The Background of Student Credit
This article will explain the reasons why you should begin building your credit as a student. Whether you are taking night classes or are going to school full-time, this article applies to you. It is very often stressed that any young person who wants to get ahead should attend college. What is not stressed and is very important as well is to establish credit.
To give a little background on credit, you and everyone else in the United States who has a Social Security number and is over the age of eighteen will have a credit report. You may have never had credit in your life but you will still have a credit report. This credit report will often show as blank with no credit but a credit report is still kept.
Credit is not something to be afraid of but it is merely a reflection of your financial history. There are many factors which go into your credit report and the following sentences will explain what these are. Your credit report will show any open credit cards you have along with loans you have taken out. For each open credit account such as a credit card or a loan, there will be a history of this account. It will tell what your account limit is along with what your current balance is.
It will list your monthly payment as well as your payment history. With payment history, this is an indication if you pay your bills on time. If you do not pay on time, this is a negative and causes your credit score to go down. This goes in as either usually thirty, sixty, or ninety days late. If you have not paid your bills and had a company file for collections, this can show on your credit report as well.
There are other factors but these are the main ones. The credit report shows that you are paying your bills on time and that you manage your accounts correctly. If you ever apply for a credit card or want to buy a car and need to take out a loan, a loan officer will pull your credit. He or she wants to make sure that if he or she lends you the money that you will pay the money back to them.
With your credit report, there is a score associated with this and the number depends upon what credit bureau you are talking to. There are three different credit bureau agencies and these are Equifax, TransUnion, and Experiean. With each of those three credit bureaus, your respective score will fall within a range and this will determine what interest rate you will pay when borrowing money.
The more you pay your bills on time and manage your credit accounts responsibly, the higher your credit score will be. This will allow you to get the lowest interest rates. If you don't manage your credit responsibly, you will have a lower credit score and will have a higher interest rate. It is simple when you think about it: the lower the credit score, the riskier you are and the bank or loan company needs a higher interest rate to offset that risk.
See how it is important for your student credit when thinking about what you want to do with your future. Managing your credit will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run because you will receive lower interest rates. This article has given a background on credit and showed you why it is important to start this process young rather than old.
