How Student Credit Cards Work
Student Credit Cards - How they work
Did you know you could get your student credit card Company to change terms and conditions? This is an area in which they do not want the public to know. The three things that will allow this to happen for you are FICO score, your payment history, and willingness to switch to another card.
When you are first starting on your credit, as a Student Credit Card for most, would be doing, it is important to go into this with knowledge of how the companies work.
You can actually just ask your credit company to lower your APR (annual percentage rate). Most of us are aware the interest rate nationally is always fluctuating. This causes the interest rate for credit card companies to change as well. If there is a better APR available for someone in a current month, they are not going to tell you. You need to call them and ask for it. Some companies will let you call monthly and make adjustments; some companies will only allow these adjustments quarterly. Either way, it never hurts to ask.
Getting a student credit card: Your current credit score is very important when applying for student credit cards. When asking for an adjustment to the APR, the better your credit scores the better the chances are that your credit card company will grant you the new APR. If your credit score is above 700 you have a good chance, in fact if you have any interest rates over 12% you need to stop reading and call immediately and find out why you are not getting a better rate! A score in the 600’s gives you a 50-50 chance. Even a score under 600 is worth calling and talking to them about. You might get a better rate but not the best rate.
The last thing they are looking at is your history. We all have issues at one time or another. The trick is to do your best and keep those payments current and do not go over your limit. Usually they want to see a clear history for 12 month before they consider any account adjustments. Before you make that call have at hand some Student credit card offers from other companies you have received. Start with “I’ve been getting a lot of low-rate offers from other credit card companies and I was thinking of switching. Before I do that is there anything this company can do to give me a better rate?”
If you have a long, good standing credit history with them, they probably do not want to loose you as a customer. Make it clear to them if they cannot make adjustments you will need to transfer your balance to a student credit card that will accommodate your good standing history. If you actually do a balance transfer, do not close the account. That can hurt your credit score as well. Leave the old account open to avoid damaging your credit score. You definitely do not want to close a card with a high limit or one that you have had a long time. Just keep the paid off account open and clip up your old credit cards and TRY NOT use them. If you have to use it, only do so once evry couple months for purchases your sure you can pay off in full when the bill comes in.