For those who get through college with a student credit card, bad credit may follow them through college and after they graduate. However, there are some options for students with bad credit.
Changing Industry
In the past, the industry has been criticized for their frequent solicitations of students and other young people with offers of easy credit. Often these students accepted credit cards without understanding the implications of the easy debt.
The resulting mass of young people with bad credit has been a black eye to the credit card industry, which has been under fire in recent years for predatory practices including charging high rates of interest unnecessarily and pursuing individuals with bad credit or who can least afford credit card payments.
While practices have changed – credit card companies are not as actively pursuing student customers and congress has taken steps to more closely regulate credit card interest rates – and student credit card bad credit is diminishing, there are still many young people struggling to get out of the bad credit morass.
Some Options
If you are a student with bad credit, you will not be able to rebuild credit unless you stop using credit cards. Cut them up, freeze them in a big jug of water, or simply wrap them in duct tape and put them in the bottom of the sock drawer, but stop using them. Once you rebuild your credit, you’ll have new options for credit cards with better interest rates and higher lines of credit.
To rebuild credit, apply for a secured credit card for emergencies and pay off existing accounts in the ladder system – pay as much as possible to the card with the highest interest rate first and pay minimums on any other loans. Once you’ve paid off the first, put all the assets you can spare on the next highest interest rate, etc.
Don’t spend on things you don’t need, and use student loans for school related expenses, not credit cards.
Student Credit Card Options For Bad Credit

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