Essay 4

Credit: The Good The Bad and The Uncontrollable

It was a warm August day when I ventured into my local Lowe’s store to purchase a washer and dryer for the very first time.  I was twenty years old and had recently moved into an apartment with a close friend.  I had lived in an apartment the year before and my roommates at the time and I had decided to rent a washer and dryer from the apartment complex management.  However, having a new roommate and apartment, I decided it was time to purchase these appliances for myself instead of continue to rent as I had been doing, wasting money in the process.  I had never before bought appliances as large or expensive.  It was daunting thought that I would now have an asset larger than one thousand dollars.  Even more so that I would be paying someone that amount in a short while.  My parents came with me to purchase them and introduced me to a very friendly sales associate who had helped them with most of their appliance needs since moving to Stillwater before I was born.  He was very helpful and showed us a wide variety of washers and dryers from combined units to washers and dryers that stacked on top of each other.  It took me awhile to find the ones I wanted but when I did I knew I was going to have to pony up the dough.  I had enough money in my bank account from previously managing my money and work situation well, but my parents suggested getting a Lowe’s store credit card so that I could make payments on my new washer and dryer and build my credit, of which I had none.  I appreciated their thoughtful advice and decided to take it.  This began my journey to the customer service area of Lowe’s to apply for their in store credit card and hopefully be approved.

There are a wide variety of opinions on the ownership and use of credit cards.  Some believe that credit cards are evil and should not be owned under any circumstances.  Others believe that there is much good in credit cards and they should be used regularly.  Still others are under the impression that credit cards should be used only in emergencies and some within that group go as far as freezing their credit cards in ice when not in use.  Teenagers, and here we will be defining teenagers as students in late high school and early college, as well as their parents, are especially concerned with the ownership and use of credit cards.  These students are about to graduate, or have graduated from, high school and are starting to venture into the real world for the first time.  As this happens, they will be assailed with many new experiences and responsibilities.  They will also face all sorts of propaganda trying to get them to buy as much as possible with the limited funds they have.  Bills are a new experience and responsibility for students who are leaving their parents homes and shelter that can be quite overwhelming.  The responsibility of paying bills on time to avoid late fees, as well as getting a job to be able to pay their bills, are of major concern.  With this new responsibility, credit cards are attractive to teenagers who want to buy now and pay later allowing them to better manage their expenses with their income they are earning.  Teenagers should be able to utilize the benefits of owning and using credit cards if they are taught the necessary risks and responsibility associated with credit card ownership.

One subject that is brought up frequently when discussing the ownership and use of credit cards is compulsive buying.  Teenagers in high school, when their parents do not monitor spending or graduating high school and being far from home, in many cases, need to be educated about the perils of compulsive buying.  First we must define compulsive buying behavior.  Khare, the author of an article relating credit card use with compulsive buying behavior, defines it as “inappropriate consuming behavior that is excessive in nature and harms the concerned individual” (para 1).  In other words, compulsive buying goes beyond just liking to shop a little bit too much.  It actually hurts the individual in a profound way that can have long lasting effects.  Compulsive buyers who have been asked not to shop may exhibit symptoms of withdrawal similar to those of quitting smoking (Grover, para 1).  Many people still believe that an individual either is or is not a compulsive buyer.  However, this is an overgeneralization based on personal assumptions that do not take into account more recent information.  Recent studies have found that addictive behaviors, which include compulsive buying, develop in a process that does not necessarily start with a harmful behavior (Grover, para 2).  Shopping can be fun and is a stress reliever to many people.  Teenagers deal with a lot of stress from their lives as students and obtaining new items is fun and feels good.  This in itself does not make a consumer a compulsive buyer and not until they take it a step further and cannot live without shopping does it become harmful.  It is when the shopping consumes the person and they begin to crave the feeling that buying things gives them that there is a problem.  For teenagers, this distinction can become quite blurred and it is very easy for them to turn a behavior that is not by itself harmful into one that is very addictive and hard to break.  Compulsive buying can be extremely harmful to teenagers who own and use credit cards because of the ease with which they can be used.  Instead of having to see the amount of cash that they are spending and being limited to what is in their wallet, these teenagers can keep spending and spending until eventually they reach the credit limit on their card.  Compulsive buying when using a credit card leads to extremely high credit card debt that can be very difficult to pay off.  With the proper education of the risks of compulsive buying, teenagers can utilize credit cards for their benefits without succumbing to this dangerous behavior.

Teenagers and parents are concerned with the teenager accumulating credit card debt as they rightly should be.  With a high enough credit card debt it can take months or even years to pay off.  It was found by Stanford, an author of an article discussing students and credit card debt, that “Freshmen who rack up a $1,000 credit card bill and pay only the minimum amount each month will finish their college degrees, complete a master’s program, begin earning a living, and still have three-and-one-half years to go to finish paying off that freshman spending spree” (para 11).  In other words, the spending that teenagers do in their first year of college, if irresponsible, can affect them for many years to come.  This can affect what jobs they are offered, what kind of loans they can get, and what interest rates they can get on those loans.  Teenagers need to be trained on how to spend wisely so they do not accumulate debt.  When paying only the minimum amount of credit card debt, primarily what is being paid off is the interest that has accrued on the principal amount.  This is why it takes so long to pay off credit card debt, because unless the consumer pays more than the minimum payment, the principal of the debt is only being reduced fractionally.  While many believe that a person dealing with credit card debt just needs to buckle down and budget better, reducing expenditures and working longer, this is often times not the case.  With the credit limits on most of these cards being extremely high, even the minimum payment can become extremely hard to deal with.  There is only so much budgeting that a person can do with a limited income, based on their salaries.  This is especially true for teenagers who do not yet have their careers.  It is very difficult for a student to pay off credit card bills with the money they earn from part time jobs while they attend school.  Teenagers need to be taught the responsibility to use credit cards correctly so they are not dealing with credit card bills as well as school.  This is also only the minimum payment required to keep your credit score good.  If a person were trying to pay off their debt quickly and pay more than the minimum amount of their bill each month, they would need an even higher income.  Teenagers need to be aware of the consequences of their actions now, and how they can affect the future so they can use credit cards correctly.  If payments are late a few times, or even once in some cases, it can negatively affect a student’s credit score.  This makes it more difficult to get anything from store credit cards to loans in order to purchase a car or house.  Additionally, if they do get the loans, a bad credit score will greatly increase the interest rate that they are required to pay in order to borrow the money.  When my parents were applying for a loan to buy the house they currently live in, their credit score was good.  However, even though it was from seven years prior to their applying for the loan, there was a note that they had previously had a bad credit score.  Even though the details were not listed, the bank still forced them to explain that note before they would consider giving them the loan.  It should be easy for anyone to imagine the kind of stress that they dealt with in wondering if they were going to get the loan for the house that they had fallen in love with.  Had they used credit cards more wisely in previous years, they would not have had to deal with this speed bump in obtaining their loans.  It is astounding that a bad credit rating can affect a consumer so far into the future.  Without the proper training and responsibility, teenagers are likely to accumulate large amounts of debt that they will not be able to pay off and give themselves a bad credit score that will affect them for many years to come.  However, with the proper responsibility and guidance teenagers can avoid large credit card debts and utilize the benefits of credit cards.

Another important concern of teenagers and parents is what happens when teenagers do have a large credit card debt.  The methods of collection agencies can become very extreme and harassment has been an issue for many consumers who are already dealing with the emotions of having high credit card debt.  While people may say that this is the person’s own fault and they should have to deal with the consequences, or that this does not happen in our day and age, they are not seeing the extent of the harassment that these consumers withstand.  Collection agencies may even go after teenagers more fiercely because the student may not know what the collection agency can and cannot legally do.  For instance, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, passed into law in 1996 prohibits collection agents from threatening violence, threatening to have the consumer arrested, pretending to be lawyers, and calling consumers repeatedly or continuously in order to harass them (Congress).  The simple fact that this law was created is proof that collection agents have done these things, and more, to past consumers with credit card debt.  Parents would be appalled at hearing that collection agents have threatened to have their children arrested or hurt physically if their credit card debt is not repaid immediately.  Furthermore, the mental stress of having the phone ring off the hook is devastating.  Not knowing your rights when dealing with a credit card collection agent is a big hindrance and can have very negative consequences.  When dealing with teenagers that do not understand their rights, collection agents are able to bend the rules, or break them entirely, and get away with it, making the teenager feel threatened and fear consequences that are nonexistent.  To keep this from happening teenagers need to understand this law and what collection agents can and cannot do when contacting them about their credit card debt.  Getting a call from a collection agent is often a scary and stressful experience, and one not to be taken lightly.  Students need to contact parents, teachers, lawyers, or anyone else who can be of service when dealing with collection agents in order to learn and enforce their rights and keep from the collection agent from taking advantage of them.  Parents need to educate their teenagers on the importance of not caving to the harassment of others and to seek help.

Credit card ownership by today’s teenagers is increasing rapidly.  Many would argue that teenagers are not responsible enough to own credit cards.  They say that teenagers will misuse their cards and rack up debts that will negatively affect them in the future or that their parents will have to pay off.  This is stereotyping all teenagers on preconceived notions of age and maturity.  These people believe that to be responsible one must be older and this is simply not true.  Teenagers should not be judged based on preconceived notions.  Many teenagers today are very responsible and can use credit cards wisely to build credit.  A recent poll found that eighty two percent of teens who owned credit cards paid off their debt in full each month (Feig para 3).  While the article does not tell where or how many teenagers were asked to participate in the poll, it is still a surprising number and should be taken into consideration.  This behavior needs to be cultivated in our teenagers today so that they can continue to make good responsible decisions regarding their credit cards.  A good way to instill in teenagers responsibility with credit cards is to make them get a job and pay their own bills.  When parents continue to pay off the credit card bills of their children, it only teaches them that they can buy whatever they want and mom and dad will take care of the bill, not giving them a correct value of money.  A good way for teenagers to learn how to use credit cards is to start a savings or checking account and set aside money into it each time they make a purchase.  This will ensure that they have enough money to pay off the bill at the end of the month as well as let them track exactly how much their charging by being able to look at the amount in that account at any time.  It is beneficial to teenagers to be taught to use their credit cards sparingly, not buying things they normally would not if they did not have their cards.  This encourages them to not get in the habit of buying any new thing they see and worrying about paying it off later, when they possibly would not have enough money to do so.  It is important for parents to take an active role in the credit card risks and benefits education of their children.  Teenagers rely on their parents for many things and guidance is a big one.

When teenagers use credit cards wisely and pay off the full amount of their bills each month they work on building good credit.  Credit is a lifelong benefit to these students who are starting their lives.  Many people believe that teenagers do not need to worry about building credit until they are older and have careers instead of part time jobs.  This is a misconception based on past personal experience.  Years ago, it was not necessary for teenagers to build credit as most transactions were done with cash and they did not need to get loans from banks until they were older and starting a family.  However, nowadays that is not necessarily true.  Cash is being used less and less with the greater convenience of credit cards.  More and more teenagers are leaving home to go to college once they graduate high school and with this big move comes a whole new list of responsibilities such as getting an apartment if they are not going to live on campus.  In the process of getting an apartment, teenagers are looking at a multitude of new bills as well as deposits.  They must pay a deposit on the apartment itself, and many times a deposit to turn on the utilities from the city they are living in.  With no credit these deposits can be ridiculously expensive.  This is due to the businesses not wanting to extend their services when they do not know how good the consumer will be at paying them back each month.  With no credit history a teenager is a complete gamble on the part of management.  In my own personal experience, when I moved into my apartment, I had to pay three months of rent in advance because I had no credit.  I was very lucky that I had that much from previous money management or else I would not have been able to get the apartment I wanted.  There was also a hundred dollar deposit to get the electricity from the city into my name.  These deposits can be overwhelming to teenagers who are living alone, or with just a roommate or two, for the first time in their lives, and is often an expense that is not considered until the apartment is already found.  Having good credit drastically reduces the deposits that a teenager has to pay when moving out for the first time.  Furthermore, when they become older, these teenagers will look into buying a house.  With no credit or gad credit, the loan for a house will either be non-existent or have a very large interest rate.  With good credit a consumer lowers the interest rate they will have to pay.

I was feeling very confident when I walked to the front of Lowe’s to apply for my Lowe’s credit card in order to build credit while paying for my washer and dryer.  I looked back on what I had done the past year and the fact that none of my bills had ever been paid late and was sure that they would approve me for the card.  I went to stand in line and then filled out the necessary paperwork.  I was only looking for part of the amount of the washer and dryer to be put on the card and I would pay the rest with a check.  As the lady processed my paperwork and looked up at me I still was hopeful.  Until she told me that my application for a Lowe’s credit card had been rejected.  A look of forlorn sadness came upon my face at hearing the news.  The computer did not tell her the exact reason as to why my application was denied, but while discussing with her we discovered that it was due to the fact that I had no credit.  Even though I had enough money in the bank to cover the entire cost of the appliances, I was unable to get a Lowe’s credit card in order to build my credit.  My heart fell at the prospect of not being able to build credit for my future.  I was forced to purchase the washer and dryer all with my own money, which was around fifteen hundred dollars.  It astounded me that the bills I had been paying for the last year had not increased my credit score, I thought that was how it worked.  Low and behold I was informed that simple things like rent and utility bill payment are not recorded on your credit unless you paid them late.  Had I known about that beforehand, I could have gotten a VISA or MasterCard with my parents cosigning and worked to build my credit.  That way I would have had enough to qualify for the Lowe’s credit card and increase my credit even more.  To keep this from happening, parents and teenagers need to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of owning and using a credit card.  In pursuit of this, parents should make their teenagers get a job if they want a credit card, take care of paying their own bill at the end of the month (with supervision preferably) and advise them to make purchases that they would already make to avoid over spending.  Parents should also ask the schools in their districts to add course or seminars to the curriculum that they are teaching the teenagers that attend.  While most teenagers listen to their parents, some will ignore everything they say, so reaching them from two fronts is a good investment.  As long as teenagers are responsible with their spending, work to pay off their debt and do not make late payments, credit cards can be a very beneficial thing that will help them the rest of their lives.

 

 

Works Cited

Congress. “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.” Federal Trade Commission. United States Government. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.

Feig, Nancy. “Today’s Teen: Braces, Prom, and Credit Histories.” Community Banker 14.12 (2005): 60. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2014.

Grover, Aditi, et al. “From use to Abuse: When Everyday Consumption Behaviours Morph into Addictive Consumptive Behaviours.” Journal of Research for Consumers 19 (2011): 1-8. ProQuest. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.

Khare, Arpita. “Credit Card use and Compulsive Buying Behavior.” Journal of Global Marketing 26.1 (2013): 28. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2014.

Stanford, William E. “Dealing with Student Credit Card DEBT.” About Campus 4.1 (1999): 12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

Essay 3

Writing: It’s More Than Putting Words on Paper

What does one see when they enter a library?  A multitude of books.  Many people believe that authors just sit down and write and voila, the book is made.  However, this is not the case with most book barring some exceptions.  In most cases authors must do research before they write, and the research is often one of the most, if not the most, time consuming parts of completing a paper or book.  We will now see that this is the case in examining the research process of one young author by the name of Matthew Krehbiel, aka myself.

In the beginning, long long ago, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the temperature was magnificent.  Sadly that day was not to be as it seemed.  Late that morning, just before noon, I ventured into the very depths of a building known as Morrill Hall.  There I met with my fellow peers and classmates and was told some very troubling news.  I was to begin doing research on a topic of my choice that related to the subject of my continued study at the great college Oklahoma State University.  At this news I balked and believed myself to have plenty of time.  “There’ll always be time tomorrow,” I said countless times, always putting off work for the future rationalizing that I would be older and therefore wiser.  Luckily for me, much work was able to done in class.  My peers and I were told to construct a bubble tree starting with our major in the center and branching off to more narrow topics in order to come up with the topic that we would be researching.  I started with accounting in the center of my bubble tree and ventured off into many subsections including taxes, accounting fraud, and technology relating to accountants.  I eventually decided on the broad topic of consumers buying on credit.  Afterward, I narrowed down this topic into what eventually became my research question: should teenagers own and use credit cards.

Once the monumental task of deciding on a research topic and question was completed, the real work was to begin.  Approximately a week after my research topic and question were decided upon, the class and I met in a computer lab in Edmon Low Library.  We got a tour of the libraries many databases and were able to spend a good amount of time looking for sources.  This is when I found my first five sources.  About two weeks later we had to find a historical source for our research question and annotate it on a website called Lit Genius.  After that I did not do much with my research as I continued to use my “it will get done tomorrow” excuse.  Finally, I was forced to read and annotate some of my sources I had found as my class had a checkpoint where we had to turn in three sources fully annotated, using a template that was given online, so our instructor could check our progress and give us feedback.  The next week our class met as groups so I only went to class on one day where I had to show three more sources I had found.  This left me to find four more sources before I had to have the completed essay to be peer reviewed the next week.

After I had found my other sources from the library databases it was time to complete my annotated bibliography.  The Saturday before the completed essay was to be peer reviewed I spent ten hours reading all of my sources and annotating them using the same template from the first three sources.  This ten hours was comprised mostly of watching episodes of family guy in between annotating different sources.  The majority of the time that was taken annotating sources was in the reading of the actual source.  After that it was fairly simple to use the template and insert the content that I had read and learned from the article.

After finding all of my sources and annotating them I learned that there is much more to a paper than just putting words down on a page.  Whereas before I believed that books and papers were mostly writing with not very much research, I now understand that research is a very large part of writing.  In my own experience as well as the stories I have heard from my classmates, the research is the most time consuming and difficult part of writing a paper.  Furthermore, a big part of research is simply reading the sources found and summarizing them for your own use.  Finding your sources is only the first step.  And all of this time and effort gets put into making the best paper that you can.

Essay 2

Should Teenagers Own and Use Credit Cards?

My research question is dealing with the intelligence or lack thereof pertaining to teenagers owning and using credit cards.  This is a big issue in today’s society.  Credit cards are accepted at almost every business you go to.  For instance, whenever wanting to make an expensive purchase, such as a car or a house, a consumer must go to a bank and receive a loan.  The bank will always check the person’s credit score before loaning them any money.  If the consumer’s credit score is not high enough this can affect the amount of money they can borrow or whether they get the loan at all.  That is why it is very important for teenagers to use credit cards responsibly in order to maintain a good credit score for their futures.

The scope of my research deals with teenagers in high school and college students.  It will go into the mentality of teenagers as well as describing the dangers of compulsive buying.  The research will try and equally represent the two sides to this discussion, credit cards being terrible versus credit cards building maturity and responsibility in our youth.  The sources are varied in the ages they discuss and geographic area.  Most are concerned with the United States but one is even discussing consumers of India.  Although the people in different cultures react differently to situations, I believe there is enough commonalities between all people to suit the purposes of my research.

 

 

Congress. “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.” Federal Trade Commission. United States Government. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.

 

“Fair Debt Collection Practices Act,” a federal law, is intended for debt collectors and consumers in debt.  This law is organized under many sections.  Congress states that it is illegal for debt collectors to use unfair collection practices.  In support of this, they claim many debt collection practices are unfair and illegal.  For example, the law is written that “A debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt.”  In other words, Congress means that while trying to collect a debt a collection agent may not lie to the consumer in order to collect the debt.  Furthermore Congress specifies that it is prohibited for a debt collector to lie about being an attorney to gain confidential information from consumers.

Whereas before this source, I believed that the stories of abusive debt collection practices were overstated, I now think that debt collectors have used more forms of abusive collection practices than I have ever heard of.  There would be no need for this law if these acts had not actually been committed, such as threatening violence or having the consumer arrested for not paying.  This source will be useful for developing a historical perspective of the struggles of consumers in debt because the thought of the practices used by debt collectors in the past that formed the need for this law are astounding.  For examples, many consumers would not understand their rights and be intimidated by collectors into doing things that they were not required to.

 

 

Feig, Nancy. “Today’s Teen: Braces, Prom, and Credit Histories.” Community Banker 14.12 (2005): 60. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2014.

 

“Today’s Teen: Braces, Prom, and Credit Histories,” an article in the trade journal Community Banker, is intended for high school teachers and parents of teenagers.  The article is organized into two sections that are in three columns.  Feig argues that teenagers are more responsible than people give them credit, and actually benefit from owning credit cards.  In support of this argument, she points out that teenagers with credit cards are responsible when dealing with their monthly bills.  For example, Feig states that “82 percent (of credit card owning teenagers) indicate that their monthly balance is paid in full” (para 3).  This means, she believes that teens are responsible with money in general.  Freig states that when asked what they would do if given one thousand dollars, twenty eight percent of teens responded that they would save it.  Feig’s claim that teenagers who own credit cards are responsible with them as well as their other money is unconvincing in that the poll referenced does not say anything about which teenagers were in the poll.  However, this source will provide a positive outlook on teenagers owning credit cards for my topic.

Whereas prior to encountering this source, I believed a consumer had to be 18 to get a credit card in their own name, I now know they can get them much younger because the article showed a statistic that 6.2 percent of 13 to 14 year olds owned credit cards in their own name.  This article will be useful for showing the positive side to the discussion of my research question.

 

 

Grover, Aditi, et al. “From use to Abuse: When Everyday Consumption Behaviours Morph into Addictive Consumptive Behaviours.” Journal of Research for Consumers 19 (2011): 1-8. ProQuest. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.

 

“From use to Abuse: When Everyday Consumption Behaviours Morph into Addictive Consumptive Behaviours,” an article from the scholarly journal Journal of Research for Consumers, is intended for business owners and product marketers.  The article is organized into five sections that transition well into each other.  Grover explores what the pre-addiction process is and how it leads to addiction.  In support of this objective, she points out that many everyday behaviors can become addictive depending on circumstances.  For example, Grover states that online gambling can be started out of curiosity and lack of fear, but can grow into an addiction if the rewards for it motivate greater involvement with lower enjoyment, thereby morphing liking the activity to wanting more of it.  This cycle can continue, Grover believes, reducing the person’s self-control leading into further addiction.  Grover’s claim that addiction starts before we regularly consider a person addicted is convincing in that many people have experienced how a behavior that starts out benign can snowball into a greater addiction.

This source has a strong significance to my project by showing the progression of addiction.  Whereas prior to encountering this source, I believed that people either were addicted or were not, I now think that addictions start off as small activities that grow into addictions based on continued use and lower enjoyment from the same amount of the activity.  This article will be useful for showing how spending with a credit card can become addictive even when it starts out as buying one or two things on credit.

 

 

Hazarika, Gautam. “The Role Of Credit Constraints In The Cyclicality Of College Enrolments.” Education Economics 10.2 (2002): 133-143. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.

 

“The Role Of Credit Constraints In The Cyclicality Of College Enrolments,” an article in the scholarly journal Education Economics, is intended for college administrators and educational policy makers.  The article is organized into four sections, introduction, economic model, data and empirical results, and conclusion.  Hazarika argues that the percentage of high school seniors enrolling in college is a cycle that relates to the economy.  He says that the number of new enrollments in college will be different depending on whether the economy is in a recession or expanding.  For example, Hazarika states that “firms tend to substitute out of the production of goods into the output of worker training during recessions as product prices fall” (para 1).  In other words, he believes that during a recession, businesses will send their employees back to school because the cost is lower.  However, he says that less wealthy students will have a harder time in a recession because of credit restraints due to lack of collateral for a loan.  Hazarika’s claim that colleges will have more new students during times of economic recession is convincing in that he backs up his arguments with real data and mathematics.

Whereas prior to encountering this source, I believed that more students would enter into college in times of economic prosperity, I know think that it makes sense for more students to enter into college during a recession when tuition is lower.  This article will be useful for providing more information on high school and college students struggles with credit.

 

 

Khare, Arpita. “Credit Card use and Compulsive Buying Behavior.” Journal of Global Marketing 26.1 (2013): 28. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2014.

 

“Credit Card use and Compulsive Buying Behavior,” an article from the scholarly journal Journal of Global Marketing, is intended for local governments and bank institutions as well as marketing departments of businesses.  The article is organized into several sections describing a research process, results and discussion.  Khare implies that factors including age, income and attitude toward credit cards can affect compulsive buying in consumers.  In pursuit of this theory, he researched integrating previous research results and modifying methods based on the population tested.  For example, one of the aspects of Khar’s questionnaire dealt with age relating to compulsive buying and it was found that the hypothesis that younger consumers exhibit higher compulsive tendencies than do older consumers was supported.  Furthermore he tested the hypothesis that income affects compulsive behavior and it supported that income affected compulsive buying behavior.  Khare’s hypotheses that many factors affect compulsive buying behavior is convincing because the results of the research supported most of his hypotheses and partially supported the rest.

This source confirms my impression that younger people are more prone to compulsive behavior, most likely due to younger consumers wanting to show their social standing among their peers.  However, before reading this source I believed that attitude towards credit cards would affect compulsive buying behavior whereas the researched showed no relation between the two.  This article will be useful for showing which groups of people are more likely to compulsively shop, because the research done supports that many factors affect compulsive shopping in consumers.

 

 

Lee, Jinkook, and Kyoung-Nan Kwon. “Consumers’ use of Credit Cards: Store Credit Card Usage as an Alternative Payment and Financing Medium.” The Journal of Consumer Affairs 36.2 (2002): 239-62. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2014.

 

“Consumers’ use of Credit Cards: Store Credit Card Usage as an Alternative Payment and Financing Medium,” an article in the scholarly journal The Journal of Consumer Affairs, is intended for stores offering credit to consumers.  The article is organized into several sections describing a research process and results.  Lee argues that many factors can indicate whether a consumer will use store cards as a means of alternative payment (convenience) or financing.  In pursuit of this hypothesis, he points out many qualities that may affect why consumers use store cards, such as income, level of education, and ethnicity.  For example, Lee hypothesizes that consumers with higher income will be more likely to use store cards as a payment medium and consumers with lower incomes will be more likely to use store cards for financing.  Lee’s claim that factors such as these may indicate why a consumer uses store cards is convincing in that he gives many examples why these may affect reasons for use and gives the results that support many of his hypotheses.

Whereas prior to encountering this source, I believed the reasons behind consumers use of store cards could not be predicted, I now think that the variable put forth in this study have a high probability of predicting how consumers use store cards.  This article will be useful for distinguishing between two reasons for using store cards, convenience and financing, as well as show the connections between many variables and how they affect use of store cards because of the results of the study.

 

 

Lukas, R. Dean, et al. “Debt Begets Debt: Examining Negative Credit Card Behaviors and Other Forms of Consumer Debt.” Journal of Financial Service Professionals 67.2 (2013): 72. ProQuest. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.

 

“Debt Begets Debt: Examining Negative Credit Card Behaviors and Other Forms of Consumer Debt,” an article in the academic journal Journal of Financial Service Professionals, is intended for creditor.  The article is organized in four main sections, showing the results of Lukas’ study.  Lukas suggests that poor credit card behavior can be an indication of the presence of other types of debt as well as levels of debt present.  In pursuit of this hypothesis, he points out that the study he conducted revealed a surprisingly accurate prediction of other types of debt based on poor credit card behavior.  For example, Lukas found that “respondents who ‘usually’ pay off their credit card balance are 67% more likely to have automobile debt than respondents who ‘always’ pay off their credit card balance” (para 17).  In other words, Lukas says people with good payment behavior tend to have less debt overall.  Lukas’ suggestion that behavior can predict debt is convincing given the results of his research study.

This source has a strong significance to my topic because the behavioral patterns we have early in life normally follow us throughout our lives.  This source confirms my impression that debt and poor credit card behaviors have a snowball effect.  Namely that the more debt a person has from credit cards, the more likely they will have debt from other sources as well.  This article will be useful for instilling in readers a sense of urgency because the patterns that consumers form now will likely grow into the ones that continue to put them in debt.

 

 

O’Connell, Vanessa. “Personal Finance (A Special Report): Making it, Spending it — Perils of Plastic: Credit Cards can be a Great Way to Instill Discipline in Teenagers; Or they can be a Nightmare.” Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed.: 0. Dec 12 1996. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2014

 

“Personal Finance (A Special Report): Making it, Spending it — Perils of Plastic: Credit Cards can be a Great Way to Instill Discipline in Teenagers; Or they can be a Nightmare,” a newspaper article from the Wall Street Journal, is intended for parents of teenagers.  The article is organized simply with no separating sections.  O’Connell argues that credit cards can be a dangerous thing for teenagers to own and use, but can also teach responsibility when the proper education is instilled in them.  In pursuit of this objective, she points out many ways to teach teenagers about the value of money and responsibility when spending this credit cards.  For example, O’Connell implores parents to have their teenager measure their risk profile to find out if they are going to be more likely to pay their bills in full or accumulate debt.  O’Connell’s claim that credit cards can be dangerous or beneficial to teenagers is convincing in that she uses examples of teenagers who own credit cards not being able to define buying on credit, but also the many steps parents can take in order to educate their teenager about using credit cards wisely.

This source will be significant because it shows a more everyday source talking about the issue.  This source reinforces my impression that many teenagers are not responsible enough to use credit cards.  However it gave more information about education than I had previously known about.  This article will be useful for showing that my topic is being discussed.

 

 

Scott, Robert H, I.,II. “Credit Card Ownership among American High School Seniors: 1997-2008.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 31.2 (2010): 151-60. ProQuest. Web. 22 Sep. 2014.

 

“Credit Card Ownership among American High School Seniors: 1997-2008,” an article in the scholarly journal Journal of Family and Economic Issues is intended for high school administration and parents of high school students.  The article is organized into several sections that describe the process and results of surveying American seniors in high school about credit card ownership.  Scott argues that financial literacy is much too low in American high school seniors and explores the relationship between credit card ownership and score on the Jump$tart financial literacy survey.  In support of this argument, he points out that “students with credit cards in their own name were 24% less likely to have received a passing score on the Jump$tart survey compared to students without credit cards” (para 24).  This means that Scott believes that students’ financial literacy decreases with credit card ownership.  Scott’s claim that literacy in high school students is down is convincing in that the survey shows the number of seniors who fail the Jump$tart survey.

This source has a strong significance to my project as it deals with the group that is my main focus, high school seniors.  This source reinforces my opinion that high school seniors do not have enough knowledge in real life issues.  It surprised me that high school seniors who owned credit cards were less educated about their finances than those who did not.  This article will be useful for showing the urgency of the issue of my research question because it shows how uneducated students can be about important topics.

 

 

Stanford, William E. “Dealing with Student Credit Card DEBT.” About Campus 4.1 (1999): 12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

 

“Dealing with Student Credit Card DEBT,” an article from the scholarly journal About Campus, is intended for college students and parents as well as college administration.  The article is organized in two columns with several sections.  Stanford argues that college students are a prime marketing base for credit card companies.  He implores parents and colleges to become more involved with the education of college students with regards to the risks of credit cards.  In support of this argument, he points out that in a survey conducted at Lehigh, the college he works at, it was found that “72 percent (of students) had two or more credit cards, 13 percent had balances over $2000; 26 percent had missed payments; 61 percent used their cards for general purchases; and 12.5 percent made only the minimum monthly payment” (para 5).  This means that more than half of students surveyed had multiple credit cards and used them for everyday purchases.  Stanford’s claim that students need to be educated is convincing in that most people know people struggling with credit cards.

This article will help my research project by showing the degree to which college students use credit cards.  Whereas prior to encountering this source, I believed most college students were wise in their credit card use, I now think there are many students who do not use them wisely and need better education on the risks of credit cards.  This article will be useful for introducing my topic because it will show how college students are affected.

Essay 1

Reduce, Reuse, Respond With Funding

Everyday humans create waste.  It is a common occurrence to see wealthier people creating more waste simply because they can.  People who make more money do not have to be as frugal as those that make smaller salaries or live paycheck to paycheck and for example can afford to buy a lot of food that later gets thrown away because they bought too much or changed their minds about what they wanted to eat.  However lower income families also produce their share of waste and sometimes more depending on the household.  There are many kinds of waste that we produce including food wrappers as well as uneaten or bad food, paper products, plastic bottles and cardboard.  Much of the waste produced is completely unnecessary and what is necessary can generally be limited if people would pay more attention.  With all this waste our landfills are growing larger and larger by the day and eventually we will run out of space to throw things we do not want to deal with anymore.  Once that happens trash will be lining the streets or filling the oceans, even more so than what is already in the ocean today.  This leads us to question what we should do about it.  It leads us to ask should money be invested improving the recycling systems?

One place the recycling systems in place needs more investing is in funding for advertising.  Many people would be stumped when asked if we should invest more in recycling for the simple reason that they believe because we already recycle there would be no point in investing more money than what already is.  These people are wrong, but it is not their fault that they are not educated on the facts about recycling because most people are not.  Recycling has come more into the general public’s awareness in recent history but it hasn’t appeared enough.  People are astounded when they hear about the pure statistics of the amount of waste that is produced in the United States alone.  McKibben states in his article that his small town of 550 people generates a trailer load of garbage every couple of weeks (363).  Furthermore he tells us that 1.14 million paper bags are used each hour and 60,000 plastic bags are used every 5 seconds (364-365).  He lists many more statistics about the waste produced and they are all mind blowing.  Of this waste produced, Bornstein reports that only about a third is recycled (para 2).  The lack of advertising on the subject of waste in America alone is why most people do not know the astounding statics.

Beyond advertising the recycling collection system needs more funding and standardization.  A lot of people want to recycle and help reduce their carbon footprint on our planet.  However, many are confused about how to go about this.  There are many places where you can find recycling bins right next to trashcans including, college campuses, airports and government buildings to list a few.  Regardless of the accessibility of recycling bins there is a large portion of the population that does not recycle because of lack of understanding and standardization.  They question what should go into the recycling bin and how to figure out.  Some are labeled “paper only” or “cans and glass” but many just have symbols that are not standard.  This leads to doubt every new place you go if you want to recycle.  Bornstein tells us that when interviewing the founder of Recycle Across America, a nonprofit organization that is leading the initiative to standardize recycling labels, she states that even people in the recycling industry are confused about what to put in those recycling bins (para 8).  It is obvious that the general population is not going to be more educated about recycling than people in the recycling industry.  Therefore it is easy to see that confusion is a big problem in recycling systems and could be solved with standardized labels and greater education on the matter of what those labels mean.

Beyond education about recycling systems and how to recycle we need more money invested in the education of the general public about waste production and how to reduce it.  Our society has gotten so used to what we waste that it is second nature.  There are many examples of unnecessary waste, for example, people throwing away paper when there is a paper recycling bin right next to it at libraries and computer labs.  Another big area of waste is plastic bottles.  As McKibben states, plastic bottles are the definition of waste (363).  In a country where clean water is just a push of a button or a turn of a knob away it is astounding to think of how much plastic water bottle waste we produce.  80 million plastic water bottles get tossed every single day (McKibben 363).  Although it has a higher initial cost, buying a reusable water bottle or mug can save a lot of money in the long run because water out of the tap is so cheap.  Also there are many cases where tap water has actually beaten bottled water in taste tests regardless of what the bottling companies lead you to believe.  More money needs to be invested in recycling to get rid of the enormous amount of bottles that are thrown away everyday as well as educating people how to save money and reduce waste by convincing them that although we have been led astray tap water, in most cases, is very clean.

Another good reason to invest in recycling systems is the numerous jobs recycling produces.  These jobs are produced because recycling is very labor intensive.  Bornstein tells us that eighty five percent of waste related jobs come from recycling because people are required to collect, sort, process, compost and prepare materials (para 5).  This is great news for any economy because it reduces the unemployment rate by creating jobs that will not be sent offshores.  In addition to these jobs that are pretty easy to comprehend when speaking of recycling new horizons are also being opened on how we can use recycling.  Bellmer theorized that because soft drinks contain sugar and carbohydrates soda waste could be used to produce ethanol (399).  A study was implemented to measure the ease and efficiency of doing so and found that many types of soda waste had a yield of approximately six percent ethanol when in the presence of nutrients (399,401).  These numbers do not mean much to the general population that does not understand science very well but the point is the possibilities.  Experiments are being done right now to try and create new and better ways of reusing the vast amounts of waste produced and these experiments and the later processes that come from these experiments require people.  Labor that would otherwise go to less productive endeavors or possibly not go to anything at all.  It is common opinion that the unemployment rate reaching zero percent is impossible, but more funding going toward recycling could help reduce it drastically.

Tons of waste is produced every day that is unnecessary.  That waste is filling up our landfills and dirtying our oceans forcing us to either spend an exorbitant amount of money cleaning it up or just leaving it there to endanger wildlife and the future of this planet.  Recycling is a great way to get rid of waste by reusing it.  This keeps it out of our landfills and out of the oceans so the aquatic life does not get harmed by it.  Recycling lowers the amount of wasted resources and helps people reduce their carbon footprint on the earth and feel good about what they are doing.  We cannot change overnight or even with big steps.  Humans need small attainable goals to change a set behavior.  With small goals of recycling one or two things a day instead of throwing them away and getting better educated about the recycling systems we can do better.  A great way to improve the recycling system is to research it more and find out how you can invest time or money into the recycling system in order to make it more efficient and therefore better for the planet.  We need to lobby corporations to standardize labels and make it easier to get informed about recycling and ask our government to pass standards requiring businesses to recycle a percentage of the waste they produce.

 

 

Works Cited

Bellmer, Danielle, F. Holbrook, J. Lim. “Use of Soft Drink Waste for Ethanol Production: A Preliminary Report.” Academic Universe: Research and Writing at Oklahoma State University. Eds. Richard Frohook, et al. Plymouth: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2012. 399-404. Print.

Bornstein, David. “The Recycling Reflex.” New York Times. New York Times, 25 July 2012. Web. 7 Sept. 2014. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/the-recycling-reflex/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A13%22%7D&_r=0

McKibben, Bill. “Waste Not, Want Not.” Academic Universe: Research and Writing at Oklahoma State University. Eds. Richard Frohook, et al. Plymouth: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2012. 363-367. Print.

BP 14

This week we have been asked to look back on all our work this semester.  Starting with our first blog post where I introduced that accounting was my subject of study I have tended to do things at the last minute.  When I first found out I had to do these weekly blog posts I was not looking forward to them.  It was yet another thing to remember and do every Wednesday.  But luckily they have turned into a good way to get my thoughts out and have been quite helpful with my writing.  As we had our first reading at the beginning of the semester I had to come up with a research question based on it.  This taught me how to reverse engineer a research question out of an article.  Then for essay 2 I had to come up with my own research question that was related to my major.  What helped me the most was when we made a bubble map in class.  After that we went to the library and found out all about the databases that were most helpful in my research.  It took a long time for me to find all my sources, even with the times that my class went to the computer lab to find sources.  I have always found that I do my best work at home when I have little to distract me.  Then I had to read and summarize all the sources I had found.  Three of them in one night and the other seven on a later day a couple weeks later.  After all of that I composed essay 3 looking back on my research process for essay 2.  After all of this it was time to put together all of my research into my position on my research question for essay 4.  It was a long process but it taught me a lot about how to find sources and compose my ideas into a position.

BP 13

This week we have been asked to use the “opposition-rebuttal-position” structure for one of our arguments that will appear in our research paper, essay 4.  I have chosen to practice that structure for my argument that teenagers are more responsible than people give them credit.

Good credit is a benefit to consumers that lasts their entire lives.  It helps in many things including obtaining loans with lower interest and also higher dollar loans later in life.  The more credit history someone has and the better their credit score is, the more money banks are willing to lend them.  Many people believe that teenagers do not need to build credit until they are older.  In this case I am speaking of teenagers in college and upper grades of high school.  This misconception that teenagers do not need to build credit until they become older is an overgeneralization based on past information from their personal experience.  Previously, it was not necessary to build a credit score young because most people still used cash and did not need high dollar loans till later in life.  However, nowadays you can never start building your credit too soon.  Credit is used in everyday purchases when people slide their cards to pay for groceries or electronics.  It is also used by utilities companies and apartment complex managers in determining how much a consumer will have to pay as a deposit.  Having no credit at all, or having a bad credit score, is very detrimental to teenagers today trying to get out on their own.  It adds many barriers when moving out of their parents house.

BP 12

This week we have been asked to reflect on our previous reading in They Say I Say, a required text for our class, from last week.  The reading was explaining how to respond to an author’s claim.  It puts forth several templates for agreeing, disagreeing, and neither agreeing or disagreeing.  As any readers should know, we recently got done with a ten to twelve page annotative bibliography as our essay two.  These sources are going to be used in our next essay, essay four, which is a nine to twelve page paper responding to our research question.  In preparation for this essay we are taking six of the sources we found and using the templates from They Say I Say to respond to a point that the author is making.  Without further ado we shall begin.

If Feig is right that teenagers are responsible and benefit from owning credit cards, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the popular assumption that all teenagers are irresponsible and bad with money.

I agree with Grover that pre-addiction is a process that leads and grows into addiction, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people still believe that people are either addicted to something or not.

Khare’s theory of factors including age and income affecting compulsive buying in consumers is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of overspending in youth.

I agree with Lee that many factors can affect whether a consumer will use store cards as a means of alternative payment because I have seen this many times with friends and family.

Lukas’ theory that poor credit card behavior can indicate the presence of other types of debt is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of consumers spiraling into debt.

I agree with Scott that financial literacy is too low in American high school seniors because my experience at my own high school has confirmed this, as well as many stories from my peers.

BP 11

It was a fine morning in the town of Stillwater and all the little college students were going to classes.  I was among their blessed number and travelled to my morning classes with expectations abounding and optimism.  Then I ventured into Morrill Hill at 11:30 am to attend my composition class.  There our instructor started class like most days with a discussion about the reading we had done.  That moved onto a discussion about our majors and the possibility of finding a research question related to it.  Our instructor mentioned several different strategies for doing this.  I chose to use a bubble tree.  I got out a crisp piece of paper and tore it from the notebook.  Pushed out the lead of my mechanical pencil and waited for inspiration.  I just stared at the paper hoping for something.  All I could do was stare at the one circle with “accounting” written in its center.  My mind was racing trying to figure out related topics that I could possibly turn into a research question for my paper.  Finally I decided to create more bubble based on what I had been learning in my financial accounting course hoping one of those would strike my inspiration.  I wrote quickly and without much thought expanding the bubbles with everything I had learned.  I started with something things such as the accounting equation.  The different types of accounts and the different occupations that I knew of after obtaining an accounting degree.  I kept writing and writing and eventually I wrote “buying on credit.” This made the light bulb in my brain light up as I realized I could relate this to my own generation.  Finally I wrote down what eventually became my research question, “should teenagers own and use credit cards?” and my stress melted with that revelation.

BP 10

This week is our last research observation.  Before I had said that I was going to try and do the work in increments and not all at once right before the due date.  Well I was partially successful.  We had a peer review on Monday where we had to have our completed draft in class.  I did do all the work in one night, but I did not actually wait until Sunday night.  I worked on it throughout the day on Saturday and spent a total of about 10 hours finishing my draft.  However, this number does include breaks to watch part or a full episode in between annotating my sources.  Then in the peer review I did not have much to input for my partner, but she gave me many helpful corrections which I employed fully when revising my draft to turn it into my final essay that I turned in on Wednesday.  Of my actual research process I don’t really have that much to say this week.  I already had nine of the ten sources that I needed to have and annotate before the ten hours of working on my paper on Saturday.  This means that I only had to actually find one source when I was working on my annotations and that source just came from the database that I used for most of my sources and that is ProQuest that I accessed through the library website.  Speaking of the actual annotations, they were more time consuming than difficult.  Reading the articles took the most time, but after I did that it was pretty simple to use the template for annotating that was on D2L.