Grades Recession Proof That You Can Get Online

In these times of crisis, many people are discovering that they can beat the recession turning to online degree programs. Many areas have been hit hard by the recent economic downturn, and was stopped or terminated employees. Most are in recession as real estate and factories. However, some industries will remain stable and still need more workers.

Whether you are a student or someone who plans to continue his studies, obtaining a degree or certificate can be added to the network is necessary for your career. Below are the top recession-proof courses, which are available on-line distance learning programs.

How To Avoid Being Trapped in Student Credit Card Debt

College students graduate with two types of debts on their hands- student loan and credit card debt. If you are a student, how can you avoid getting stuck in debt, particularly student credit card debt? How can you make the most out of your student credit card without putting yourself in debt trouble? Here are some tips:

Use your student credit card with care. Your student credit card is supposed to provide assistance with your studies. Unfortunately, many students abuse the ease and convenience of paying with student credit cards which results to debt problems. Remember that each time you charge something to your student credit card, it is your duty to pay it back on time.

Not submitting your credit card payments on time or in full can cause you to incur high interest fees and late penalty charges. Therefore, before using your student credit card, ask yourself, “Is this purchase or expense really important for my studies?”. “Will I be able to pay it back in full before my due date ends?”

Get a part time job to cover for your personal expenses. Some students get a part time job while in college earn extra money to help them with their studies. A part time job also enables these students to pay off their student loans even while studying. This way, they wouldn’t be in so much debt when they graduate college.

Budget your monthly expenses. Even if you have a student loan and a student credit card to help you with your expenses, it is only wise to create a monthly budget plan and stick with it. How much do you need to spend for the whole month both for your studies and personal needs? If you have limited cash, you may need to make adjustments on your lifestyle instead of charging everything to your student credit card.

Don’t wait for things to go from worse to worst. If you notice that you’re having a difficult time budgeting your money and keeping up with your debts, don’t be afraid to get help. Seek advice from a legitimate credit counseling agency. A credit counselor should be able to help you manage your money efficiently and overcome debt problems.

Nevertheless, it’s important to make sure that you’re seeking help from the right credit counseling agency. Some credit counseling services may offer you false help or unnecessary advices that can worsen your debt problems.

Pay your student credit card balance in full each month. You may be tempted to pay only the minimum payment on your student credit card but this also means incurring high interest rates and would take you a longer time to complete your payments.

Paying off your credit card balance completely each month is crucial in overcoming and staying away from debt. This habit protects you from additional interest rate charges and late penalty fees. It also minimizes the risk of building up debts in your account. More importantly, it keeps your credit score and credit history in excellent standing.

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Student Credit Cards Articles

How To Cancel Your Student Credit Card

Many students fall into the trap of credit card debt. As soon as they enter college, these students apply for multiple student credit cards and get approved right away. The problem comes with how students handle their student credit cards. Unfortunately, overspending is too easy when you have all those credit cards in your wallet.

But worse than using all these credit cards, students often fail to make payments on time. They either forget or neglect their due date payments or they choose to submit only the minimum payment and carry their balances from one month to the next. The result? They incur high interest rates, late penalty fees, transaction fees, and other additional costs in their account until debts go out of hand.

For this reason, financial consultants advise students not to get too many college credit cards in their account. One or two student credit cards should be sufficient to be used for your student expenses and the other for emergency purposes. But what if you already have multiple credit cards in your name? What can you do about them? Is it possible to cancel these unnecessary credit cards?

How to Cancel Unwanted Student Credit Cards

Canceling a student credit card carelessly can bring damage to your credit history. That’s why very important to consider each step before making your final decision and cancel a credit card. First of all, never cancel a student credit card if you still have an unpaid balance with it. If you really want to cancel your card, you need to completely pay all your charges first before canceling.

Don’t just cancel any of your student credit cards, especially the old ones. If you’ve had that student credit card for a long time, you’ve already build an important part of your credit history with it. Therefore, canceling that student credit card would be like deleting the oldest part of your credit history. If you need to cancel a student credit card, choose the ones that you’ve acquired more recently.

But what if your old student credit cards come with very high interest rates? You still want to keep those student credit cards to protect your credit history. Remember, if a card has a high interest, you don’t have to use it frequently. You may use it once in awhile for small purchases just to keep that credit card from automatically closing. To avoid the high interest fees, pay off your entire balance before your due date ends.

Once you’ve examined the student credit cards you want to cancel, the first thing to do is call your credit card issuer. The representative you’ll speak may try to convince you to keep the credit card, but if you’ve already made your decision, don’t let a credit card representative change your mind. Be sure to note the name of the representative you spoke with. Next, send your letter of request to your credit card company as a follow-up. Remember, you should make it very clear that you are personally requesting the cancellation, not your credit card issuer.

After receiving notice that your account has already been closed, check your credit report immediately. Make sure that it does not say that your account was closed by your credit card company. This can happen sometimes, and if it does, call your credit card company to clarify the issue. You may need to wait up 30 days before the matter is corrected. Re-check your credit report and if the issue still hasn’t been resolved, send a dispute letter to the credit bureau.

Prevent Identity Theft on Campus Using Student Credit Cards

Crime and frauds are everywhere even a student is not excused. This article is about how a student credit cards can prevent identity theft on campuses.

If you’re a college student with a credit card, one of the things you should be aware of is how to take care of your identity and avoid being a victim of identity fraud or credit card theft. Living on a campus can prove to be a big challenge. Surveys reveal that thousands of cases of identity theft are reported each year and most of these cases are from college campuses.

Being a victim of ID theft or credit card fraud is certainly no joke. You could be expected to pay for debts that you never owed. And although most student credit cards have a liability protection program, credit card fraud can badly damage your credit history. Clearly, the best way to protect yourself is to prevent it from happening. How? Here are some important reminders for you:

Log out completely from when using public computers. Whether you’re in a school campus or an internet shop, never forget to completely log out of your account after using the computer. It is also recommended to delete the cache, cookies, and history from the temporary internet files of the browser you’ve used.

Don’t give away your credit card information. Don’t trust anyone with your credit card number or any other personal information either in person, online or over the phone.

Be particularly cautious when filling out online application forms. Make sure that you are using the genuine website of the company you’re applying for and that the site is using a secured server. Check if the URL of the site begins with https:// which indicates a secured site. See to it that there is a padlocked icon on the bottom right corner of your browser.

Don’t bring all your credit cards and important IDs in your wallet. Your wallet can get lost, misplaced or stolen. In any case, having all your credit cards and IDs in your wallet all at once puts you at a greater risk. Bring only one student credit card that you can use and at least one ID for identification. In case of lost, call your credit card issuer at once to have your credit card blocked.

Shred bank receipts and important documents. Don’t throw ATM receipts in the trash without shredding them into tiny pieces. The same is true for your bank statements, old credit cards, and other documents that bear your personal information.

Keep an eye of your student credit card at all times. When shopping or dining at restaurants, be alert when using your student credit card for payment. Never take your eyes of your credit card. Remember that “skimming” can be done within just seconds without your slightest hint. Volunteer to take your credit card to the cashier and never take our eyes off your card even for an instant.

Use strong passwords. It’s better to use passwords that are not related to your personal information. Identity thieves often try out birthdays, surnames, anniversaries when hacking accounts because people use them for passwords most of the time. A combination of letters, numbers and at least one symbol is a lot more difficult to decode. Be sure that you keep a list of your passwords in a log book stored in a safe place.

Student Credit Cards - A Quick Guide

We all have different credit requirements, and so the credit card companies design various cards to suit. The variant we are interested in here is the student credit card. This card is designed to help any student build their credit rating, and be useful for emergencies, which is ideal for many.

These days a credit card is almost essential for anybody, let alone students, and as such is used for many purposes including making travel arrangements etc. There is a wide selection available, and some students end up with multiple credit cards, and these are the people that are most likely to get into debt problems. The one saving grace is that credit cards for students usually have a fairly low limit, so if they do get into debt, it won’t be too extreme.

A recent study has shown that about 80% of college students own credit cards with a typical balance being around $3500. A worrying thought to ponder is that when many students use their credit cards to buy stuff, they don’t see it as spending real money.

Another worrying trend that has been reported is that a number of students are using their credit cards to top up the money that they have borrowed using student loans.

Do no take the amount you spend on your student credit card lightly. Because if you overspend or miss payments, you will end up paying extra interest, and possibly damage your credit score. This might not seem too important to you now, but trust me, it will be a pain later on in life, as it will cause problems when you come to get a mortgage or auto-loan etc. Don’t ask me how I know.

So, I will sum up by saying that a student credit card can be a very handy tool to have in your locker as you work your way through further education. Just use it responsibly and be aware of the dangers. Also, do some research, there are some good deals out there.

Credit: James Hunaban

Common Student Credit Card Mistakes

Some people have the negative notion that owning student credit cards lead to bad credit. This is because many students have been prone to credit card debt and some have even resulted to bankruptcy. But owning student credit cards doesn’t have to be a bane if you can avoid these student credit card mistakes listed here:

Signing up for the first college credit card you see. There are many college credit cards to choose from but most often than not, a student simply signs up for the first offer he or she receives. You may have received an attractive credit card from your mail or email. But when applying for your first credit card, you should do all the necessary research about the details and terms of your chosen card. If not, it is possible for you to get stuck with a student credit card that imposes unreasonable rates and charges.

Using up your credit limit in full. This is another common mistake that students make. Every credit card holder is given his own credit limit which he can use when using his credit card. However, this doesn’t mean you should maximize the entire allowable credit limit you are given. You should be aware that maximizing your credit limit leads to penalty charges and increased in rates in your account.

Not paying your bills on time. A student credit card debt is meant to be paid off on or before its due date. Untimely submission of payments is the number one cause why many students fall prey to bad debt. As a student credit card holder, you should always be aware of your payments and religiously keep up with them. In addition to this, untimely payment creates a negative impact on your credit report. Therefore, in order to maintain an excellent credit standing, you should never allow delays or misses in your credit card payment.


Using your student credit card on all your expenses. Credit cards for students are supposed to help you with your school expenses especially during inconvenient times. But this doesn’t mean you should get in the habit of using your student credit card for paying restaurant bills each time you eat out or when partying with friends. When you own a credit card, you should be more aware and responsible in how and where you spend your money. Bear in mind that everything you spent using your credit card is a debt that must be paid on time.

Not taking care of your student credit card. Another mistake that students often commit is being too careless in handling their cards. Leaving your credit card where other people can easily access it or copy the details such as your student credit card number puts you at great risk of fraud. Many students have obtained unauthorized charges in their credit without their knowledge because they have failed to be more cautious with the use of their student credit cards. If you own a college credit card, you must be more vigilant in handling it.

How to Know Your Child is Ready For Student Credit Cards

There is a point in every parent's life when they have to let go and allow their child to grow up and start to take on a life of their own. This often comes as a child graduates high school and takes off for college. But as a parent, you may not think they are ready for all of the things they need to know to get by in the world.

One of the important things you need your child to know before you 'let them go' is how to take care of themselves financially. This doesn't just mean making sure they know how to pay their rent and utilities bills, but also that they know how to take care of their credit so they can have a good line of credit throughout their lives.

Often college is when children get their first credit cards. But you may not be sure your child is ready. Here are three steps to getting them on the road to financial independence.

Have a Talk

You need to be confident that your child understands the importance of getting a credit card before you ever allow them one. The best way to assess this is to take a seat and talk credit cards with your child before approving them getting one. Make sure they understand the responsibility that comes with credit cards and that a failure to be responsible could follow them for years to come on their credit report.

Credit Card Light

Before you give them a normal credit card with a high limit, you may want to start a little smaller on the credit front:

Prepaid Credit Cards - You could begin with prepaid credit cards, which are cards that you charge with money, much like an ATM card. These will allow you to see if your child tries to keep going over their spending limits.

Student Credit Cards - Many of the student credit cards out there don't allow too high of limits. The best student credit cards are like starter credit cards that allow you to set the limits your child can charge to, so their credit can't get out of hand, even if they forget to be responsible.

Continue reading the article by Stephen Sikes

Credit Cards and High School Students

The Federal law doesn’t provide any restrictions about issuing credit cards to minors. In fact, credit card companies consider teen-agers as a very profitable market. Most credit card companies often require a co-signer when a minor applies for a credit card. When a teen-ager reaches the age of 18, he has the right to sign-up for a credit card on his name even without a cosigner.

Are Student Credit Cards an Advantage?

Some parents feel that providing their kids with credit cards while they are still in high school help them learn about money early in life. With proper guidance and support, obtaining a student credit card can help young people learn about how to handle their finances properly.

A student credit card is a great way in establishing a credit history in preparation for their future. Some credit card companies refuse to grant credit card approval for those without a credit history. But with the help of a parent as a co-signer, it will be much easier to get a credit card.

Read full article: Credit Cards and High School Students