campus student housing operated by the learning institution. Universities would also be prohibited from placing any type of advertisement on their web sites.
Overall, Democrats and a limited number of Republicans support the bill. Opponents say that college students are very capable of handling their own credit and it would be an infringement on their freedom to impose these limitations on them. However, a pole of more than 1500 students at 40 different universities in 14 states taken by U.S. PIRG indicated that students support such limitations as those that the new legislation would enforce. The state of Ohio would not be the first state to pass legislation that would ban credit card marketing on higher education campuses; ten other states have already done so.