If youre like most people, student credit cards are the first chance you have to establish a credit rating. But credit cards designed for students are packed with features that make it easy to use them unwisely: encouragement from card issuers to spend on yourself "because you deserve it," being offered credit during a time of life when people are notoriously broke, and getting that credit at higher interest rates than established customers all contribute to accumulating a mountain of debt that can follow you for years to come, and which could damage your credit rating. Heres how you avoid that trap:
* Dont use your card often. Charge only what you can afford to pay in full at the end of the month, and try to avoid using your cards unless you are in an emergency. (Needing a new video game like life itself is not an emergency.) You can establish your creditworthiness by making two or three small charges each month, and because you pay them off during each billing cycle, you dont accumulate debt.
* Pay off your bill in full each month. The higher your unpaid balance, the more interest you accumulate; if your balance is high enough, you could find yourself struggling to pay off the interest, with no end in sight to the rest of the debt. Over the course of months or years, youll pay more in interest on each of your purchases than you paid for the purchase itself. Rather than getting stuck in that trap, pay your entire balance on all of your student credit cards every billing cycle.
* Be punctual about paying your credit card bill, down to the hour. If your check or electronic transfer arrives at the credit card company even a day late (or, for some cards, an hour late), youll be hit with a late fee of $35 to $40. The company may also raise your interest rate by ten percent or more on the pretext that youve shown yourself to be a bad creditor and a credit risk. It doesnt matter that you have plenty of money in the bank and just forgot to put the check in the mail because of midterms. The fine print on the back of the agreement you signed with the company gives the company permission to do it, and theyll take advantage of it. So pay your bills for student credit cards a few days early, and arrange for automatic payments if you can. If you realize youre going to be late, call the company immediately and see if you can make a rush payment. Rush payments cost extra, usually about $15, but they can preserve your credit rating. The money is credited to your account at once, letting you sneak in under the wire when theres no time for a regular bank transfer. If even a rush payment wont help, call the company and ask whether theyll waive the late fee and the hike in your interest rate this time. Credit card companies will often cut some slack for customers who have an otherwise good history with them. Related information Credit cards for bad credit -

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