Just Around the Corner

The exception, of course, is the Coop.

Each September, staff from the Coop and First USA Bank set up a table on the ground floor of the Coop's book building. They then approach students entering the building, asking them whether they'd like to sign up for a Coop Visa to receive a free T-shirt.

Though the table may appear to be just your normal credit card solicitation scheme, in fact, it's quite different

Behind the Coop table wait baskets of cards--a card for each first-year student at each of Harvard's schools.

And on each of those cards is an $800 credit line, ready for use. The user must fill out an application, but may use the card that day, before the application is processed.

What's more, seldom is the application rejected later on. In the very rare cases it is--if the student has already defaulted on another credit card or has a very bad credit record, says Coop Corporate General Manager Allen Powell--the student must make monthly payments on the amount already spent, but is allowed to spend more.

Though the ready-to-use credit line might seem like a moneymaking ploy and a trap for vulnerable first-years, Powell says it's a service for students.