Monday's editorial cartoon (Mon., Dec. 6) featuring credit card company solicitors hypocritically disparaging army recruiters hit the nail on the head. While I deplore the U.S. military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, as well as its predilection for preying on the poor to fill its ranks, campus credit card solicitors are more detrimental to college students. The average American today has eight credit cards and an average of $8,000 of credit card debt. As a college freshman I too filled out the applications to get the free T-shirt, hat, etc. I simply cut up the cards I received and threw them in the trash. When I graduated from college and filed for a credit report I found that all of those cards were listed as open lines of credit, despite the fact that I never activated a single card. These open lines of credit showed that I had the potential to go thousands of dollars into debt, which can result in automatic loan rejections. To close these accounts I had to write a letter to each company asking them to close the account -- which will appear on my credit history -- all for a stupid T-shirt. No one ever told me about these consequences, in fact, I have yet to come across a single person who has heard of this practice before. Realize that a free T-shirt is not worth it and request a free copy of your credit report to make sure that these companies are not messing with your future.