Student Credit Card and Credit Education Blog

Summer is not all sand and surf for college students. Many have to find an apartment for the fall. Others are looking to buy a new car. Some might be looking to take out a private student loan for college. For each of those expenses, you will need a good credit score.

That is why you have to check in on your credit score from time to time, and research ways to improve it if it is below par.

That may sound daunting, but you can easily research improving your credit score in one easy place. Visit Student Platinum’s credit score improvement page today. Find out your credit score, and which credit card is right for you. It won’t take long, and you will be back on the beach in no time!

If I learned anything during my four years in school, semi-obsessive personal finance is definitely among the finalists. If you think about it, you have relatively low income (or none) and constantly are juggling any number of expenses that have to be paid from textbooks to feeding yourself.

Now that I have graduated, the components have changed but the game remains the same. To this end, I thought it might be helpful to explain why Mint.com worked for me and how you can use the service to keep tabs on your personal finances. (more…)

I don’t consider myself an especially “green” person. Sure, I turn off the lights when I leave a room and I don’t throw trash on the sidewalk.

I am also a huge fan of going paperless when it comes to my banking. This is not to because I care about Mother Earth one way or the other, but because the benefits of going paperless are pretty far-reaching:

Avoid late fees – Going paperless and doing all of your banking online is a very responsible and easy way to avoid making a late payment and dealing with the ensuing charges. There are few things more harrowing than being just a couple of days shy of a payment due date and having to rely on snail mail to get your bill sent in on time.

Further, many credit card companies add a specific time to their due dates. In other words, your payment may be due July 15, but read a little further and you will see it’s actually due on July 15 at 1:00 p.m. So if you have a slow mailman who gets your bill in at 1:30, you get stuck with the late charge.

With online bill pay, not only do you avoid the treachery of the slow mailman, but you have the option to sign up for an automatic pay option. Many card company websites allow you to set up a time every month when your payment will be made automatically. Essentially, you don’t even have to remember when your bill is due. Now that’s being responsible!

Easier to avoid identity theft – It wasn’t so long ago that paying a bill online seemed like an easy way to get your identity stolen. But these days it might actually be safer to pay online. Card companies have devoted a lot of time and money into beefing up their online security. Not only that, paying online allows you to avoid having your bills and statements stolen out of the trash by dumpster divers, compromising your personal and financial information. Paying online gets rid of the paper trail.

(Remember to always be smart about online banking. Change up your password from time to time and don’t leave yourself logged in on a public computer.)

Stay on top of spending – Want to hear something archaic? There was a time when people wrote down every purchase they made in a little bankbook. Some people, at the end of every month, had to sit down and balance their checkbook. Crazy, right?

With paperless online banking, you can see every purchase you make down to the cent, quickly and easily.

In light of the environmental crisis afoot in the Gulf, it becomes clearer and clearer that steps need to be taken to protect ourselves well in advance of a problem’s appearance. As much as this applies to offshore drilling and many other environmentally-destructive industries, there are lessons to be learned in your personal finance as well.

Much like a gushing well deep under the ocean, unmonitored credit debt swells and compounds on itself until it becomes so toxic that your finances may not recover for years. Worse still, there usually is collateral damage to other things as well like your standard of living and ability to take out loans for school or things you need. Therefore, prevention and careful planning becomes paramount to harnessing the power of credit for good and avoiding nasty consequences for its misuse. (more…)

Earlier this year, I wrote a post on saving large amounts of cash while in college. Believe it or not, it is possible to make it through four years or college without living entirely off Ramen noodles. Here are some more tips that could lead to big savings:

Let your bank help you. Almost every bank and credit union nowadays is coming up with ways to help customers save money. The mentality is, the more you save, the more likely you are to remain as a customer. So take advantage! If your debit card offers cash back rewards, use it! If your bank deposits a certain amount from checking to savings every month, sign up for it. These promotions are there for a reason, and can save you a solid chunk of change every month.

Adjust your tax withholding. A lot of people claim 0 or 1 on their taxes. Truth be told, most people can claim more exemptions than that. By doing so, you will earn more in your weekly paycheck. Now keep in mind, this means you will have a substantially lower tax return, and you can only claim legal exemptions. But if you have found your self living paycheck-to-paycheck, earning more in the short-term won’t hurt.

Eat healthy. Oh, the freshman 15. Not good times. Bad times. You’re away from home for the first time, and finally – finally!- you can live out your dream of eating pizza every night of the week. It’s a noble goal, but one that won’t do much for your health or your wallet. Want to save money? Adapt to a diet. Get acquainted with your dining hall salad bar. Many campuses offer vegetarian options that are healthy and can save you from running up a huge fast food tab.

Get a scholarship! Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean you couldn’t use a little extra money. Sign up for www.ScholarshipPoints.com today for your chance to win a monthly $1,000 scholarship! Here’s a bonus code to get started: SAVINGS2

The prime interest rate is a baseline number that is established by a bank. Essentially, it represents the best possible interest rate it would lend to the créme de la créme of their clientele. With this interest rate in hand, banks then a spread (modifier such as +X%) to determine rates for less creditworthy applicants.

One common misconception about prime interest rates is that they are independent of the banks and prime is the same everywhere you go. This is absolutely not true and can get you in a lot of extra debt if you don’t do your homework.

The most commonly used “prime” rate by banks is established by the Wall Street Journal. WSJ calculates the rate based on a survey of the top 50 banks conducted regularly. However, it is important to know this is not the true prime interest rate, as the US Prime rate is actually the fed funds rate + 3%.

The Simple Explanation:

Banks are the most risk-conscious businesses, period. They are neurotic about it and thus are constantly watching what everyone else is doing to make sure they aren’t over or under-extending themselves when lending money to normal people like you and me. The prime interest rate allows them to see an instant picture of the risk currently present in the financial industry and adjust how much they are willing to add or chop off of that rate to keep customers flowing in.

Simply put, when looking at loans, credit cards and anything else with an antagonistic interest rate (goes against you, not for you like a savings account), pay attention to what prime rate the bank uses and what spread is tacked on. Always try to get the lowest rate possible.

If you are a delinquent cardholder, meaning you have a slew of added fees and charges for payments made past the due date, you might consider re-aging your credit card to get you back on track.

It’s an increasingly common tactic employed by cardholders and their credit card companies. Here’s how it works. If you were behind in your payments by a few months, you could request that you card company erase those late payments and fees.

So why would a card company do that? Credit card companies want you to use your card. It is worthless for them to have an unpaid balance left alone month after month. In most cases, you will be required to make an immediate payment (typically one larger than your standard monthly payment). You may need to agree to a new plan that will likely require higher monthly payments.

Late payments can be a stain on your credit report and keep you from being approved for future credit cards, auto loans and mortgages. Re-aging is a savvy way to get back on track to being a responsible cardholder.

In your daily travels, perhaps you have seen signs in bank windows advertising, “12 Month CDs 2.8%!” To those without a background in banking or strangers to saving money, it might look and sound like gibberish. Let’s dispel the confusion and go over what a certificate of deposit is and how it works.

What is a CD?

A CD is a savings tool. Simply put, it is a way of stashing away money for months at a time to earn more interest than you would in a traditional savings account. You’re basically giving up your right to access the money for the length of the account to get a high interest rate on money you wouldn’t need to touch right away. (more…)