Students and Credit Cards CAN co-exist

In the financial world, when you get your first credit card is when you really become an adult. Now you may ask, “What about the one from my parent?” and the answer is that that one didn’t count, that counted towards their credit history, not your own.

Now that you’ve left the nest as it were, and are looking out a home or a car, your own 

personal credit history will start to matter. The chances are that as you are new to being by your own without your parents that you right now don’t in actual fact have any credit history.

This is a bit of a problem as having no credit at all is pretty much as bad as having a bad credit history. The financial world sees you as a stranger, new to the world, and as such they 

have no idea whether you will be a good risk or a bad one. For this reason, they think of you as a 50/50 risk as they have nothing else to go on.

The problem is, they aren’t very good odd, especially not to a credit lender. So, in order to get yourself credit, you need to prove that you don’t need it. Granted, that sounds pretty much like an oxymoron, but it’s the way the financial world operates.

So what do you do? You desperately need some money, but in order to get that money you have to prove that you don’t need it. The easiest way to get around this is a credit card, as with it you are able to build up a credit history for yourself. This doesn’t mean however that as soon as you get a credit card offered to you that you go and bite onto it like a fish on a hook.

The best place for you to look is online, where you can easily get all the information you need from the major credit card companies with just a couple of clicks of your mouse. Open up a couple of windows and compare what their terms and conditions are, as it will be your own money that you will save by doing this. Along with this, there are many comparison websites out there where you can easily see all the information you want on one page.

Try to find a credit card that has no annual fee, you’ll be paying interest on the purchases anyway, so why would you want to pay just to own the card? Also get one that has a low APR (Annual Percentage Rate). With no credit history you’ll probably only be able to get a card with a low limit.

As long as you don’t plan on making any big purchases, a card as described above will be perfect for you. Now all you have to do is fill in the online application and wait. After a few minutes you’ll most likely get approved instantaneously.

You’ll soon get the actual card by post, most likely after a couple of business days. As soon as that happens you’re all set, you can go out and shop with it. As long as you pay off the balance at the end of the month your credit score will start to flourish as lenders will take it as proof that you can handle your credit. A couple of months of this and you’ll be all set with a good credit history, even if all you do is meet the minimum payments. Now you will be able to put that credit score to good use.

It is now becoming common that some major corporations and professions will take into consideration your credit report when considering you as an employee, as recent social research has shown that those who are responsible with their credit tend to be responsible employees. This doesn’t mean that this is all that employers will consider, but be aware that it is a factor that many are starting to take into consideration.