Fix bankruptcy law

[aa06a47]

Someone must be compiling lists of college bound juniors and seniors at least, because around Xmas of senior year letters like "Dear parent --- need help paying for college..." begin to arrive also. I may have to ask some business faculty about that tomorrow at school.

Yep, that's how they do it, get the enrollment information and make them offers.

Sinking, since your son doesn't have any credit yet (I assume this to be the case), he probably doesn't have a credit profile yet....unless he has a card, been doing online gambling ... I saw a story on this, it was a sad story, the kid killed himself over his credit card debt, he was in college and hooked to online gambling.

[anonymuse]

Someone must be compiling lists of college bound juniors and seniors at least, because around Xmas of senior year letters like "Dear parent --- need help paying for college..." begin to arrive also. I may have to ask some business faculty about that tomorrow at school.

They send them to all graduating juniors and seniors--not just ones going to college. Even if they can't target their particular audience, the cost of sending the applications to all is well justified since the returns are so high for them.

And yes, my dog has gotten credit offers. I use her name when I request free info to see who else the company sells their lists to.

[SinkingFast]

Son got all those, "High School Senior" offers last year and we just tossed them into File 13. Those didn't say "pre approved" or set specific limits.

Now he's finishing up his Freshman year in college. Still getting offers. These new ones say "pre approved" and set $$ limits. Like "You're automatically approved for a minumum of $300. And may get a LOC up to $1K." Some are banks we recognize and some are names we've never heard before.

Aa,........ Son has no credit. Hasn't officially borrowed a penny from anyone for anything. He's paid his way in cash to this point. And the poor boy doesn't even have time for a gambling addiction. He's meeting himself coming and going. This semester especially. Due to his class schedule, he has to work Th/F/Sa/Su. In class the rest of the week. And with final projects being due, he's been spending extra time in the school computer lab rendering his CADD projects. Huge files that take a while to process after he creates them. He's so looking forward to the end of this semester. Months on end of going 7 days a week has been hard on him. At least when he played football, they got Sundays off.

[Minnymouth]

SinkingFast,
Sounds like your son is a "go getter".................. more power too him.... If he puts that much effort into a career.... he will go places!!!

Yes, it's probably time he tried to establish some credit... A credit card, used for gas is a good idea, (low limit).... to get him established. But tell him to pay only 3/4 of the bill each month and leave a balance to revolve, thus creating a revolving account... (better reporting)...

And should he have an emergency come up, then he has something to fall back on to help him out.......

Just caution him on the pitfalls for using it for fun and games.... surely he understands what all you went thru in bankruptcy....

Just my thoughts,

Minny

[Minnymouth]

Also, tell him to "stop and smell the roses" once in a while........... life is too short to work yourself to death when your young..... he'll blink an eye and be looking in the mirror at an old man!!!

He needs to enjoy his youth also, while he is learning.......

[SinkingFast]

It's just the odd scheduling of his classes, Minny. Being a small college, they gear many of the Core classes for adults who work in the daytime.

Son's had classes 3 nights a week this semester. Plus day classes those days as well. And then he works. And Wal-Mart works around his schedule, thankfully. But it's been a killer this semester. Last semester, in the fall, he managed to get one day on the weekends and a night or 2 thru the week. Not this semester. Wally World has him as a 32 hour/week employee. So with the class schedule, he goes 7 days a week.

He really needed to go to Summer School and catch up on a class he missed scheduling last fall. Not enough students so the school cancelled it. That put son behind. But Summer Semester is a full 10 weeks. He'd be tied up all summer in class and with his work schedule, it'd be another long semester. So we said don't worry about graduating in 2 years. So what if it's December and not May. Take it easy in school since he's working so much. So that's his goal now. Take his time for classes and do it right. Not kill himself trying to meet society's graduation date.

And, Yes, he's fully aware of the woes Credit can cause.

[Minnymouth]

Gosh,
It's been MANY, MANY YEARS AGO, but I remember working full time and going to college............ a killer situtation.....
Used to meet myself coming and going............. 7 days a week for several years (between working and classes)...
Not much social life either, too busy studying, working......

When it was all over I felt like I had been on a roller coaster ride......

HAT'S OFF TO YOUR SON................ it will be hard, but worth it......



Minny

[anonymuse]

I remember graveyard shifts then going straight to class afterwards. Those were the days....NOT!

[SinkingFast]

He whines a bit to me, but I was in the same boat in college.

Science major. One semester I was taking 17 hours of class but with labs, I was physically in class 22 hours/week. I also worked 32 hours a week. Th and F nights 2pm to 10pm, then I doubled back in on Sat morning and worked Sun mornings 6am to 2pm. I was going 7 days a week then too, on very little sleep. Son's schedule isn't nearly as hectic as that. So I don't let him whine too much.

But I pushed myself way too hard to meet the "must graduate in 4 years" mental thing. When you're young, you don't realize how hard you're pushing your body. And our summer semesters were little mini things. Go to class every day for 2-3 hours/class for 3 or 4 weeks. You could do a summer thing, pick up a couple of classes, and still have some R&R time in the summer. For Son, with summer school going 10 weeks, he'd go right from Spring to Summer to Fall with no break.

It ain't worth it. Take the time. Go a little slower in school. Graduate a semester later. 20 years from now, who'll know or even care??!!

If he weren't working so much, that would be a different story all together.

[aa06a47]

It'a amazing, a college student with little or no income can get a bigger line of credit then this 40 something man with a good paying job...LOL!!!!!!!! and if I need to buy something, I have to ask permission from my new "boss". I feel humiliated.

[copper2]

I think the deregulation of credit card fees initiated by Citibank is the most frightening act of legislation yet. There is no "legal" regulation anymore. They can impose whatever they want, whenever they want, legally!! Kind of makes one wonder, who/what is really running things around here? Then I read that Citi's largest single shareholders are Saudi!! Hmmm, that's curious, as I'm also paying $30.00 to fill my 11-gallon Miata gas tank lately. I'll say it again: Thank you life crash and financial disaster for my opportunity to file bankruptcy, former nemesis turned blessing. Not to be a doomsday-sayer, but I think a big tsunami lurks, figuratively, and it will be a stroke of fortune to be disconnected from The System. Of course, I hope I'm wrong and paranoid.....

[copper2]

Oops, I don't know how I ended up in this thread, I was replying to another one about interest rates NOT DECLINING since the advent of the new BK law. As long as I'm here, Hi Minnymouth, I always like reading your comments. I did the school/job/second job myself and about died. I can see why people don't ever do it. It is so hard, and hat's off to those that are taking it on.

Bye for now, Cooper

[Minnymouth]

copper 2

LOVE THE DOGS - YOURS??? WHAT KIND???