About 35% of Americans have some form of credit card debt.

This can be extremely detrimental to someone’s financial success.

This is why getting a credit card early and learning how to use it properly can offer a huge advantage for the rest of your life.

For instance, student credit cards have a lot of benefits and rewards. It’s all about leveraging those rewards as a student to make owning a credit card beneficial to you.

Ready to learn more? You can keep reading to learn more about credit cards and student finances!

Benefits of Student Credit Cards

Student Credit Cards

If you have a student credit card, odds are you do not have a lot of credit built up yet. That is what getting a student credit card can begin to help with! But there are also many other reasons to get student credit cards.

Here are a few.

Building Credit History

Using a credit card responsibly can help students build a positive credit history, which is important for future loans and credit applications. It is best to get started as soon as possible, so leveraging student credit cards is one way to do that!

Teach Your How to Manage Money

When you get a student credit card, this is the first stepping stone to learning how to effectively manage your money. This means you’ll learn why it is so important to pay your balance in full every month, keep your credit utilization ratio law, and make sure you never spend more than you have.

Getting the practice in while you are a student can make you more responsible as you get older and spend more.

Earn Rewards

Some student credit cards offer rewards, such as cashback, points, or miles for purchases made with the card. This can be a great way for students to earn rewards for their everyday purchases.

From here, they can start to learn how to manage their money and also balance their spending with the rewards that they receive from credit card purchases.

Help You During an Emergency

As a student, it is quite normal to experience a few unexpected expenses that come up while you are in school. For instance, you may have a larger utility bill than you were planning for or you may have some really expensive textbooks to buy.

Whatever it is, having a credit card can buy you a bit more time before you need to pay it off. This means you have more time to make the money before you need to pay the card.

As you continue to pay the card off, your credit score will improve drastically!

Fraud Protection

Many credit cards offer fraud protection, which can help protect students from unauthorized purchases or fraudulent activity on their account.

This is great to have during the entirety of your life, but there’s no better time to get a credit card than as a student to start protecting yourself.

How to Leverage the Benefits and Rewards of Credit Cards as a Student

There are many things you need to do to get started with leveraging the benefits and rewards of a credit card. You first have to be educated on how to do so. Read on to learn more about this before you make the purchase!

Choose the Right Card

The first thing you need to do is choose a credit card that is right for you and your lifestyle!

For instance, getting rewards for entertainment or gas may be more beneficial for a student than let’s say, a travel credit card.

You want to choose a credit card that aligns with your spending habits and offers rewards that you can actually use.

Learn How to Maximize Your Rewards

Be strategic about how you use your credit card to maximize rewards. For example, use your card for everyday purchases such as gas, groceries, and dining out to earn rewards on your regular spending.

This is more financially beneficial to you than using it on an expensive trip or flights to travel. While very cool and doable, this is not going to actually save you money when using your credit card rewards. It is best to use them for everyday expenses as a student.

Use the Promotional Offers

Many credit cards offer promotional offers such as sign-up bonuses or 0% interest rates for a period of time. Take advantage of these offers to earn rewards or pay off debt without incurring interest charges!

This can set you up for financial success as a student.

Redeem Rewards Before They Expire

Be sure to redeem your rewards before they expire. Many rewards programs have expiration dates or restrictions on how rewards can be used, so be sure to read the terms and conditions carefully and use your rewards before they expire.

Otherwise, you are not actually leveraging the benefits that your card offers you! While this doesn’t harm you since you’re spending the money no matter what, it is not actually going to benefit you.

Using Student Credit Cards

Credit cards have so many benefits. However, if you use them incorrectly, you are not going to be able to reap those benefits.

So how should you use student credit cards? How do you reap the benefits of credit card rewards?

By following this guide, you’ll better understand how to use student credit cards to your advantage!

You can check out the different credit cards we offer here!