Credit Card For Students

August 22nd 2010

Students are getting ready for colleges at this time of the year. For students, under the age of 21, not much has changed except that they will not have access to credit cards for emergencies or school supplies, unless they meet certain guidelines.

New laws which went into effect today, requires students to either have a co-signer or provide sufficient proof of income to cover regular payments.

Credit card issuers are prohibited from soliciting students under the age of 21 with freebies or incentives, including but not limited to, candies, t-shirts, water bottles, backpacks, pizza, etc. etc.

There are alternatives such as secured credit card, which allows a person to deposit an amount into their account, which can be accessed through the credit card. This will certainly help build credit history. Other alternatives are debit cards or authorized additional user, which basically allows a student to get a credit card on their name, however the account's administrative options such as bill payments are limited to the account holder. It is important to keep in mind, that authorized additional user does not help build credit for the additional card holder.