Credit Help for Students

Protecting and Repairing Your Student Credit

Many people have their first encounter with credit and credit cards during college. If you’re like most students, you might find it easy to charge now, and worry about it later. Unfortunately, this could have damaging effects on your credit score.

Credit Scores and Credit Reports

Your credit score is a three-digit number (between 500 and 850) that appears on your credit report. The higher your credit score is, the better your credit report will look.

Lenders and creditors use your credit report to determine whether or not you are eligible for loans, credit cards, or other services. Because other people are using this report to judge you, it only makes sense for you to pull your own credit report and see exactly what they’re looking at.

You should check your credit report at least once per year. Look over the report carefully, checking your personal information, marital status, account status, open creditors, and payment histories. If you find any discrepancies, contact the credit bureau immediately.

Get a Free Credit Report.

Protecting Your Credit

In addition to pulling your credit report regularly, there are other things that you can do to protect your student credit record. Here are a few suggestions:

• Pay bills promptly.
• Know your credit limit.
• Know your interest rates.
• Avoid late fees and over-limit fees.
• Dispute erroneous charges.
• Do not let friends borrow your credit cards.
• Do not let friends put bills in your name.
• Repair damaged credit as soon as possible.

Repairing Damaged Credit

If your credit is less than perfect, you should immediately try to remedy the situation. Keep in mind that it may take time to repair damage that has been done to your credit. If you find yourself in a difficult situation, you may want to consider paying a credit repair service to do some of the work for you. These services specialize in credit repair and will be able to fix most credit problems.

If you do pay someone to repair damaged credit, choose the company wisely. Many credit repair services make promises that they cannot keep. Avoid expensive debt repair services at all costs; repairing your credit should be relatively cheap, if not totally free.

http://businessmajors.about.com/od/financingresources/a/CreditHelp.htm