College, Credit Cards, Bob Casey, and Patrick Murphy

Lost in the shuffle of the past week, I neglected to mention a note in the June 14th Inquirer. The subject was the recent credit card law and a section of it that hadn't gotten a lot of press. From Joseph DiStefano's "Have credit-card companies lost their juice?"

One section of the law requires colleges that sell their student and alumni mailing lists to credit card banks to make public their payment agreements, reveal how many sing up for cards, and report how much they make from alumni and student debt.

later

[Sen Bob]Casey co-sponsored student-lending provisions in the bill, but he credits U. S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D., Bucks) for pushing to expose the college deals.

"I used to be a professor at West Point. I saw what goes on with these credit companies. They are not transparent," said Murphy, who told me he used ot have an alumni credit card.

"I canceled it after I knew better," Murphy said. "Now, I make my alumni donations directly to the school. They're tax deductible."