College Student Credit Card Protection Act

The College Student Credit Card Protection Act (H.R. 5060) was introduced to establish strict limits on how much credit can be extended to full-time college students. Under this bill, credit card companies would be required to use a specific formula to cap a student's credit limit unless a parent or guardian agrees to share legal responsibility for the debt.

For citizens, the bill’s primary impact would be to prevent young adults from accumulating excessive debt before they have a steady income. It would prohibit banks from increasing credit limits on joint accounts without a parent's permission and would stop companies from opening new accounts for students who have no income and already own a credit card. While this specific bill did not become law, many of its core ideas were later incorporated into the Credit CARD Act of 2009.