Same here. 25 years ago I got a $500 AMEX card and a bag of M&Ms. A $1,000 Citi card and a T-shirt. And another card—Discover, $2,000!—along with a free CD I think?

The conventional wisdom at the time was that (a) we were college students and were therefore more likely to have earnings in the near future to cover those small credit limits, and (b) we were college students and were therefore more likely to have parents to bail us out if we got in trouble with the credit card, and (c) there's no better time to snag a lifetime customer than at the very beginning of their adult lives.

There is also a massive difference between a $500 credit limit of hypothetical spending for a credit card and actually giving out $100,000 in an unsecured loan. At the worst case scenario, your credit card loss will probably on average be $50 per customer if not much less, but for unsecured student loans it will be much higher, which will require higher interest rates that further increase defaults.

The reason student loans aren’t dischargeable in bankruptcy is because it’s basically literally impossible to collect on them, you can’t repo a college education

> The reason student loans aren’t dischargeable in bankruptcy is because it’s basically literally impossible to collect on them, you can’t repo a college education

You can revoke the degree. Given that most people out of school don’t remember most of school anyways this should be enough for most.

It’s not like employers would suddenly say, “oh, your degree was revoked? I guess that knowledge you acquired is gone and we can’t hire you.”

I mean some would. Usually the jobs where people care about having a degree would. Like research. The rest of us, sure. But then again, that means you waisted money.

I got a Discover and a Citi Mastercard.

The students working in the mail-room of my dorm were ... less than meticulous about sorting. My bills occasionally went to the wrong box, leaving insufficient time for me feel safe that my payment would arrive on time. When this happened with Discover, I just called customer service and they said they'd waive the late-fee since I called in advance. It happened once with Citi, I called and they said I would have to do an electronic payment with a $10 service charge. paid the bill and immediately canceled the Citi card.

Guess which (of Discover and Citi) I'm a lifetime customer of, and which one I will never sign up for again.

P.S.

After re-reading the above, it strikes me how much of a "period piece" the comment is. The bill arrived in the mail, I had to mail in payment, and I spoke with a person on the phone when I called the credit card company.

> ... it strikes me how much of a "period piece" the comment is...

Ha. I mean, I got a free CD, which itself dates the story. But even more old-timey? That Citi card I referenced above was actually an AT&T Universal Card. The "Universal" was because it was also a calling card! On the back was a separate number I could use to place calls from a payphone, at cheaper rates than dropping coins into it.

It's been many years since the card had that feature, but the branding relationship must be strong, because it's still called that, and my card still sports an AT&T logo on the front.

I was able to get a credit card with a relatively low limit ($1200) as my first one, partly because I had a higher than average income during school as a private tutor. Many people do get secured cards if they are on a low income though.

That was a “student card,” so optimized for people who don’t have a credit history. After having that for a while I was able to leverage it into standard rewards cards.

I had an unsecured student credit card, 20 years now. Its limit was $800, no deposit required; just enough to pay for books, lab supplies, and a few meals. I know because I kept it as my last resort emergency card all these years later. Or use it on sketchy kiosk/online shopping sites. Every few years BoA asks me to increase the limit, which I decline to do.

I'm still FB friends with the girl that gave me a free t-shirt for signing up. LOL.

Off topic: 20 years ago, FB didn't exist.

All my FB friends are friends I've made through physical contact. Most of us have been separated through location, time and obligations. Even though we haven't seen each other in over a decade we're still FB friends.

I had 0 credit history in 2016. Didn't have student loans and had avoided credit cards. Absolutely screwed me when I needed an Auto loan for a used car that I was willing to pay a heaft chunk up front. Couldn't get credit cards either, only one that would offer me one was a $100 secured card from Discover. Took me a year and luck that a loan agent at a credit union took pity on me before I could get that auto loan.

I got my first credit card when I was twelve years old. This was back in the year 2000. It had something like a $10,000 credit limit.

My parents didn’t co-sign, though I did use their incomes for the “household income,” which I don’t believe was a lie.

My first credit card was a $200 secured card. They offered me a real card after about 6 months of usage.

This was about 5 years ago.