students are back in college and that
means that kids are on their own and
being more independent than ever many
college students are now getting
bombarded with credit card offers but it
can be really tricky when it comes to
financial management so what should you
do should you open every card you get
and are you pre-approved how does that
whole process work joining us now Ashley
Robinson Community Relations Specialist
with first florida credit union to talk
about this for an eighteen-year-old
this can be overwhelming to get all of
these cards in the mail open this you
get these rewards you get that but it's
they don't really need to go for all of
them right so really absolutely those
pre-approval offers can be really
enticing but no you don't necessarily
need to open every card and you
certainly shouldn't open every card
actually putting those applications in
can actually damage your credit you lose
a few credit score points when you do
that those are called inquiries into
your credit and so you really want to do
your homework before you do any kind of
credit card application make sure it's
gonna be a good fit for you and keep
those inquiries for new credit lines
down probably to three to five a year
especially if you're trying to start out
building your credit and of course you a
credit card is good to help you build
your credit but how do you know you know
sometimes you get those offers and it's
0% no interest for the first year but
then you have to look at the fine print
what the interest will be when that
first year's up absolutely you want to
do your homework there's some great
resources online first Florida has some
excellent content called it's a money
thing and that has some really fun short
videos that are gonna really appeal to
teens and give them some good
information also there's other websites
online like nerd wallet that do
side-by-side comparisons of those credit
cards so you can see the breakdown of
what their annual percentage rates or
their APR is their fees as well as their
rewards so you can really look at them
side-by-side and say which one's gonna
work best for me for my lifestyle and
select that card to be your card what a
bank or a credit union be better for
someone starting out versus maybe a big
company like a you know a major car
company well credit card credit unions
are more people focused member focus so
we're definitely going to work with our
members a little more than maybe
a major company would differ because you
can come in and say hey I need advice or
help absolutely we're there for them so
that's gonna be really helpful as well
our APR or our annual percentage rate is
generally a little lower than big banks
or big companies that have credit cards
so a credit union would be a great
opportunity
do you see a lot of young students
coming in and asking for advice buy them
so yes yeah it's a big topic they want
to know actually I read a recent survey
that said teens are more worried or
afraid of credit card debt than a lot of
major world events right now because the
debt crisis has been such big in the
news but really keeping a few things in
mind are gonna help them along the way
first
looking at your credit card like it's
cash or like it's a debit card we don't
treat credit cards like it's extra
income right if you're looking at it
like cash you're only going to use it to
make purchases that you can afford so
that's going to be a great way to get
started then you want to be paying that
balance off on time and in full every
month so you are going to be able to
enjoy all the perks and convenience of
having a card the rewards and everything
else without having to pay any of the
fees or any of the interest so that's
really exciting and wanting to keep that
good habits building to build your
credit over time in a real quick way of
30 seconds left but would your advice be
just open one card to start shares again
you're gonna get all those offers maybe
just pick one and go from there yeah
pick one that's going to really be a
good fit for you maybe that's a gas card
to start out you know you can make those
gas purchases every month or maybe it's
a grocery store card because you get
double points on your grocery store
purchases right whatever that is start
there keep your balance low pay it off
every month and you'll be on the right
track thank you so much for coming on
very free hey even you know adults not
just students yeah that advice when it
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