Credit Card advice for college students

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Once you reach college, it is likely that you will get a credit card for the first time. With so many different expenses, having a credit card is a good thing to have around. Plus, if you use it responsibly, it can help build your credit rating, which will be very beneficial when you are trying to build a car, house, boat, or any other big purchase. However, a credit card can also be a dangerous thing. Many people treat it like a blank check, forgetting that they eventually are going to have to pay it off. That can lead to a lot of frivolous spending with the card, with no idea what to do when the bill comes. This time of attitude can mean that you'll be paying off that credit card for a very long time.

The best credit card advice I can give, whether it's for college students or not, is to only use your credit card if you can pay the charges off in full at the end of the month. Otherwise you will get big interest payments, it will be harder to pay, and well, it's just not a good idea. Credit card interest rates are typically extremely large, and so racking up bills there will lead to a lot of extra expenses. Plus, it can ruin your credit rating if you don't pay. You already will likely have a lot of student loan debt, you don't want to add to that with credit card debt.

Specifically for college students, all your money will tend to be spent already on things like tuition, books, food, and everything else you have to have to get by. So, without any extra spare cash, the temptation for many people is to just go out and charge things with their credit card, figuring that they'll already be in deep debt, so what's the difference? That's not a good plan. The difference between being in student loan debt and credit card debt is that credit cards charge a lot higher interest and can be a lot more unforgiving when you're trying to pay them off. If you can't by that fancy new gadget with cash or a debit card, do not charge it on your credit card. You can probably get by without it, at least until you can save up the money.

So that's my credit card advice for students... don't use it when you don't have to, and pay off whatever you charge at the end of the month. If not, your student loan debt isn't the only debt you'll be paying off after college. Trust me, when it comes time to pay the bills, you will be thanking yourself a lot if a credit card bill is not one that you have to pay off.