Top 10 ways Students destroy their credit.

Nobody wants to destroy their credit but it can be easy for students who are new to credit.
Here are some facts from personal finance experts that describe the top 10 ways students destroy their credit.



1. Not staying on top of credit reports
If you don’t pull your credit report often, your credit score could be suffering because of a lack of management on your part. Pull your free credit score report often.

2. Opening credit accounts and closing them often
Regardless of the inviting offers out there to apply for credit, you don’t want to apply for lots of credit too quickly. The best way to keep the credit score high, is to apply for credit slowly.

3. Co-signing for others
Wow is this major problem out there. Helping out a classmate finance that new laptop for school could be very costly to your credit report. Co-signers credit can be badly damaged if the person you co-signed for is late on a payment.

4. Using your credit cards.
Student can get approved easily for student credit cards, and find themselves charging too much on there cards. Student credit cards are not for hanging out at the local bar, they are for emergencies.

5. Missing payments
Missing a credit card payment is like taking your good credit score and burning it. Late payments on top of late fees will cost you dearly.

6. Not having a budget
Statistics show that students are terrible at budgeting. Budgeting is a fact of life for most people, so students need to start this while in college, especially with the financial burden of student loans over the horizon.

7. Mismanaging student loan money
Lump sum loans expected to last a semester gives big challenges to students who don’t know how to manage their money. You will have to prioritize a lot more. Figure out what you need vs. what you want.

8. Revolving credit
According to a recent study performed by Nellie Mae ( a subsidiary of Sallie Mae, the nations biggest student loan company) the average amount of money put on credit cards is $2,820. One out of ten students charged $7,000 or more.

9. Ignoring creditors
If you know you are going to be late on a payment, some creditors will agree to renegotiate the terms of the loan to help out. When payments are missed and creditors start calling ignoring the calls will make matters only worse.

10. Paying Bills Late
Even if you have been on-time with one credit card, but late on other obligations, the credit card company can hike your interest rate on that card. This is called universal default.

Having a student credit card is a great way to build credit, but you have to manage your spending habits real closely. If you don’t you will find yourself in a world of financial trouble real quick.

About the Author: Mike Clover is the owner of http://www.creditscorequick.com/. CreditScoreQuick.com is the one of the most unique on-line resources for free credit score report, fico score, free credit check, identity theft protection, secured credit cards, student credit cards , credit cards, mortgage loans, auto loans, insurance and a BlOG with a wealth of personal credit information. The information within this website is written by professionals that know about credit, and what determines ones credit worthiness