What to Look for in College Credit Cards
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008Everyone 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.