Charge cards a visa to credit for reliable students
MURALS DEPICT CULT ACTIVITIES
Daily
Trojan
Volume LXXIII, Number 5
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Monday, February 13, 1978
By Carla Schalman
Focus Editor
Television commercials and colorful magazine ads promise all the things that can be bought by using a credit card and signing on the line. For students, it’s now easier to get credit cards and join the buying spree.
Students can acquire Master Charge, VISA, check guarantee cards (available only with Master Charge) and ready-reserve accounts through Security Pacific Bank. The student must be over 18 years old and have a checking or savings account at the bank, carry no less than 12 units and have a minimum grade point average of 2.0, show the bank a copy of his paid fee bill and a copy of his transcripts. The student must also be at least a sophomore and a California resident.
Foreign students and other nonresidents must have an account at the bank for at least one year and an average balance of $300 for the last six months in order to apply for a credit card.
Credit limits for sophomores are a maximum of $200 per month; juniors, $300 per month; seniors, $400 per month and graduate students, $500 per month.
These requirements for students are lower than those for others who apply for credit cards, said Kirk Finney, assistant manager of the Security Pacific branch on Hoover Street.
Finney said the bank has a grade point average requirement because they want students who will stay in school.
“We’re looking for a stable student,”
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he said. “The student must have an income from parents or scholarships.” The bank’s major problem is collecting payment after the student is out of school, Finney said. Students move around a lot and are difficult to locate, he said.
He said the bank often has problems verifying the student’s grade point average. Instead of a transcript, the bank will accept a letter from the Office of Admissions stating the student’s year in school and grade point average.
The bank has trouble verifying the incomes of foreign students. Foreign students often cannot bring copies of their award letters, he said.
Bank of America offers the VISA card to students. The student must carry at least 12 units as an undergraduate
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students two ways to qualify for a credit card. The first, still in effect, is to meet the requirements and be approved by the BankAmericard Center. The second, which has been abolished, was for the branch to issue the card and accept responsibility if the student did not meet the requirements. This method was designed primarily for foreign students.
Branches have stopped issuing cards in this way. The bank spent too much time trying to track down foreign students, said Marilyn Abbott, student relations officer at Bank of America’s University Village branch.
Abbott said it takes four to six weeks for the student to get a VISA card.
Manson family rituals
U.S. EXPRESS
and eight units as a graduate stadent. Bank of America does not require a paid fee bill. The student must be at least a sophomore and an American citizen or have a permanent resident alien green card number. The student must also have $150 spending money after tuition and,rent are paid.
If the card-carrying student has an account at the bank or instant cash, the credit limit is $200. If the student has a card and does not have an account or instant cash, the credit limit is $100.
Bank of America previously offered
Nothing seems distinctive about the green, three-story house at 2627 Menlo St.
It blends in well with its neighborhood. The once-expensive and posh mansions on the street near Adams Boulevard have now grown tired and rundown. Yards are unkempt. Paint is chipping off fences and houses.
And the green house isn’t really different from all that ... or so it seems.
Actually, the house has an element of distinction. It is said that Charles Manson and members of his “family” frequently visited the place and participated in certain cuit activities there.
It was then called the Solar Lodge, stated Ed Sanders in his book about Manson activities, called The Family. Sanders writes that the Solar Lodge was once the Southern California headquarters for a cult group known as the Order of the Knights Templars.
The cult was a magic-based organization, which specialized in sadism and sacrificial rituals. Sanders writes that the cult’s practices resembled those of Man-son’s family, in that there was heavy drug usage.
Inside the house, full-colored murals stretch across the ceiling and walls. These murals tell much of the story of the Solar Lodge.
The murals depict something like a scene out of the Garden of Eden, said a student who lives in a cottage behind the house.
Although a large part of the murals have been painted out, what is left is in good condition. “Whoever did them really took their time,” said one resident. “They really are beautiful.”
(continued on page 7)
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