Credit Cards Blog

Go to your purse, your wallet and bring it back to the computer for a second. Go ahead, I’ll wait. How many credit cards do you have? If you have one. That’s great. Two? Not too bad. More than two and you may have a big problem. What do I mean by this? The more credit cards you have tempts you to use them, i.e. accrue more debt. That’s not to say you can’t accrue copious amounts of debt having one credit card, because, as some of us know all too well, that can happen. I’m saying that as a student, and having a student credit card, one should definitely keep track of his or her credit and try sticking with only one credit card (I’m even referring to store credit cards).

Let me lay it out for you straight forward. Students that acquire stupid amounts of credit card debt in college will be faced with multiple problems after graduation. For instance, having large amounts of debt or having a bad credit score for falling behind on payments can prevent you from getting a good job. Employers now look at a credit score for potential new hires. Once you move, if you weren’t smart with your student credit cards, moving for that new job and applying for your own home loan for a new house or for an apartment to rent, can dash your dreams right there.

Let’s say you haven’t graduated yet, and you have used your student credit cards way too much. Students that have a lot of credit card debt (notice I’m saying credit card debt, not student loan debt) may fixate on it too much. These students may see their grades suffer because they have to work harder and longer to earn more money to pay off their bills. Worst case scenario, a student has to drop out to work more to pay off his or her debt.

The devil is in the student credit card details. Know what the APR is to start out. Only get one credit card. Use it sparingly. When you do use it, pay it off as soon as possible.

You live you learn.