TrueCredit.com "Cost of Free" Survey Data

Zogby International was commissioned by TrueCredit.com to conduct an online survey of 3,631 College grads or those who have attended some college, aged 22-40 from 7/30/08 to 8/4/08. A sampling of Zogby International's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the US, was invited to participate. Slight weights were added region, party, age, race, and gender to more accurately reflect the population. The margin of error is +/- 1.7 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

Narrative Summary

1. Have you ever signed up for a credit card to receive a free gift or special offer?
      Yes:                               40%
      No :                                58%
      Not sure:                         1%

Four in ten respondents (40%) say they have signed up for a credit card to receive a free gift or special offer, while more than half (58%) say they have not.

2. Did you have credit card debt upon graduating or leaving college?
     Yes:                                 52%
      No:                                 47%
      Not sure:                         1%

A majority of respondents who attended some college, or graduated from college (52%) say they had credit card debt upon leaving school. Slightly less
than half (47%) say they did not have credit card debt when they left college.

3. About how much credit card debt did you have by the time you graduated or left college?

     $0-$500:                          12%
     $501-$1,000:                  15%
     $1,000-$2,500:               23%
     $2,500-$5,000:               22%
     $5,000-$10,000:            14%
     More than $10,000:      10%
     Not sure:                           3%

Of those who say they had credit card debt upon leaving or graduating from college, a plurality (23%) says they had $1,000 to $2,500 in such debt. Twenty-two percent say they had $2,500 to $5,000 in credit card debt when they left school, while one in seven (14%) say they had $5,000 to $10,000 in such debt. One in ten (10%) say they had more than $10,000 in credit card debt by the time they graduated or left college.