COLUMBUS, OH — An 18-year-old Buckeye Valley State University freshman spent approximately eleven seconds Wednesday afternoon at a Meridian One promotional table outside the student union weighing the pros and cons of signing up for a credit card in exchange for a free t-shirt, before ultimately concluding that the shirt, on balance, was worth it.
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The shirt is charcoal gray. It says MERIDIAN ONE across the chest in white block letters. It is a size medium. It fits, the freshman has confirmed, “pretty good.”
The card carries a 36.24% variable APR, a $95 annual fee waived only in the first year, and, according to a rate structure the freshman did not read, an escalation clause tied to any single late payment. His credit limit is $500. His grace period is 21 days. His starting balance, as of 3:47 p.m. Wednesday, is $47.83, from a Chipotle he purchased on the way back to his dorm to celebrate.
He did not know Chipotle was a purchase. He thought the tap-to-pay was still connected to his debit card.
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“I mean, it’s a free shirt, dude,” the freshman told his roommate later that evening, holding up the shirt admiringly. “Like, they were just giving them out. You just had to fill out one form. I was gonna get a credit card eventually.“
His roommate, a sophomore who has taken exactly one economics class and thus feels qualified to speak on this, attempted to explain compound interest to the freshman for approximately six minutes. The freshman nodded politely throughout.
“So basically,” the freshman summarized when the sophomore finished, “as long as I pay it off, it’s free money.”
The sophomore closed his eyes.
The Meridian One promotional representative, a 24-year-old contractor who is paid $18 per signup, reportedly signed up 47 freshmen on Wednesday alone. She has been doing this circuit for three months. She has, by her own quiet count, signed up over 900 freshmen across six universities. She goes home at night, she said, and does not sleep well.
“They’re so happy about the shirts,” the contractor said. “That’s the part that gets me. They walk away, like, thrilled. I’ve watched a kid do a small dance. Like a little celebration dance. And I know, I know, that in eighteen months that kid is going to owe us $2,400 and he’s not going to remember why.”
The freshman, meanwhile, has already begun planning his next purchase. He wants Beats headphones. He believes he can “put them on the card” and pay them off “over, like, a couple months.”
He is not, sources confirm, going to pay them off over a couple months.
Assuming the freshman carries an average balance of $2,000 at 36.24% APR for the next thirty years — a scenario that financial modeling software describes as “conservative given his current trajectory” — the true lifetime cost of his charcoal gray Meridian One t-shirt will be approximately $71,000.
He is wearing it right now.
He is thinking about wearing it to class tomorrow.
The shirt is charcoal gray. It says MERIDIAN ONE across the chest in white block letters. It is a size medium. It fits, the freshman has confirmed, “pretty good.”
The card carries a 36.24% variable APR, a $95 annual fee waived only in the first year, and, according to a rate structure the freshman did not read, an escalation clause tied to any single late payment. His credit limit is $500. His grace period is 21 days. His starting balance, as of 3:47 p.m. Wednesday, is $47.83, from a Chipotle he purchased on the way back to his dorm to celebrate.
He did not know Chipotle was a purchase. He thought the tap-to-pay was still connected to his debit card.
“I mean, it’s a free shirt, dude,” the freshman told his roommate later that evening, holding up the shirt admiringly. “Like, they were just giving them out. You just had to fill out one form. I was gonna get a credit card eventually.“
His roommate, a sophomore who has taken exactly one economics class and thus feels qualified to speak on this, attempted to explain compound interest to the freshman for approximately six minutes. The freshman nodded politely throughout.
“So basically,” the freshman summarized when the sophomore finished, “as long as I pay it off, it’s free money.”
The sophomore closed his eyes.
The Meridian One promotional representative, a 24-year-old contractor who is paid $18 per signup, reportedly signed up 47 freshmen on Wednesday alone. She has been doing this circuit for three months. She has, by her own quiet count, signed up over 900 freshmen across six universities. She goes home at night, she said, and does not sleep well.
“They’re so happy about the shirts,” the contractor said. “That’s the part that gets me. They walk away, like, thrilled. I’ve watched a kid do a small dance. Like a little celebration dance. And I know, I know, that in eighteen months that kid is going to owe us $2,400 and he’s not going to remember why.”
The freshman, meanwhile, has already begun planning his next purchase. He wants Beats headphones. He believes he can “put them on the card” and pay them off “over, like, a couple months.”
He is not, sources confirm, going to pay them off over a couple months.
Assuming the freshman carries an average balance of $2,000 at 36.24% APR for the next thirty years — a scenario that financial modeling software describes as “conservative given his current trajectory” — the true lifetime cost of his charcoal gray Meridian One t-shirt will be approximately $71,000.
He is wearing it right now.
He is thinking about wearing it to class tomorrow.