Many university students in Macau are worried about their financial situation, not because they are unable to find part-time jobs, but because they have accumulated too much in their credit card debts.

The fact is that it is so easy for local university students to obtain credit cards from various banks that they lack control of their credit spending.  The application procedures are very simple, and approvals are easy to obtain.  Besides, there are usually no annual fees.  Many students have been attracted to credit cards.

If a university student wants to apply for a credit card, he/she just needs to fill in the application form, enclosed with copies of his/her identity card and student card, the credit card would be issued to him/her within one week. 

"We won't check his personal data and income clarification.  We'll just check whether he had any bad records in our bank or not, if he didn't have them, he would be qualified to obtain our credit cards," said Jeff Wong, an officer in a bank.

Many students thus have more than one credit card. 

"I've had three credit cards since I was at Year One," said Elaine Cheung, a Third Year UMac student.  "The credit limit for each of my cards is up to $10, 000, so I can buy a lot of things without paying cash." 

The problem is that banks usually have little check on the financial background of students when they issue credit cards. This leads to the situation that many students spend much more than they can actually pay back.  They end up owing a large amount of credit card debts to banks.  "I am owing several thousand dollars in each of my credit cards.  I really don't know when I can pay back all the debts," said Ronnie Ma, a Second Year student.

A common practice for university students to pay their credit bills is to withdraw money from one credit card in advance and then pay for the bill of another.  However, it is just a trick, they still need to pay their interests and debts.

The minimum payment due in each credit card is within 3 - 5 per cent of the current balance of a cardholder.  If the cardholder fails to pay the bill on the due date, another 3-5 per cent counted from the debt will be applied to the current balance.  The less a student pays back his/her current amount, the more he/she will have on the credit debt. 

Families are the last means to get help from. Wilson Leung, a Third Year student said, "My mother helped me pay the rest of the bills.  I really couldn't pay them all, and my mother does not allow me to have any more cards now."

It is hoped that banks should consider reforming the conditions in credit card application for university students before more and more students become 
"personally bankrupt."