Do you know the real cost of using a credit card? Robyn Beck does - now.
Since 2010, credit card companies can no longer offer T-shirts, coupons for free pizza, coffee mugs or other gifts on campus to college students who agree to fill out a credit card application. They can still market cards on campus â" just no freebies ... Credit cards could easily sting college students, too
In the world we live in today, credit is everything. If you do not have a good credit score, you may very well not be able to get things you need and want in life -- things like lower rates on automobile insurance, lower rates on credit itself or being able to buy a new car or qualify to buy a home. Unfortunately, this can often affect a person's quality of life, especially if credit is also used as a determining factor for whether or not you get that job you just interviewed for, or if you are not ready to buy a house, it can determine if you are able to rent that apartment you have your heart set on. This can often be a hard lesson for students, who are just starting out, to learn.
They are easy targets for the credit card companies, who almost all offer a credit card for students, because they have a clean slate and are often approved for cards with limits between $ 500 and $ 1,000.
College students are often approved for a low rate because they have no credit, so they often do not have bad credit -- which is quite regularly the mitigating factor for determining a credit card's APR (annual percentage rate).
Keeping all this in mind, if parents have not taught their children about credit, how it works and how to properly use it, the students will very swiftly find themselves tempted by their new-found "money", spend it quickly and then find themselves in a cycle of debt and ever increasing minimum payments all before graduating from college. This can lead to a very bad situation for those just starting out in life and if the responsibility of a credit card for students is not handled properly, this is just where a student can find themselves, as it happens all too often.That, of course, is the ugly side of having a credit card for students.
On the positive side, by using your credit card responsibly, you have the ability to lay the foundation for a bright financial future where having the buying power to achieve the things you want in life is just a matter of handling your new-found credit wisely and with maturity. Using it only for emergencies or for food or gas and then paying it off when the bill comes. This will help build a solid credit history, give you a good credit score and help prevent you from being in the situation where you can only apply for and receive prepaid credit cards in the future. Recommend Credit Card For Students Topics