Credit cards are hawked anywhere from hockey games and in the mail to sidewalk stands and those darn Internet pop-up ads. Sometimes the plastic is baited with the temporary allure of a free T-shirt or coffee mug, or the promise of 15 percent off your purchase “if you sign up now!”

If responsible spenders manned every plastic helm, no long-term debt would amass. But to those who rack up bills sans the dough to back ’em, credit card charm holds potential to fizzle into a seemingly bottomless pit of debt and high interest rates.

For some at MSU, the hardest lessons may be rooted in a fist full of plastic.

In the hole

Sociology junior Tyler Reminga and his Mastercard know credit card debt firsthand.

“When I first got my card I used it for stuff like books, gas for my car,” he said. “Just for when I didn’t have cash, I’d just use it instead of going to the ATM.”

But Reminga slipped into a series of spending sprees that landed him a hefty bill - one he was unable to pay.

“Basically, I started buying things I didn’t need and couldn’t afford and wanted at the time,” he said. “Stuff like speakers, MP3 players and clothes.

“I just thought I’d pay later.”

Later for Reminga means now.

And his credit card debt stands at $6,000 with a 10.9-percent interest rate.

His part-time job at a landscape company rakes in about $200 a week, and he said he pays about three times the minimum balance each month.

Why me?

According to a 2000 study by Nellie Mae, a major student loan provider, undergraduates carry an average credit card balance of $2,748, up from $1,879 in 1998 and more than double 1993’s average. One in three students has at least four credit cards, the study said, and one in 10 will graduate with balances exceeding $7,000.

By paying just the minimum balance with an 18-percent interest rate on that $2,728, it would take 15 years to dissolve such a bill.

And that’s assuming nothing else is charged.

Nina Prikazsky, vice president of operations at Nellie Mae, said credit card companies have marketed to the public heavily in the past five to 10 years and discovered students to be very good customers.

“Giving credit to students without stable jobs, or maybe no job at all, isn’t as big a risk as might have been thought, so they’re going after younger and younger borrowers,” she said. “And people may be becoming more comfortable with borrowing.”

But studies have also shown students are no worse at charging and paying their bills than the general population.

“Our credit card delinquency by students is no higher than what Visa reports as a national average,” said Joyce Banish, vice president of marketing for MSU Federal Credit Union. “It’s not a student problem, adults and experienced consumers have trouble also.”

Regardless of the reasons, good habits and financial control should start now, Banish said.

Now what?

Hordes of resources, from consumer assistance organizations to financial institutions, exist for those engulfed in debt’s doom.

Banish recommended Consumer Credit Counseling Service (www.cccsintl.org), which offers free counseling sessions on how to develop and balance a budget, use credit wisely, manage money and build a savings plan.

Money Management International (www.mmintl.org, (800)-762-2271) offers clients counseling sessions by telephone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Myvesta.org distributes a free publication called “Plastic Power: Smart strategies for making the most of your credit cards,” which offers strategies for credit card usage. Copies are available for downloading at www.myvesta.org.

And Banish stressed contacting a loan officer at your own bank is a good first step.

The biggest tip in avoiding debt altogether may be a warning that parents have spouted since the dawn of credit cards.

“Just be very careful,” Prikazsky advises. “Credit cards in themselves are not society’s biggest evil, but there aren’t any emergencies at the mall.”

And swiping the plastic does hold potential for good.

“It’s a good idea and should be used to cover books if the student needs to pay later, or emergency car problems,” Banish said. “It is difficult to exist without one.”

Reminga has not yet sought outside help to aid his debt, but he’s working on it.

“It was my mess, and I just needed to deal with it and spend my money more wisely,” he said. “I’m in control now. I feel like I’ve gotten the control back of my finances.

“I kind of decided I need to stop spending money.”

In time, and with work, Reminga expects his cloud of debt to dissipate and reveal a happier horizon.

“It’s a dark cloud now,” he said of his looming credit card bill. “Definitely something I’d like to get rid of.”