Posts tagged: build_credit

American Express Student Credit Cards

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American Express has some of the best credit card commercials on tv right now. They’re really working the snob angle with all these celebrities talking about how their “card is American Express.” I’m partial to Shawn White’s commercial, being a snowboarder myself.

Some of you might want to join that elite club of American Express card holders. If you’re a college kid now I’d recommend getting started with an American Express student credit card. If you form the relationship with AMEX while you’re young, someday you might work your way into owning a Black Card. We’ll talk about what that is some other time.

Here are some of the benefits of American Express student credit cards:

  1. Online account management: check your statements and pay your bills online.
  2. Account alerts delivered to your inbox: they’ll send you reminders so you’re never late or miss out on special card holder opportunities.
  3. Automatic Bill Pay Program: a great way to build credit history by using your card consistently. Protects you against ever being late with your bills.
  4. Membership Rewards Program: a points system that allows you to buy promotional items. You can also apply points to airline travel. They’ll give you double points through over 100 different online retailers.
  5. Benefits through American Express Travel: when you’re going to travel you can earn double points by booking through American Express Travel.
  6. Insurance against rental car damage and loss: One more reason to beat up on your rental car. They insure it for you!
  7. Purchase Protection Plan: protects items you purchae against damage or theft for a period of time (can be up to three months). American Express will reimburse up to $1000 on an item, up to $50,000 total in a year. This is a pretty amazing benefit.
  8. Fraud Protection: They’ll cover any fraudulent charges on your student credit card, whether you made the purchase online or off.
  9. Buyer’s Assurance Plan: for items you buy with warranties, American Express will cover extend the warranty up to one year on items costing less than $10,000.
  10. American Express Selects: there’s a long list of benefits for cardholders traveling inside and outside the United States. Check out the website for more details.

There’s a price to pay if you’re going to be a member. American Express cards almost always have annual fees, and their interest rates could be called less than competitive. You don’t want to carry a balance on an AMEX.

Other than that, this is a credit card company known for taking care of its card holders. Membership brings a certain status and the VIP treatment. Get in now; you’ll be in good company.

Discover Card Student Credit Cards

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Discover Card might be viewed by some as the little brother of the major credit card providers. Visa is everywhere you want to be (at least that’s what they used to say), MasterCard is for everything that’s not priceless, and Discover…well, I’m not even sure. They’re trying though. I have to give them that.

As Discover tries to build its brand and compete with the heavy hitters of the credit world, it looks to tap into a potentially huge and lucrative market – college students. Tens of millions of kids go to college every year. We’re talking about tomorrow’s earners, and consequently tomorrow’s big spenders.

They’re watching mom and dad sink deeper into credit card debt every year, and as the saying goes, the apple generally heads down the same path as the tree and racks up a bunch of debt on the way. Or something like that.

Anyway, Discover knows that if they can get you on board while you’re in school you’re likely to stick with them for a long time. My parents have had a Discover card for over 20 years. I think they might have the first one.

In order to impress you Discover has put together a ‘Credit 101′ course on their website designed to educate and persuade you – to open a Discover Card Student Credit Card. They put great questions on there such as: What is a credit card? and What is a credit report? and How can you build your credit history?

The quiz is multiple choice, but they’re not actually trying to insult your intelligence. I guess the thought process is if they can educate you and keep you on their website you’ll probably fill out an application. Of course they’re hoping you’ll get approved, run up a balance, and make minimum payments for the rest of your life.

But you are way too smart for that. If you open one of these cards you’re going to use it to build credit score and credit history while making your monthly payments on time and never paying interest. Good for you.

  • Here are a few of the benefits of the card:
  • Six months introductory APR of 0%.
  • They won’t make you pay an annual fee.
  • You can get 1% to 5% cash back, depending on the type of purchase you’re making.

Along with those they give you the standards for most student credit cards – online account management, email bill reminders, etc. It looks like Discover will take good care of you if you pick up their student credit card.

Guaranteed Student Credit Cards Applications

There are many offers out there for young college students to get credit cards. You need to be careful not to run into problems and understand what your obligations and potential results are with any credit company no matter how good their history is. A guaranteed student credit card is more often then not a secured credit card that is going to require some type of financial deposit. Usually it will be a deposit around the same price as the amount of credit that you are getting extended.

For many college and high school students it is all about building credit history. It is best to probably initially team up with a well known bank with a good background. Wells Fargo has a good plan as far as student accounts go and I am sure the same can be said for other national banks. There are options online, but I suggest that you are truly careful and I would recommend going to local banks or at least calling them to get an idea as far as fees, interest rates, initial deposits and other requirements that they will ask for.

Make sure if you are to go and apply for a card that you bring two forms of identification and also your social security number. This will make it a lot easier for you to fill out any forms. You will usually find bankers helpful for your initial credit card. If you do it online it might be good to have an adult that has a good long history with credit cards present. You want to make sure that your first experience is a good one. Especially if you want to build credit to buy a car or eventually a home.

Credit Card’s Application For College Students

Always be careful about your credit cards that you apply for as a college student. You might get a little riskier and want to start impressing people by using a companies money like it is your own. Listen to what I am about to say…don’t! Use your money and don’t spend what you don’t have. Use your credit card as an extension of your debit card. It is a simple process and it won’t create a lot of stress and bad habits. You want to start doing it right the first time.

Now you might get excited about things that you read like a low interest rate or a fixed interest rate. Well make sure to read the fine print. Go over your Terms and Conditions. You might see a place there where it says “Change in Terms”. This means really, “What you see is not eventually what you are probably going to get.” Read these terms because as long as the credit provider gives you a 15 day advanced notice, they can change the interest rates on you. This can be done potentially each month. If you miss on a payment or two then expect your rates to double or maybe even rise from 10% to 25%. That is not fun. So play it safe with your credit cards and pay them off often to avoid the crushing blow of low credit.