Taking Advantage of a College Student...

by Nick
(L.A)

When I went off to college, I knew little about credit cards. What I did know is that I was swamped with new bills I'd never had to deal with before. Sure, I had a full scholarship to college, but what about paying for books, a phone bill, food, and gas for my car. Money was a bit tight, but then a credit card application arrived in the mail.

I never had used a credit card before. Thinking I could use the money, I filled out the form for the student credit card and mailed it off. Within a couple of weeks, I had a new piece of plastic in my hand, and suddenly it became a lot easier to pay the bills. In fact, I was even able to use the card at ATM machines to get cash out when I needed it.

It was all pretty nice using this first time credit card until the bill showed up in my mailbox. It was shocking to see how much money I had spent, but I was able to simply pay the minimum balance. What really caught my attention were all the fees. Apparently, there was a fee for the card, big fees for those ATM withdrawals, and more.

Since I only had a $300 credit limit, it wasn't long before I hit that limit. By this time, those minimum payments had got a bit bigger, and I was having a tough time paying that bill. One missed payment later and the fees pushed me over the limit, adding even more fees.

In the end, that $300 credit card ended up costing me more than $1000 to settle. It was a tough lesson learned. Today I don't even use a credit card. After my experience I keep one for emergencies, after carefully reading all the terms, and I stick to a cash basis to avoid a company taking advantage of me again.