Scherer Legislation Studies Student Credit Card Debt

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – To help combat predatory lending against college students, state Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, is sponsoring legislation to study student credit card debt and the way students are targeted by credit card companies. 

“Most students end up with some amount of student loan debt after completing their undergraduate degrees and many have large credit card bills on top of that,” Scherer said. “Having that kind of debt makes it difficult for young people as they are looking to enter the workforce and worrying about how to pay their bills.”

Scherer’s House Bill 1581 creates the College Students Credit Card Marketing and Debt Task Force to study the issue of student credit card debt. Members of the task force will come from various organizations representing banks, state universities and the office of the Illinois attorney general. Scherer’s legislation details specific factors that will be studied to better understand how credit card companies market themselves on college campuses and why students are more susceptible to accruing credit card debt.

“This task force will be an important way to study student credit behaviors and understand how these individuals are at risk of higher credit card debt.” Scherer said. “I’m hopeful that this study will help identify ways to protect more students from increased debt and crack down on the companies who target students.”