Managing your Credit while still a Student
This article will give you good tips for managing your credit while still a student. When you think about your finances and having enough money every month, one factor which is not considered is managing your credit. It is a good idea to develop good habits while still a student which you can continue to maintain as you graduate and enter the workforce. Most students develop some bad habits while in their undergraduate years and these same bad habits can continue to penalize you as you go through your life. This article will give you three main tips on managing your credit while still a student.
The first tip in managing your credit is to keep track of your credit card balance at all times. It is very easy to go to the store and pull out the credit card to pay for items. It is a proven fact that you spend more money when using your credit card than you do with cash. Think about why retail stores will offer you credit cards. You will pull out that card whenever you go to that store to go shopping and you will end up spending more money than you mean to.
Keeping track of your credit card balance at all times will allow you to know what you owe and how much you can still afford to spend in a given month. On a side note, if you have trouble with your credit card and spend too much money every month, you may want to think about paying for items in cash. It is much harder for you as a consumer to purchase something when you have to give up cash.
The second tip in managing your credit while still a student is to carry only one credit card. This will help you with the first tip. The average American family has eight credit cards. How can you keep track of your balances if you had several cards yourself? With each card are different payment dates, different balances probably associated with them, different interest rates, and different card conditions. Having several credit cards makes it infinitely easier to forget when a payment is due.
The third tip in managing your credit while still a student is to make your payments on time. There are several consequences if you make your payment past the due date. The first is that your credit card company will charge you a late fee, oftentimes around thirty nine dollars. The second consequence is that you have not fulfilled the credit card agreement you signed up for. This means that your interest rate on the credit card may rise and you may no longer have a grace period in which to pay your card back. If you do not make the regular monthly payment within thirty days, this shows up as a late payment on your credit report. This negatively affects your credit, which can cause other credit card companies to raise your interest rate if your credit score goes down as well.
As you can see, it is very simple actions which will keep you in the driver's seat in managing your credit while still a student. Keeping track of your balance along with the number of cards is simple but does require active participation on your end. Doing this allows you to avoid some of the consequences if you do not make your payments on time.
