Trusting Your Kid With A Student Credit Card

Summary: As a parent, you want your children to be very responsible once they head off to college. Whether they are attending a local university or they are attending a college one thousand miles away, you truly care for them. When you think about your child going off to college, you tend to worry about their safety and financial status. You not only want your child to be safe but have enough money to get by each day. As your children grow old and reach the ripe age of 18, they ...

As a parent, you want your children to be very responsible once they head off to college. Whether they are attending a local university or they are attending a college one thousand miles away, you truly care for them. When you think about your child going off to college, you tend to worry about their safety and financial status. You not only want your child to be safe but have enough money to get by each day. As your children grow old and reach the ripe age of 18, they are considered an adult in the United States. Not only can they now buy cigarettes and lottery tickets, they can also apply for a student credit card. Before your child goes dipping into the credit card market, you're going to want to point out a few things to them even if they don't tend to listen. Like a alcohol or drug lecture, a credit card lecture should be taken very serious just as important. Why should a parent talk to their child about a credit card? It's simple. A credit card Is your child's financial future. You want to make sure that they don't start spending money that they don't have. If they already have student loans, a credit card may be a bad idea. The more debt you have when you graduate means the harder you're going to have to work to pay it off. A credit card is just going to make it worse. Before your child heads off to school, you'll want to point out a few things they should look for when applying for a card. The first thing is that they should never ever apply for a card that is pushed into their face at a campus. They won't get to know the details of the card and most of the times; they will find themselves getting ripped off. The only reason they will apply for this card is for the stupid t-shirt of free burrito. The most important thing you'll want to tell your child is that they research their credit cards online. You will want them to look into the rewards and most importantly, the APR rate. The APR as you know by now is the interest they will pay on the balance they don't pay off in full. It's wise to tell them right off the bat that they treat their credit card as if it were a gift card with a set limit on it or better yet, a debit card. Make sure that you drill into their head that you can't spend more than what you have. As you know by now, it's hard to bury knowledge into a child's head. It's even harder when they turn 18. This of course is the age that they think they know everything and don't need the advice. If you just sit them down or print them up a little sheet on how to build your credit, you can at least say you tried.