D’Amico-Backed Bill to Investigate College Student Debt Advances

CHICAGO – A bill to investigate the link between college student debt and credit card marketing, backed by state Rep. John D’Amico, D-Chicago, has advanced out of the House.

“Today’s college students often must take out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to pay their way through college,” D’Amico said. “This burdens them with debt for decades to come, and the last thing they need is credit card companies to endlessly hound them to take on even more debt.”

The D’Amico-supported House Bill 4710 creates the College Student Credit Card Marketing and Debt Task Force. The task force will study 14 factors to determine the links between credit card marketing and debt. These factors include the total amount of credit extended to college students in the state, the number of annual mail and online solicitations of pre-approved credit cards students receive and the percentage of students who pay off their entire balances month to month.

“It is important that we investigate the practices of credit card marketing to college students as they are too early in their lives to be strapped with debt,” D’Amico said. “It is my hope that this task force will come up with some useful solutions to help our young people make good decisions when it comes to their credit.”