Are You Ready For A Student Credit Card?
If you are one of the ones that can handle money intelligently, college can be the perfect time to sign up for your first college student credit card. It is truly probably the easiest way to establish credit if you will use it responsibly. They are very different from a traditional credit card as that they do not require you to have a job. If you have no income or no credit record, there is still no problem; you just have to be a student at a four year university.
The on campus college student credit card application tables have become a common sight in most student unions and campus bookstores. Student credit card companies are eager to strike up a financial deals with colleges that allow them to set up tables filled with eye catching free stuff, luring students with a giveaway coffee mug or t-shirt to sign on the dotted line for a student credit card. Some states have passed laws discouraging student credit card companies from targeting college campuses. Several companies have found success though through direct mail campaigns and have stopped setting up tables on all together on campus. In addition, more students are often getting their first college student credit cards while still in high school.
It would be hard for one not to ask why these credit card companies are willing to offer credit to a student, a population of very young adults with little to no income or credit history. For two reasons: first, most students will tend to stay loyal to the student credit card they have obtained in college, continuing to use it for years after college. Second, students can be surprisingly good customers. A study published in the Journal of Student Financial Aid in November 2004 found that 9 out of 10 college students do pay their various accounts on time. They also tend to carry balances, translating into lucrative finance charges for the student credit card company.
You may get resistance from your parents when you tell them you applied for a college student credit card. That is ok. It is time for you to prove your worth and corrector. No is the time to start to show that responsibility you parents have always taught you. Make the rite decisions and choices. Using your credit card responsibly will all enhance your credit history and score. This will allow you to obtain more credit in the future. When you think it is time for that new car or home, you will have no problems with the lenders. They will all be clamoring to get your business.
Just be smart about the whole thing. Check out all the options of a student credit card. Read all the fine print and ask questions when something does not make since to you. Do not be lurid by give a ways. There are much more important thinks for you to consider, like the interest rate and any bonuses that will come with the card. Are those bonuses going to do anything for you or do they just sound good.
You have a lot to think about. Think wisely and make good decisions.
Student credit cards.com @ July 10, 2008