Almost all students have and use student credit cards. Some
of the students use them wisely and build for them an early
credit history but others accumulate lots of debts that
would have to be paid off once the student life is over.
Students that have a credit card should learn how to take
charge and manage their own finances as soon as possible,
because the time between teen years and adulthood is very
short. So, the sooner a student starts managing his own
financial matters the sooner he will develop useful
financial skills. Student credit cards are no longer a
privilege for wealthy students but now are considered a
social entitlement.
A student can very easily obtain a student credit card.
Offers for student credit cards are everywhere students
are: in campuses, at social functions, in their mail boxes,
in bookstores, etc. That is because credit companies
consider students to be good customers. First of all they
are loyal; once a student obtains a credit card, he is
likely to keep this particular card for years to come and
instead of getting other new cards they upgrade it every
time they fill the need to do it. Nowadays, the conditions
to obtain a student credit card are very weak, so more and
more students have access to them even though they don't
have a steady source of income. And this is a second reason
why credit card companies offer more and more credit cards
to students: they usually can't repay their debts in time.
And this is what credit cards companies rely on; they make
lots of money from late payment penalties, interest fees on
unpaid credit card balances, annual fees and more. So,
students that don't repay their credit card balances in
full each month are the best customers.
Every college freshman wants to have at least one credit
card because it will help him very much during his college
years; the student will be able to rent a car, buy books or
concert tickets, provide himself help with medical or other
emergencies and more. Apart from financial help during
college years, student credit cards offer other types of
help by building a credit history. Credit history is the
record of all that happens in your financial situation
throughout the years. Credit scoring is a system based on
all that happens to your accounts: late payments, bill
paying history, number and type of accounts, outstanding
debts and more. If the credit history and scoring are good
the student will more easily obtain a house or a car loan,
certain types of financial jobs, insurance premiums and
more other benefits. So, the student must pay his bills in
full or in time, in order to benefit later of their first
years of credit history.
The most difficult thing for a student is to choose from
the large number of student credit card offers. And the
best way for a student to choose a credit card for himself
is to talk to other students and get advice from the ones
that already have and use a credit card and compare credit
card offers online. Before choosing a credit card, the
student must be aware of the card's terms of use. Most
student that already have a credit card recommend for the
others a card with no annual fee and the option to limit
the amount to be spent. And apart from these safety
measures, wise students that think of their financial
future often take a personal finance course in order to
learn all kinds of financial management skills that will
help them throughout their entire life.
Students must be very careful when using their student
credit cards; they always have to be cautious about the
amount charged on the credit card and, at the end of the
month, to review the amount of interest they have to pay
monthly. It is also recommendable that the credit card
balance to be paid as soon as received. If for some reason
the balances cannot be paid in full, the student must pay
at least the minimum payment required. If problems with
paying the credit card balances appear, the student must
ask help from a financial counselor that will always have a
solution for him as student loan repayments are much more
flexible than consumer loan repayments. And another thing
students must be careful about is identity theft; the
credit card or social security numbers should not be given
to anybody over the phone. These are important information
that cannot get into the hands of wrong people because will
very much damage the credit history. So, we can consider
that it is best for students to have a credit card starting
with their freshman college years because, if used wisely,
the credit card history built in this period will very much
help them throughout their entire life.
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