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Introduction
Credit cards have emerged as one of today's most convenient and popular means of payment, being an important tool to support modern lifestyles (Hayhoe et al. , 2000; Bernthal et al. , 2005). About 38 percent of all US households owned some sort of credit card debt in 2015 (United States Census Bureau and the Federal Reserve, 2016). The average US household credit card debt was $15,762 in 2015. Each American had an average of 2.6 credit cards in 2014; among credit card owners, the average was 3.7 cards.
College students represent a sizable market and a large chunk of the population of credit card users. The number of credit cards held by college students and the amount of credit card debt they owned decreased following the Credit Card Act of 2009. This act was intended to prevent credit card issuers' deceptive practices and to restrict their issuance of credit cards to students. Despite strict regulations, credit card companies still heavily target college students and qualify them for credit cards (Hawkins, 2012). The majority of college students use their credit cards more than four times in a month; they view credit cards as a path to building a positive credit history, and credit cards provide a sense of security for them (Blankson et al. , 2012; Debbaut et al. , 2013). The downside of marketing credit cards to this segment is that many students still misuse and mismanage their cards and continue to report high levels of debt (Norvilitis, 2014). Most college students with credit cards continue to carry outstanding balances; a report indicated that about 68 percent of college students carried a credit card balance in 2013 (Sallie Mae, 2013). A recent Experian College Graduate Survey 2016 found that 30 percent of soon-to-be-graduates had credit card debt, with an average balance of $2,573.
2.Literature review
Credit card misuse refers to excessive and irresponsible spending in using credit cards causing substantial debt (Norvilitis et al. , 2006; Omar et al. , 2014; Palan et al. , 2011; Sidoti and Devasagayam, 2010). Credit card misuse among college students has serious financial and psychological consequences, being associated with higher level of student dropout rates while in college, compulsive buying, and the resulting high...