You see them all of the time, at sporting events, college campuses, and shopping malls. Tables and displays set up in high traffic areas pushing credit cards and promising instant rewards of gift certificates and team T-shirts. The credit card companies know what they're doing–they have great success when pushing cards onto people that probably don't know what they're getting into. And the salespeople get a commission from every card they dole out.

There have been a few interviews on sites such as MSN Money where former credit card pushers have come clean as to who the industry works. Below is an abbreviated version of some of the information presented.

 
• It doesn't hurt to "alter the truth" a little! Whatever you have to do to push those cards, right? The credit card company employees that train the commissioned students or part-time pushers of the credit cards offer advice on what to counter would-be customer's objections with. An example: "I don't think I'll be able to pay off my credit card…". Response: "Oh, don't worry! You'll be able to pay it all off once you graduate and get a good job!". Another popular one is: "Just sign up for the T-shirt/bonus item. You can just cut-up or never use the card once it comes." Not at all an untrue statement, but very unlikely to happen.

• A T-shirt just isn't worth it. If you're not in the market for a credit card anyways, don't do it just for a T-shirt or some other incentive–you'll probably regret the decision later. Most of the cards peddled at these venues have high interest rates and are very light on features/reward programs (if they have any at all). If you have little experience in the realm of credit cards do some research on the subject to find out what card is best for you and how to handle the responsibility. Besides, there are better sign-up bonuses available online anyways (usually in the form of cash too).

One of the statements given at the end of the article irked me a bit though. A former college student credit card pusher who fell into his own scheme and racked up $13,000 in debt had this to say: "They should put warnings on credit cards like they do on cigarettes to make sure people know how dangerous the cards are." Cards aren't dangerous…they're pieces of plastic. It's your ignorant spending practices that are dangerous.