Getting a credit card online
Plastic money
Making payments by credit card is something that more and more people are doing rather than using cash or a banker’s check. At Hampshire College you’ll be able to pay for a range of things to do with your studies and life on the campus with your credit card. ie. not just your tuition fees. Credit cards are especially handy online where you can pay for ordering goods online, or theatre tickets or even a holiday. They are more or less indispensable in today's world.
So, if you haven’t already got one it might be worth considering having a credit card just to pay for things to do with your time at the college. Obviously an easy and convenient way to get a credit card is to find one online, so here’s some help and advice in doing that.
The first hurdle
The single most important factor in being able to easily acquire a credit card online is having a good credit history. A good credit history simply means to the provider of the credit card that you are a good risk to them. Therefore, you should acquire a credit report before starting to search for credit cards.
However, this can be a bit of a ‘catch-22’ situation as the first thing a prospective provider of a credit card wants to know is … “have you kept up to date with repayments on a previous loan”. For many of us these days that means … “have we kept up to date on our ‘other’ credit card repayments".
I’m sure you already see the conundrum! Obviously if you’ve previously had some other type of loan from a bank or other finance organization, and kept up to date with the repayments, that will help establish your good credit history. Even if you’ve never before even had a loan, a good savings record will convince the credit card provider that you are a good risk.
Never forget
Please, if you don’t take anything else away from this article, never forget that a credit card simply allows you to take out unsecured loans that you have to repay with interest!
So, if you go out and buy something for $100 with your credit card the chances are you’ll have to repay at least $115, if not more, as the interest keeps getting added on every month you fail to clear the debt. When you use a credit card you’re spending someone else’s money, so don’t spend what you can’t afford to repay.
Looking for a credit card online
Competition from credit card providers is very strong. So, just like you might go into several shops to compare prices for some new clothes - you need to shop around for credit cards on the internet. There you can compare credit cards easily. There are some basic principles that you’ll do well to follow when you start to look for a student credit card online:
- Don’t accept the first offer you see. It might turn out to be the best one, but you need to compare it to a few others.
- Ignore any credit card company that wants you to pay them for processing your credit card application.
- You can get secured or unsecured credit cards. I would recommend, as a student, finding an unsecured credit card. This might mean that you have to pay the credit card company an annual fee. However, this could be offset by a lower interest rate. It could also mean that you have a lower maximum limit up to which you can spend, but that might not be a bad thing.
- Find a low interest rate, commonly known as the APR. Quite simply, the lower the interest rate the less you have to pay back.
Remember, using your credit card is like taking out a mini loan which has to be repaid with interest. So, it’s in your best interest to keep that interest.