Why Your College Student Needs A Student Credit Card

You need to consider getting a college student credit card for your son or daughter when they go off to college or university. If you already have had a child in college, you know what I am talking about – even for as much as you plan, budget, research, and then plan some more, there is always SOMETHING else that comes up that they need money for. There is going to be that additional textbook, that very helpful study guide, those lab fees, parking sticker fees, and the list goes on. You sent your child to college to LEARN, and NOT to be stressed out by the financial obligations that are coming at them from every different direction every day.
Outside of the convenience for you and the much greater peace of mind for your child, there are other advantages to getting them a college student credit card. As they were growing up to this point, chances are great that they did not learn fiscal responsibilities. This is not something that you should beat yourself up about – with the hectic life of the high school student today, with soccer practice, football practice, band practice, various club meetings, an active social life, and of course the academics, there just has not been time in the day to approach that topic.

But at the same time, you want to give you child the best head-start possible when they graduate, especially in this very competitive and unforgiving business world. So why saddle them with learning about financial responsibility when they are stressing out about the job interviews, creating resumes, scanning classified ads, etc. When they are still in college is a great time to get them a college student credit card so they can slowly start to become used to getting regular monthly statements, learning about how little charges add up over the month, learn how interest accumulates if the balance is not paid in full, and how they will get stern yet firm telephone calls or emails from the card issuer when their payment is late. It is all part of the education process.

Establish a reasonable credit limit for them, which might be as low as $300 or $500. Do not allow them to have a huge credit limit until they have proven themselves as being financially responsible, because it is far too easy for them to get themselves into trouble with this aspect of “free money”. They will quickly learn that it is far from free.

The interest rate that they will get with their college student credit card is probably going to be higher than what you would get when applying for a credit card, but the lenders are taking a chance here, so do not blame them. After your child has demonstrated a good payment history for 6 months to a year, they can call the card issuer and ask for a lower interest rate, since once they have established themselves, then they have incredible power to be much choosier about whose card they carry.

Jon is a computer engineer who maintains web sites on a variety of topics based on his knowledge and experience. You can read more about College Student Credit Cards at his web site Student Credit Card Resources.

College Student Credit Card

College credit cards are the credit cards that have been specially designed for college students. College credit cards are more popularly known as student credit cards. College credit cards allow the students to experience the benefits of credit cards much earlier in their life.

Through college credit cards, the college students are able to learn more about credit cards and their use. In fact, for most of the students, their college credit card is their first credit card that acts as a gateway to the world of credit cards. Some other students might have previously used supplementary credit cards linked to their father’s credit card account; however, for such students too, their college credit card is the first one that is truly theirs.

College credit cards are not very different from other types of credit cards in the basic sense; they function in the same way as any credit card would. However, there are some differences, which basically arise from the fact that college credit cards are used by people who have no prior experience with credit cards and who perhaps don’t understand the concept of credit cards completely.

So, the credit card supplier is at risk with issuing credit cards (college credit cards) to such people whom he is not sure about. Most of the students don’t have a credit history either. In such a case, the supplier of college credit card cannot be sure of receiving the credit card bill payments in time (and even receiving them at all).

To counter such risks, the supplier of college credit card requires the parent of the student to co-sign the college credit card application form as a guarantee. Moreover, the credit limit on college credit cards is generally around $500-$1000 per month, which is lower than what it is for other credit cards (this credit limit is generally sufficient to fulfill the typical needs of a student).

Another risk mitigation instrument used by the college credit card suppliers is the interest rate or APR. The APR on college credit cards is generally higher than that for other credit cards. Again, this is done to dissuade the students from overspending on their college credit card (and finally not being able to pay their credit card bills).

However, if we were to look at these impositions in a positive sense, we would find that these are actually in favor of the student (who is still getting trained to take on the real world of credit cards). Moreover, college credit cards also help the students in establishing a (good) credit history which is another important benefit that becomes handy when the student needs any type of loan at a later stage in his/her life.

So, college student credit cards are really something that every student should consider going for. As long as the cards are not misused, getting a credit card while still in college can be a very good learning experience.

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