Campus Credit Card Offers and Identity Theft

As students return to university and college campuses, there are many offers and displays set up for the initial few weeks. These range from offers for food services to bargains on mass transit. One certain theme will be offers of credit cards. Just for filling in the simple credit card application, there might be a free t-shirt or free baseball cap or something equally enticing.

Don’t do it.

It is far safer to apply for credit cards through the financial institutions. The security is far better. There simply is far too much exposure of confidential information when using these campus offers. Remember that a student’s confidential information is a prime target for identity theft. A student usually has not built up an extensive debt history yet and likely has a clear criminal history. All that is necessary for identity theft is name and social security number. If the birth date is included, that is even better.

The educational institution may approve of these displays. However, the school has no control over who works at these displays and how the personal data are secured. It is just far safer to pass on such return-to-school offers. A free t-shirt (or whatever the offer is) simply is not worth the risk.

Catherine Forsythe