Wise Spending Tips for Students with Credit Cards
College credit cards are wonderful tools for building history. Students have the opportunity to open a non-secured credit card account despite the absence of credit history. And it is the only time when you can get approved for an unsecured account without difficulty.
Nevertheless, building solid credit will depend on how well you use your account. If a teenager gets in the habit of exceeding his/her credit limit or being late with payments, it could mean big trouble later on. Aside from bad debt, you will have a bad history which can send out a negative impression to potential employers and lenders when you graduate.
Parents play an important role in teaching young people about proper credit management. If you are a student, consider the following tips on how you can spend with your credit line without incurring bad credit:
Pay your monthly bills in full. The best of piece of advice you must follow is to pay off your monthly charges in full at all times. Before using your plastic cash, consider if you will be able to pay it back on time. If you have any doubts, you may want to delay your purchase and do so when you already have the cash.
Monitor your own spending. Many student cardholders do not bother to check their accounts even if their issuer offers an online account access. Use this essential feature to manage your payments and control your spending.
Check if there are unfamiliar charges or unauthorized transactions in your account. If there are, do not hesitate to dispute the charges to your issuer. Before signing up, check your issuer’s terms regarding disputes so you will know exactly what to do when you faced with the situation.
Report a stolen or misplaced card immediately. Do not let your plastic card out of your sight even for a few seconds. If you misplaced it or if you think it has been stolen, call your issuer to have your account blocked right away. As soon as you can get online, check your account to make sure that no unauthorized transactions have been made.
Always plan your purchases. It is easy to swipe a credit card for an unexpected purchase. However, unplanned purchases can easily lead to uncontrolled debt. If you keep charging even the smallest items to your account, the next thing you know, you may not be able to catch up with your payments.
When strolling in the malls and see an item on sale, fight the temptation to use your line if it was not in your plan to buy in the first place.
Do not get more than one account. Although it is easy to get approved for student credit cards, one card should be enough to help you build your credit history. Owning two or more cards can be risky as you may be tempted to use your credit cards more than you need to.
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