On a fundamental level there is nothing “wrong” with student credit cards. They can be used to purchase educational essentials like textbooks or just for added convenience while students are living away from home. They also help students start building their own credit histories. But there are risks too. Credit cards also give students the opportunity to get into debt at a young age — something that will likely stay with them for years.

Here are five examples of things students might do with their first credit cards (like the ANZ First Visa) to get themselves into trouble. While many will be responsible with those student credit cards, these examples are simply about highlighting risks and letting students know what kind of behaviour they should look out for. Using a credit card to finance any of the following things while in school, without the ability to pay them off completely every month, can lead to unnecessary credit card debt. read more..

It’s one thing to want to get out of credit card debt. Finding a way to make it happen is something else entirely. So today we’ll look at seven ways you might be able to come up with more money that can go towards your credit card debt. The options might not all be popular. After all they often involve work or sacrifice. But the ideal scenario of extra money magically appearing isn’t likely to happen, so let’s consider them anyway.

Here are seven ways you might be able to free up more of your existing money or make more money that you can put towards paying off your credit card debt. read more..

When you compare credit cards you look at a lot of features, from annual fees to interest rates. But potential credit limits are also important. If a credit card’s credit limit is too low it might not meet your basic needs. If the credit limit is too high it might entice you to run up more credit card debt than you can really afford.

How do you know what kind of credit limit to look for when comparing credit cards? Here are a few questions you should ask yourself which might help you figure that out. read more..

At some point in time you might feel that you have too many credit cards. “Too many” is subjective and is a personal decision for you and every other consumer. But when you get to that point, what are some options for cutting down on your number of credit cards? Should you keep old ones? Switch to new ones? Cut them up and never think about them again?

Here are two common options for dealing with the issue of having too many credit cards and why it might be a good idea to keep at least one older card in your wallet. read more..

When comparing credit cards sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in finding the terms you want, and you miss some of the not-so-hot terms that can come along with them. To help you spot a bad deal when you come across it, we’re going share a few bad credit card offer warning signs with you.

Here are four signs that a credit card offer might not be all it’s cracked up to be. read more..