Archive for November 4th, 2008

What to Look for in College Credit Cards

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Everyone knows that their credit rating can significantly impact their lives. A good credit rating results in better lending rates, when you need to apply for a loan and can even make a difference in your employability.

Just a few years back, credit card companies were giving out cards to absolutely everyone. You’d get credit card offers almost non-stop which offered low interest rates and high credit limits. Then, credit cards for college students were a big sector of the market. Credit card offers were mass mailed and all you had to do was fill out the application. People got on the bandwagon in droves, buying all of those things they couldn′t afford outright, but could make payments on.

If you’re a college student and receive such offers of credit cards for college students, talk to your parents. See what their experience was, so many years ago. It’s likely you’ll hear that, when they ‘took advantage’ of their own credit cards for college students offers, they bit off more than they could chew. The generous lines of credit tempted many to live beyond their means. Eventually, the cardholder ended up with too many credit cards and just as many minimum payments they couldn’t come up with at the end of the month. The final result? The cardholder spent years paying it all off. Not a good plan!

If you are in college and see a lot of these offers for credit cards for college students, you may want to talk to your parents before signing up for anything. They may have their own experiences to share with you; they may have taken on more debt than they could handle when they were in school themselves. Eventually, your mom or dad got themselves into a deep debt which took years to pay off; don’t follow your parent’s example in this case.

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Quick Guide to Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

It’s really easy to shift your existing debt onto a balance transfer credit card. Once you have applied and been approved for the account, the finance company will send you blank checks that you can fill out and send to your current creditors to pay off the outstanding amounts. The checks will be drawn on your new account, and you will begin making your payments to this company just like you did to your current finance companies. But here’s the beauty of it: instead of paying finance charges of 18% or more, these companies may offer rates as low as 12% or less on balance transfer credit cards. And many will even give you a special 0% introductory rate for up to 12 months on the amounts brought over from other accounts!

I found that when I wasn′t paying an arm and a leg in finance charges every month, I really could begin to make a dent in the amount of money I owed. I can′t tell you how great it felt to begin seeing that payoff amount on my balance transfer credit card get lower and lower, until I could finally make one great big payment at the end to pay it all off. No more debt! The feeling of financial freedom is an awesome one indeed.

Where can you get one of these balance transfer credit cards? The web is the best place to look. The reasons for this are that on the internet, you can take care of applying for the card online - which is very quick and easy. You can also comparison shop for the best interest rates much more easily; a lot of websites even put up balance transfer credit card comparisons which list the interest rates and features offered, which makes it a snap to choose the best offer for you.

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