More lenders focus on social media to market cards to young adults

Recent laws have made it more difficult for young adults to take on credit card debt by limiting the ways in which they can actually obtain an account, but now many lenders are trying to skirt federal regulations.

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 made it so that lenders couldn't market on campuses, as a means of preventing college students and other consumers under the age of 21 from falling into troublesome debt, according to a report from the Charleston Business Journal. Now, many have stepped up marketing of new accounts through social networks like Facebook, where most college kids spend a lot of their online lives.

And though the protections may not be helping college students to actually reduce debt, the rate at which they're taking on credit has slowed considerably, and the number of young adults who have these accounts is also declining, the report said. In all, the number of college students who have their own card has fallen 27 percent since 2009.

One provision of the law is that those under 21 must either provide proof of adequate income when opening an account or otherwise have an adult co-signer.