Student Credit Cards

You are glowing with pride as your child heads off to the college they always dreamed of attending. As their car pulls away you experience a whirlwind of emotions: you are nervous, excited, and proud all at the same time.

This move from home to college is a time where parents and children redefine their relationship. Your child is now a young adult. Although the transition can be difficult for some it is an excellent opportunity to move from a demanding parental figure to a role of a close trusted friend.

Although you will miss your son or daughter, you are looking forward to embarking on the next phase of your personal life. As soon as their car is out of site you head to the garage to convert their room into that the den you always wanted. You raised your child right; and you feel – now – is the time to pursue your personal dreams.

Graduation! You just celebrated their college graduation and you are excited for them to start the next phase of their life. Unfortunately, your recent college graduate and once independent young adult is unable to afford that next phase of their life.

STOP construction! Before you begin to clean out their room and start construction on your new den there is something you need to know. According to a survey conducted by MonsterTrak, 57% of college graduates plan to move back with their parents after they graduate.

Why are over half of all college graduates are planning to move back home? Well according to the Student Monitor, 62% of college graduates leave school with $27,236 in debt. In addition, less than one-quarter of students and only 20% of parents say students are very well prepared to deal with the financial challenges that await them after graduation.

Moving back home. Your son or daughter is slightly embarrasses but asks to move back home. Their dream of being on their own is on hold for now; and your new den has to be converted back to a make shift bedroom. Sure it will be nice to have the family all together again; but it is different now. You know your child would rather be making their own mark in the world and experiencing true independence after graduating. Plus there is something inside you that wants the new found freedom that you were enjoying.

There is something you can do! The college debt pitfalls that are affecting so many young adults can be prevented. There are simple lessons you, as a parent, can pass on that will ensure your child has an early advantage in life. Teaching financial literacy to teens and providing your child with practical financial education skills will enable them to go out and make it in the real world.

1) Save early. Teaching personal finance is at a young age is important. Have your child set aside 40% of the money they receive as early as possible. Since you are paying for their day-to-day needs (home, food, and clothes), saving 40% of all the money they receive from gifts or work should be a breeze. Plus, out in the real world, they will be paying about 40% of their income in taxes anyway.

Teach your children about money by getting them in the saving habit early will benefit them through out their life. Plus, when they are contributing their own money for school it gives them an added sense of accomplishment when they do graduate.

2) Credit card education. In the dark corners of college campuses across the country – students line up to get free t-shirt, pizzas and calculators. These free gifts come with a big price; students must sign up for a credit card to receive them.

Credit card companies bribe college student with these free gifts because they know that students are being sent to college with little or no financial education. They go about racking up debt and often they do not realize how difficult it is to pay back until it is too late. Teach your children about credit cards so they are prepared when faced with the lure of a free pizza.

3) Free money for school. Scholarships and grants will help your child cut down the cost of a higher education. Contrary to popular belief you do not need to be a 4.0 GPA student and a star athlete to get money for school. There are scholarships and grants are available for people of all backgrounds. Have your child start to research financial aid opportunities when they are a junior in high school. This will free them of the debt burden so many of their peers will face.

Raising a well-rounded, financially independent young adult does take some effort; but the rewards are worth it. It begins with teaching your kids about money from a young age. Both you and your child will reap the benefits through out your life.

By giving your child a practical financial education before they leave for college will give them a huge head start in life. You will feel good knowing you gave your child every advantage they need to go out and be financially independent. They will be able to afford the things they want and avoid the debt problems faced by the majority of college graduates. Most importantly your parent/child relationship will be able to grow naturally so you can enjoy the relationship as it matures.



By: Vince Shorb

Today I applied for a student credit card and I have no credit and I wanted to know if I would be approved. The economy is bad do you thinks the chances are good? Plz I need help honest thoughts plz!!!

hi i just needed a little advice/ help on opening up a credit card. im just opening it up to build up my credit and was wondering since i got declined from the bank should I open a credit card from a department store or just something like a student credit card? thanks

If you are anything like me, you are tired of all the “experts” telling you how to pay money for college:

Take out a loan Apply for this scholarship Fill out the FAFSA Get this grant

While I am not against getting scholarships (I have quite a few), taking out loans bites. Why go into debt when we are trying to learn something to that’s supposed to make us rich? Usually after applying for scholarships, filling out the FAFSA, and taking out loans, ends still don’t meet.

The extra money has to come from somewhere. But my parents were not able to pay the bill. So before going to the street and shaking my beggar’s cup, I tried a few things…

I worked at part-time jobs. I even have a full-time job now (CoOperative education, working in a field related to my major), alternating between work and school every other semester for three semesters. This is an option, and the extra money has helped me, but it has also delayed my graduation.

Even all this money did not satisfy my needs. I’m still going to need a house after college, right? I’d like a big-screen television, and a new entertainment system would be nice too. Where is that money going to come from? How can you pay money for college now?

So I searched on Google. I know you’ve been there… searching anyway that you can on how to earn a spare buck. Well, I believe I have found the solution.

It’s called Internet Marketing. There are websites that create their own products and allow other people to sell their products for a portion of the profits. You signup, you get a website link to drive customers to, then you get them buy from that site. If they do, you get a share of the profits. But driving people to this website can be very difficult. Google Adwords can be used to advertise your site… but it is high-risk until you have the essentials down. You can try to place high in the regular Google search rankings, but that is very difficult as well.

This is where Wealthy Affiliate comes into play. Kyle and Carson, the owners of Wealthy Affiliate, actually started off as college students like us! Now they are 26-year-old self-made millionaires. And they are teaching us how to do it. I don’t worry about money anymore – I know the skills I am learning here have the potential to earn more than my college degree will make me!

So, while my recommendations go to Wealthy Affiliate, it does take a while to get down Internet Marketing basics.



By: Timothy A Scott

If you are not unlike the majority of college graduates that are out there then you probably have a multitude of college loan debt. College students have been accumulating more and more debt than ever before over the past ten years or so, and with the rising costs of attending college this trend doesn’t look to be slowing anytime soon. To pay off this debt the majority of college students have been taking into account the variety of repayment options that have been created to make paying back college loans a much easier process. If you can’t afford your college loan repayments right off the bat then you should not hesitate to explore some of these options before you allow your loans to fall into default.

The first options you should consider involve requesting a deferment or a forbearance from your lender. Each of these can postpone when you have to start making your college loan repayments for a certain amount of time, and you are typically given a preset amount of deferment and forbearance time with each kind of student loan you take out. It is always wise to exercise your deferment time before you go ahead and request a forbearance because the interest that accrues with a forbearance is capitalized onto the principle of your loan when the period is over.

Next you should think about refinancing your college loans with a consolidation loan. This can pay off the majority of your student loans, and it will leave you with one singular monthly payment instead of having to make multiple payments. If you can qualify for a low interest rate then you can save a lot of money by consolidating your student loans, and you can also benefit from the added convenience of only having to make one single monthly payment.

Other sorts of repayment options will depend on the various types of student loans you have, and the alternative repayment options that may be available to you. The more common options that most lenders make available include interest-only repayments, income-sensitive repayments, and graduated-repayment options. These options can reduce your monthly payment by a significant margin, and to put these into effect you simply need to contact your lender and request the specific kind of repayment that you want to exercise.



By: Marcus Coleman

Parents your child is off to college and you are concerned about their financial well-being. On campus there are agents trying to get you to sign-up for a credit card for your child. You are wondering which credit card is the best one and what limits should you set. Now you need to remember your student is no longer child and very capable of making their own decisions about a credit card. Then you know again that your student might not yet be prepared to have a credit card. What a dilemma! What should you do? First relax take a couple of deep breaths and perhaps go for a cup of coffee with your child. Take time to discuss exactly what the credit card is going to be used for and when it will be needed the most. Then determine with the budget plan you already put together just exactly how much credit is going to be needed. You will discover in most cases a credit card is best used to help your child control their budget.

Now that you are planning on getting a credit card for that purpose then you can determine the type of credit card that best suits their need. There are several selections such as unsecured, secured, debit card, or a prepaid card with the logo so your student can use the card just about anywhere. You plan on putting the money out for the card or is your child going to be paying for their own line of credit? If you are planning on putting money into their account on a monthly basis then a prepaid card is the best solution and cost effective otherwise an unsecured card is the next best choice.

You are trying to get the best deal possible for your credit card and wanting to have perks included makes good sense. Credit card companies make plenty of money for the privilege of letting you use their services. This makes it very easy for them to allow you to have perks. When you do apply for a credit card look for one that offers you rewards.

One of the most popular types is when they give you air miles. Many people who travel like this perk the best. Whenever you use the credit card to buy something or buy airline tickets the credit card company will issue points to your account that you can use for airline miles. When you get enough miles to use for such a trip then all you need to do is book your flight and use your airline points instead of cash or credit card charge. Since the credit card company already has on record your travel mileage then it is very easy to get the ticket to any destination you are seeking.

The next best type of credit card is those that give you cash back for the spending of your credit card on products and services. Discovery is one of the first credit card companies that started this program but now other companies like MasterCard and Visa offer the same perks if you wish to have that type of charge card. Many people prefer actual cash back as opposed to airline mileage or points to use to buy merchandise.

The other type of perk is the point system for using your credit card. Banks are now using this system instead of the traditional give you a toaster for opening up a new bank account. This system works very well with other retail businesses as well. The idea is whenever you use your charge card to make a purchase that you will receive points. The point system usually comes with a catalog of products like suitcases, DVD players, clothes, kitchen products, and many other types of merchandise that require so many points in order to get the product. You earn your points until they add up to the amount you need to get whatever product that you like.

The credit card companies know full well that people like this type of promotions and that is why they use these perks in order to people to use their cards. The fact is they earn a lot of money from you with fees and interest rates when you use their card. The credit card companies gain even more when you constantly use your credit card. Credit card perks are really not perks at all just another method to get new users and keep the old users using the card and paying out more for fees and interest.

I have a debt with the student loans company in the UK, taken out between 2002 and 2005.
I’ve heard that if I live in a foreign country for a number of years my debt can be cancelled. Is this true? How does it work?

i recently opened a student credit card with my bank, chase, i have 0 apr untill december so i was woundering how much would my min. balance be if i but $100 dollars on it?

I’m looking around for a good credit card to help build up my credit in the next year to help for later on when buying a car, and for now when I buy a dell laptop which I need good credit for the monthly payment option.

What’s one that doesn’t cost a lot, is good for a freshmen college student, and offers the best plan.

(Note: This credit card will mainly stay in my moms freezer unless its an emergancy and I’d like to keep good credit so no cards with pricey payment plans)

thanx!
Does wachovia offer credit cards to their users of their bank or a line of credit as you say.