Avoiding College Credit Card Traps

Congratulations college freshman! You’re about to ship on one of the most exciting modern times of your life. By now your parents, siblings, and friends have got got offered you all sorts of advice on how to do your transition to college smoother - how to get along with your roommate, what social classes to take and which 1s to avoid, where to happen the best off-campus food, and how to remain safe on campus.

One thing they may have not warned you about is how quickly you’ll be bombarded with credit card offers. You’ll happen them in your textbooks, in your mailbox, and on every campus bulletin board. You’ll be offered free DVD’s, t-shirts, music downloads, and more than in tax return for completing an application for credit.

Why all this dither over you for a stupid piece of plastic? Because they love to enroll new borrowers, especially in your age bracket. They know, from numerous studies, that college students be given to be urge buyers. And even though your urge purchases be given to be small - pizza, coffee, beer, CD’s, cigarettes, books, etc. - those small purchases can add up quickly.

Fifty-four percent of fresher students and 92 percent of sophomores have got at least one credit card. A recent survey shows the average college student alumni with between $1,500 - $3,000 in credit card debt.

Here are 7 tips to assist you manage your college credit card needs:

1) Look for a card with the lowest fixed percentage rate and a low or no annual fee. Read the mulct black and white carefully - many low or 0% introductory rate offers run out in 6-12 months.

2) NEVER usage your credit card for a cash advance. The fees and repayment construction associated with a cash advance are outrageous.

3) Rich Person a budget! Your credit card is not free money. Budget your money so that you can pay off your balance at the end of each month. If you can’t wage off the balance, always do more than than just the minimum payment.

4) Wage your measures on time, otherwise you’ll pay a late fee between $25-40 every clip your late with a payment. Late payments will also increase your opportunities of having your percentage rate raised on ALL your credit accounts.

5) Request a low credit bounds somewhere between $700-$1,500. The physical object is to have got credit available to ran into some of your disbursals and in lawsuit of an emergency.

6) Less is better. You don’t need more than one or two cards at the most. The more than than you have got the more tempted you’ll be to utilize them or to “max” them out.

7) See using a debit entry card instead. A debit entry card is linked to your checking account and purchases are automatically deducted from your account balance. Of course, do certain you have got money in your account to cover any purchases you make.

Using A credit card is a large duty whether you’re a college student or an adult. Managing your credit wisely set ups a positive credit history which will function you now and well into the future.