Student Credit Cards 

The use of credit cards or plastic money is rising remarkably among high school and graduate students. The younger generation especially the teenagers going to schools and colleges love to flaunt this possession. The huge influence of movies (remember how the credit card was flaunted the in the famous movie Home Alone) is responsible to a great extent in bringing about this desire amongst youngsters. According to a recent study, the number of undergraduate students carrying at least one credit has increased surprisingly by almost 24% from 1998 to 2001. The numbers are likely to soar as high as 50% in the coming years.
The terms and conditions of a student credit card are very lucrative – the provider allows you to borrow money without any regular income! However, there is a catch (isn’t that natural?) – these credit cards usually have a very high rate of interest. Though a lot of freebies like record or book tokens are given to encourage more students, the APR is never lowered.

Student credit cards – Advantages and Disadvantages
There are a lot advantages as well as disadvantages of a student credit card, though the advantages are perhaps a little more. A credit card is an option of easy and safe money. These cards can be used for used for he normal purposes of shopping and dining without money which provides safety to younger generation from stalkers and other such nuisances.
I am sure you parents out there are finding it uncomfortable – propagating the use of credit cards for these young children! But wait! Do you know that student credit cards are actually safe and are designed in such a way that the youngster is under the restriction of using a limited amount of money? Now isn’t that a great and an easy way to keep tab on your child’s expenditure. These cards also help the parents to track down the payment records as to where the child is spending money.
It is pretty easy to get a student credit card if there is a co-signor, which means insurance or a credit security. Thus a co-signor can be your parents or legal guardian, who is ready to accept your financial responsibility. In case of any debts in your account, it is the liability of the parent (or legal guardian) to pay them. However, if the co-signor is unable to make the payment at that point of time, the credit card company makes payment from his or her account whenever a purchase is done. So, the credit card company does not face any loss whether is student is earning or not.

However, a recent study has shown that not only is there a drastic rise in the number of credit card users but on overdue amounts on these cards as well. The fact that these cards can be accessed by eighteen year olds in almost all states without any parental permission or employment, there has been a lot of unwise usage. Many worry that the students will use the cards imprudently and bear the long term costs of carrying soaring arrears.
As mentioned earlier in this article, all the student cards have a very high interest levied on their usage – much higher than the usual traditional cards. Besides, the credit limit in these cards generally does not exceed $800 which is much less than the regular cards. This is because all the users of such cards do not have a well known credit score and not earning very high salaries.

Some popular student credit cards
• Citi mtvUTM Platinum Select® Visa®
• Discover Student Platinum Card
• Student Flexible Rewards® SM MasterCard® from Chase 
• Student Universal Entertainment MasterCard® from Chase

Are there any Alternatives to student credit cards ?
You can look around for the cheapest credit cards that are available today without restricting yourself to ‘student credit cards’. Some of these economy cards have very low interest rates and does not have a minimum income requirement. Some others do have requirements but they are so low that if you are holding a part time job, you might get accepted for one of these. However, these cards do not have any introductory offers as student cards.