In today’s world, having a credit card is a luxury. Credit cards are a great convenience, meaning that you don’t need to worry about cash when making a purchase. Although some credit cards have strict requirements, there are a lot of manufacturers that are giving both high school and college students the chance to get their own credit cards. Student credit cards can be used the same way as a traditional credit card, although they do come with certain restrictions and limitations that other credit cards don’t normally have.
A lot of companies and banks that offer student credit cards will normally need a co-signer as a form of insurance or collateral. This person will sign on the loan with the student, and will be the person the company falls back on if the student is unable to pay the bill. Normally a parent or guardian, the co-signer is considered to be back up and a peace of mind for the issuer of the student credit card, as they can always count on the co-signer with good credit to pay if the student can’t.
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Credit cards, as part of the financial industry, use a massive array of jargon. You can’t be expected to recognise all these technical terms, and some of them are quite important – so here’s a quick guide, in alphabetical order.
Affinity card. This is a credit card that gives a certain amount to a charity of your choice, depending on how much you spend. It is generally best to avoid any charity that wants you to sign up for such a card – don’t let guilt lead you to a high interest rate.
APR. Annual Percentage Rate. This is your overall interest rate, calculated yearly, and given as a percentage of your balance.
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Credit card companies offer varying benefits and promotions to entice their customers to use their credit cards not only in their everyday purchases but also for major buying decisions.Â
One of the promotions that credit card companies have is the rewarding of points to their users for every purchase that they make.Â
Different credit cards have different product features, benefits and ways of providing rewards to their users. A frequent traveler credit card that is made available in the market to those who are frequently flying can avail of the rewards points their card companies provide to them by converting these rewards to frequent flyer miles. These frequent flyer miles is then converted to actual miles that can be redeemed from airline companies that is co-sponsoring the credit card promotions with that credit card company. The frequent flyer miles are not always equivalent to the actual miles required to travel to particular destination. Some credit card companies reward the credit card user with 1 flyer mile for every dollar spent on his purchases. Different purchases mean varying reward points. Retail companies that may also co-sponsor those credit cards available in the market today may have higher reward points equivalent for purchases made on those credit cards to promote the sales of their products too.Â
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In all your dealings with credit cards, remember this one thing: they don’t want you to pay. The moment you pay back everything you owe, you’re free from their interest, and that’s not what they want. They want you to keep on paying them a little every month for the rest of your life, making them a steady profit on things you long since forgot about buying.
Revolving Debt.
Most credit cards are what’s called ‘revolving’ debt – the only real exceptions are American Express and Diner’s Club cards, which must still be paid off in full every month. They aren’t really ‘credit’ cards at all – they’re charge cards for people who could afford to pay in cash anyway.
Revolving debt means that you can pay off as much as you like each month, or you can just pay the minimum, and you can run up as much debt as you want each month, up to the maximum. Unlike a fixed-term loan (a 20-year mortgage, for example), you don’t know how much your payments are going to be, and you don’t know when you’re going to stop paying. Each new purchase can dramatically extend the time that it’s going to take you to get your balance back down to $0.
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