You’re off to college. You pay the rent. You buy foodstuffs and make your meals. You gather student debt in the process of becoming a more educated member of the population.
But then a creeping problem begins to rear its head as you start to end your undergraduate training, the specter of a bad credit score.
As students in college or university, or trade school, we should keep in mind the possibility of a bad credit score, or a good one for that matter, while in training. First of all, what is it? How do you measure it?
A credit score is the credit rating, or grading, of a prospective debtor. An evaluation of you as a potential risk for debt. What is your worth to this individual or institution, typically a bank, in lending money to you?
There is a formal ranking for this. No need for specific details, but you can Google Bing, or Yahoo it to gather some more information on that particular matter. More generally, the debtor is given the score based on a number of variables, come from them, in order to assess their financial risk.
“Will this individual be able to pay back their debt to me, the debtor?” that is the fundamental question. The consequences of life as a modern student can lead to bad credit while in university, so as to cripple your credit rating as you leave university.
You may be juggling finances, school courses, work, various familial and friendship even relationship commitments, but this is another concern as long-term as some of them because a credit rating can forecast accessibility to financial support through debt in the future.
The answer to the opening query is “Yes.”
So, you best get your finances straightened out. Because there are some identifiable pressure points for risk. You should not apply for multiple accounts at once.
You need to have a payment history where you actually pay for your things. So, whatever account you get or card you use, you should use that card frequently in order to build a good credit rating. it shows reliability over a long period of time. That goes to the point of credit rating being a long-term investment.
Not only have an account history, but one showing payments of any – well – payments on time and in full. You should become an authorized user on your parents’ card as well as be on the lookout for the best and most reliable roommates, if you have any, as possible – look for the Big Five trait conscientiousness. Do not co-sign with your roommates.
Finally, protect both your own identity and the relevant intimate information you may have. By focusing on some of these pressure points, you can protect your credit score or rating and your own economic future, which is important even in university.
Have any tips? Let us know.
About the author:
Scott Douglas Jacobsen founded In-Sight Publishing and In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal. He works for science and human rights, especially women’s and children’s rights. He considers the modern scientific and technological world the foundation for the provision of the basics of human life throughout the world and advancement of human rights as the universal movement among peoples everywhere.
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