Credit Cards For College Students - Wisdom Or Folly?
Deciding whether or not a credit card is right for your student
Although your student child's possession of a credit card might not entirely be in your hands anymore, your encouragement or lack thereof, will influence whether they choose to use one. When deciding if credit cards for college students is appropriate, you must look individually at your own child. Everyone matures at their own pace. Is your student mature enough at this point to handle real credit cards? What have their previous spending habits been? Do they have a job to support their purchases, or will the bill just go to you? You don't want to run the risk of your child developing a bad credit history if they are not able to pay their bills on time.
I don't mean to scare you away. Credit cards for college students can also be very useful. There are many student credit cards to choose from, all which usually come with a lower credit limit and low interest rates. This provides an atmosphere of controlled spending, while your student learns the responsibility of paying balances on time. Credit cards for college students often result in the beginning of a solid credit history that will allow them to get loans and higher credit lines for future expenses.
Teach your student the basics of owning a credit card, and then decide with them whether you think they are ready for this responsibility. Be sure to explain the effects of late and missed payments. Both can quickly land them with a poor credit rating. Most credit card companies will suspend charging privileges, report you to their collections department which then gets transfered to credit bureaus, which will then discourage future lenders from offering you a loan. That is risky business. The wisdom of a credit card for college students must be evaluated based on the responsibility of the student. If you believe they are ready for this, then talk to them about reading our credit cards for college students page, and encourage them to take the first step into their financial future.
All of the data shows that all of our children need to learn fiscal responsibility as early as is reasonably possible. Too many of us are up to our ears in debt and that debt usually begins sometime during the college years. Get your student the head start they need with the help with one of the Visa credit cards.
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