Secured credit cards How to get started
The interest rate on a student credit card is typically a little higher than the rate for an older person's credit card, and is currently around 13 to 20 percent. Student default rates zoom up to 25 to 31 percent if your payment is even a day overdue. This change in interest rate is retroactive, meaning that even if you bought something when your interest rate was 0 percent, you will have to pay 13 percent (or 20 percent, or 31 percent) on it until your balance is paid off. When your interest compounds, you might end up paying two or three times the original cost of an item. The key to using a credit card well is to pick the card with the lowest regular interest rate you can find, then charge as though the zero percent introductory rate didn't exist and you were paying the regular interest rate.