<p>So I'm 18 and a half and I will be starting my freshman year at a university this fall. I have $2,500 in my bank account and my parents are allowing me to take $2,000 down to college to spend on outside food (non-university food as university food is covered in my financial aid), gas, and just plain fun (clubs, sporting events, concerts, nights out with friends, etc.). I have a debit card for my current bank account, but I'm going to be opening up another bank account down at the university's credit union as well. I figure that since I already know my spending limits and I will have the money to pay for things with a debit card, why not get a credit card and pay for the same things, but get some type of rewards back. Since I will be able to pay my bill monthly in full, I should not incur extra costs since the cards I'm looking at (Amazon.com credit card and Playstation Credit Card) have no annual fee. </p>
<p>BTW, this is money I would have to make last only this school year. I know credit card companies charge fees as well if you cash advance, but I don’t plan on doing that either. </p>
<p>I would go at least a semester, and preferably a year, before getting the credit card. This will be your first time away from home, so having the structure of a debit card may help. Honestly, with the amount of money you’ll be spending, you’ll be missing out on very little in the way of rewards.</p>
<p>Very few of my friends arrived on campus with a credit card. I would almost say that most who did came with their parents’ cards. Most had their own credit cards by senior year though, and seemed to use them responsibly. I can hardly say with certainty that this was due to them becoming accustomed to their financial constraints with debit cards, but I definitely don’t think it hurts to go it awhile on debit alone.</p>
<p>I just got my first credit card and I’m going into my sophomore year. Honestly, I probably would’ve been fine to have gotten it before my freshman year, but it wasn’t even something I was thinking about. It won’t hurt you to have a credit card and not use it at all, so I say go for it. If you think you can use it responsibly and not abuse it, then you have no reason not to. </p>
<p>Just make sure you understand what having a credit card means before you get it, and ask your parents tons of questions. I made sure I was well informed before I applied for the card. Also, shop around for credit cards to find the right fit. There are hundreds of different cards, and they all have different rewards. Take your time in choosing one, you will probably have it for a very long time. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Credit cards are something I’ve been looking into recently, as in this past week. I think I’ve got it all pretty much figured out so let me know if you have any additional questions. Additionally there’s a few forums specifically about credit cards you can ask on. </p>
<p>I just got my first credit card last October, about 2 months before I graduated. That was a mistake, I should have done it earlier. So good on you for looking for one early.</p>
<p>This particular credit card is targeted towards college students (standards for it are substantially lower than they are for non-students), and has pretty good rewards: <a href=“404”>404; If for some reason you aren’t approved, call immediately and ask them to reconsider. Say you’re just looking for a small credit line to build credit and stuff like that. They’ll probably give it to you. </p>
<p>If you look at the other Sallie Mae credit card (the Upromise card) you might think that one’s even better, but go into the terms and conditions and look at where you get those rewards. It’s not at a lot of places. I’d avoid the upromise, it’s not useful. </p>
<p>I strongly suggest not carrying a balance. If you’re going to have to carry a balance, there are some cards which specifically are used for carrying a balance, and have low APRs, like 8% or less, that you can transfer the balance to. </p>
<p>If your goal is to have many credit cards (credit cards offer different rewards, so you can get several, eventually you could end up with 5-6% cash back on almost anything you spend, or pretty good rewards if not cash back) what you should do is in 6 months after you get your first credit card, apply for several more at once. Do this during the day time on a weekday so you can call immediately after you apply. Fill out all the applications before submitting any, and then submit all of them at once. There’s a few minutes delay between when they they pull the credit report (which is immediately) and when the pull is registered, so if you apply for everything very quickly their auto approval algorithms won’t be able to see other inquiries. Watch out because some applications may time out, so before you go and submit anything make sure they’re all still up, that happened to me. Any application where you don’t get it immediately, call up and ask about it and ask them to reconsider. You wanna do this as soon as possible because if you wait too long they may do a soft pull later and see the inquiries which hurts your chances. </p>
<p>I have a list going of cards I’m trying to get. My credit isn’t all that good because of how new my accounts are, so it may take a couple years. But I was able to get some a week ago, and I’m looking at how to game my score to get more as quickly as possible. </p>
<p>I applied for the Amazon.com Rewards card, but I may apply for the one that was in the link. That’s impressive. Most of the cards that have that 5% option are places I don’t go or require good credit scores. I have no credit score, but I know I will pay off my balance each time in full and therefore have no extra fees besides what I actually buy. What if Amazon.com accepts me, but I choose this other card? @Vladenschlutte</p>
<p>Take both. Multiple isn’t a bad thing. If you get rejected and you call try saying that you didn’t notice that card until someone pointed it out, but it matches your spending habits well. They want to give cards to people who won’t default on them, and that one in particular wants to give those cards out to college students because they want people to get college loans through them, so they’re only going to reject you if they feel that you’re really a bad credit risk. If they do, apply again in 6 months. </p>
<p>As I said, I have a list of cards I’m trying to get. When all’s said and done I’m gonna be looking at 14-15 cards. It’s fine (actually better, your credit score will go up the more credit cards you have, but goes flat at around 15-20) to have several cards. </p>
<p>I’m doing one card only. Hopefully it is easy to cancel amazon if I get rejected. I will wait until I receive a response to see what I want to do.</p>
<p>@Vladenschlutte why on earth would you want 14-15 cards?!</p>
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<p>To play a dumb game of trying to maximize every reward you can get. </p>
<p>As a college student, one of the big reasons to get a credit card is to start establishing a credit history for when you want to actually borrow money in the future. Don’t get multiple cards to start out with. I have a credit card from my bank specifically for college students, which is nice because it’s all synced with my savings/checking accounts. You’re more likely to actually get that to start out with, anyways. You’ll also have a really low credit limit no matter what.</p>
<p>It’s good that you want to start building credit now, just be careful! My dad gave me $3,000 to spend my first year and I blew it with the extra freedom. I was always pretty careful about my spending before college, but at the time $3,000 seemed like an endless amount to me. Since you already have a good amount saved up on your own, I assume that you’ll be better off than I was in that aspect. I didn’t get a credit card until my junior year and my credit is pretty good, but now that I’m out of school I can’t get approved for a car loan due to the lack of my credit history even though my credit is fine. Another friend of mine who is two years out of college has had similar difficulties for the same reasons. She tried to take out a loan on a house, but was only approved for a $30,000 home, which in the north east will get you a nice car or an RV… definitely not a house. That being said, it’s great that you want to start now because you’ll be one step ahead when you are trying to take out loans on a car or house. Just be responsible and careful with it! </p>
<p>Get ONE card and buy small things that you KNOW you can pay off to build credit. This is really the only reason a college student, or even older high school student, should have a credit card IMO. It never hurts to build credit early – your life will be much easier when you are out of school and looking at getting a loan for a new car, etc.</p>