College Students Should Have A Student Credit Card

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 29th, 2010

Student/college credit cards are credit cards specifically designed for young men and women attending college. Though student credit cards are also referred to as college credit cards, we will use the identifier, student credit card in this information release. Student credit card is the more popular term to describe credit cards for young men and women attending college. Student credit cards allow their users to understand the benefits of "real world" credit card usage prior to graduating college and taking on a full time occupation. Typically, for most college students, their student credit card is their first credit card and the door-opener to the world of credit card usage. Some students may have previously used supplementary credit cards, but those credit cards are linked to their father?s or mother?s credit card account. However, it is true for those college students too, that their student credit card is the first credit card they can truly call their own.

Student credit cards are essentially the same as other credit cards. They are used in the same way as other credit cards are. Some differences come into play for student credit card users, primarily because they have no prior experience using credit cards and more than likely don?t understand credit cards, conceptually and completely. Therefore, credit card issuers are at risk when approving student credit cards for young individuals who have little or no credit or credit card usage history. The inexperience of the student credit card user, in managing their finances competently, puts the student credit card issuer at risk of receiving the monthly credit card bill payments on time and/or receiving the payments at all. To insure themselves from student credit card issuance risks, the issuer of student credit cards usually requires a parent of the student to co-sign the student credit card application form. Also, the credit limit assigned to student credit cards is lower than it is for credit cards issued to working adults. Still, the assigned credit limit is, most often, large enough to fulfill the college student?s needs. Another method credit card issuers use to dissuade college students from overspending is to assign a higher interest rate to the student credit card.

If we are to look at those seeming, previously mentioned, impositions in a positive manner, we would find that the same impositions are actually advantageous to the student, who is still training to manage real world credit card usage. Most often those impositions will assist the student credit card user in establishing good credit history. Good credit history will be important to the student at a later date in his or her life, when they want to procure more credit cards or loans.

Student credit cards are a very significant way to establish good credit. They are financial tools which most college students should consider acquiring.