Credit Cards for Students

Almost all credit card companies are targeting students nowadays. It can be surprising, given the fact that most students are entirely or partly reliant on their parents for financial support. If students are working for themselves, for sure their income is not enough to afford luxury and credit card bill payments.

So why do credit card issuers take the risk and lure more students to get their credit card products? The answer is simple. That is because students are considered as good credit risks. Many industry studies have shown that student-credit cardholders tend to become the most valuable clients because of their unparalleled loyalty to brand. These students almost always tend to remain loyal to their initial of very first credit card. Thus, they tend to keep the card to pay for purchases within many, many years ahead.

Thus, when the students finally have their own stable job, it is very likely that they would keep their original credit card. In turn, the bank or credit card issuer can also take this advantage and offer the cardholder many other products or upgrades of the credit card product.

Finding the right credit card for students

Students are budget conscious because they do not yet have enough of too much funds to spend. As a matter of fact, most students only find it necessary to own credit cards when they need to borrow private student loans or they abruptly need to purchase significant school items like books, school supplies, and clothing accessories.

Many credit card companies are now swooning to compete for providing students with the best credit cards. Thus, students are rather confused and are having hard time deciding on which credit card product to acquire. Here are several guidelines that would help any student find and secure the appropriate and practical credit card for them.

- Student credit cards should have low or manageable finance charges or interest rates. One can easily spot such products by making a comparison shop prior to opening a credit card account with one credit card company.

- The annual fees imposed on the credit card should be waived or at least should have been significantly minimized. Waived annual fees could become beneficial as it would help save on costs.

- There should be a grace period applied to imposition of finance charges or penalties especially for delayed payments. Remember that credit cards usually impose significant interests, or about 2% or more of total debt amount, for any delayed payment. That is on top of the minimum monthly payment, which should also be at least 2% of the combined debt amount.

- Even students would benefit from the perks offered by credit card products like free gas, airline miles and purchase warranties. Credit cards offering such features are very ideal. However, be wary because such credit cards usually do not have waived annual fees.

Before getting a credit card, any student should first assess himself. Is he ready to own one and does he really need one? Could the student take the ability to pay for monthly balances? Such questions should guide the student prior to any credit card application.

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