Students warned of credit debt - Truth About Credit

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1/30/2009 2:11:00 AM

Adam Liebendorfer • For The Post • al211307@ohiou.edu

Ohio University students had a chance to dig into the hazards of credit card debt in a presentation last night.

In conjunction with the Ohio Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and Americans for Fairness in Lending, OU Student Senate put on a presentation last night in the Baker University Center. About 35 people attended.

The presentation, which began with a screening of the documentary "Maxed Out," mainly looked at predatory lending practices and ways the public can take action. Following the film, Sarah Byrnes, campaign manager for Americans for Fairness in Lending, addressed the audience forum.

"The big thing is, credit card companies can change their rules at any time for any reason," she said.

The 87-minute documentary accounted for most of the meeting. It introduced several middle-class Americans and presented their hardships involving debt, showing that the U.S. has grown on a culture of accruing debt.

According to the 2006 film, the average American has more than $9000 in credit card debt and more than $1,300 in monthly interest.

Byrnes urged the audience to keep tabs on their credit information.

"Twenty-five percent of credit reports have a serious error in them," she said. "It may be hard to get that corrected, but make sure they make the correction."

She also noted that almost 90 percent of all credit scores are inaccurate and cautioned that many so-called free credit reports actually cost $15 annually.

One woman from the documentary, Doris, transferred a loan from her deceased daughter and later found that she herself had mistakenly been listed as deceased.

PIRG is a national organization aimed at starting grassroots campaigns in various areas of public interest. Oberlin College has the only student chapter in Ohio so far, but PIRG is always looking to expand, Byrnes said.

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