Many young people have gotten into serious financial trouble with credit cards. Lenders are aggressively soliciting college-age students with attractive introductory offers and high credit limits - two things that lead folks down a slippery slope to financial debt.

To help put a stop to this, Congressman Zach Wamp cosponsored the College Students Credit Card Protection Act, H.R. 184. "We must work to keep our nation's young people out of debt and help prevent them from beginning their adult lives as slaves to their debtors," Wamp said.

There is a national epidemic of students running up credit card debt when they have little, if any, annual income. One recent report found that one fifth of the nation's college students carry credit card debt of more than $10,000. While many college students are adults and responsible for the debt they charge, the credit card industry's policy of extending high lines of credit to unemployed students should be examined.

The bill would require credit card companies to determine an applicant's ability to pay off a credit card balance before the credit application is approved. Additionally H.R. 184:

• Limits credit lines to 20 percent of a student's annual income if the student does not have a co-signer.
• Permits students to receive a starter credit card with a lower credit limit that can be increased over time if payments have been made;
• Eliminates the fine print in credit card agreements and advertisements that hide fees and penalties; and
• Requires parents to agree in writing to increases on the credit limit in any cards that they have co-signed.