1
• Credit card marketing is often accompanied by a lack of
transparency in credit pricing structures.
2
• encourage credit cards to be used frequently, for example to purchase
groceries and other basic necessities
• fail to provide information about the consequences of making only
minimum payments (such as whether interest will be charged on the
interest accrued from previous months)
3
4 • offer premiums, discounts and promotions to encourage the student to sign
up for a credit card
• suspend the traditional criteria for the issuing of a credit card (such as
minimum income and prior credit history)
5 • offer credit limits that are beyond the young person’s income or ability to
pay

58%
20%
10%
Equifax 2009 - 30%
2009 – 30% X 19%
FICO 2014 - 40%
Equifax in 2009 indicates that 30 per
cent of UK students are unaware of
their overall level of credit card
spending, while 19 per cent only make
the minimum payment on their
balance. Meanwhile, a study
conducted by FICO in 2014 shows that
the percentage of UK student credit
card balance had increased by 40 per
cent from the previous year.

Excluding young people from the possibility of
obtaining a credit card can be seen as simply
denying them their basic right to build a credit
record from a young age and to start creating a
credit history.
Moreover, it may be too simplistic to generalize all
young people as equally vulnerable to credit card
misuse and indebtedness, as not all young
consumers are in a position of such vulnerability.