CUs that provide credit cards to college students may benefit from a lifetime of business.

by. Karen Bhalia

Issuing credit cards to college students offers a lucrative market opportunity for credit unions—assuming, of course, they follow the letter of the law.

While CARD Act regulations certainly had an impact on the way credit card marketers could engage with students, credit unions have long followed a philosophy of people helping people, and this obviously extends to the younger generations.

As such, they do well to serve this growing and important market with a much-needed financial product.

In the spring of 2012, a Student Monitor Financial Services survey found that 27% of college students had a credit card in their own name, and that 62% had applied for their first credit card before starting college.

During that same year, Sallie Mae’s “How America Pays for College” report revealed the percentage of students with credit cards increased from 21% during freshman year to 60% in the senior year.

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