Credit cards can be your best friend at times. Sometimes it feels like you're on top of the world while holding that little piece of plastic, but with every pro there is always a con waiting. Trust me, I get it, you're broke as hell and the job you're working at is most likely not your ultimate career goal choice and you just want to have that little piece of plastic to ease your mind. But, lets all be honest with ourselves for a quick second here, are you really spending that card on gas and groceries to boost your credit like your mommy and daddy told you to?
The answer is no, the fact is that you most likely fall into one of the three categories, you're either A) The kid who doesn't have a limit on his card because mommy and daddy pay for the credit bill monthly (understand that every student in college most likely has some form of mild hatred towards you for having this luxury) or B) You're the student who loves to shop online and abuse your credit card to the max limit because you obviously needed a new pair of Jordan's or a new purse, and finally my favorite credit card abuser comes in the third student C) You are the kid that should have never applied for a credit card because your only source of income is from loan refunds, but it looked like a good idea at the time so you got one with a $750 limit and blew it all on clothes and concert tickets.
The problem with this is that in the long run none of these options are realistic, and they all come with a hefty price and responsibility. The fact is that it really isn't that the credit card is a problem, it's what you do with it that ends up being the ultimate factor. A lot of students take out loans and credit cards thinking that they will be just fine and that when they graduate they'll be comfortably sitting on roughly $100k a year salaries, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news to all of you students out there but simply be honest with yourself, is that realistic with a philosophy degree or even a basic business degree? The answer to this dream is most likely no, and like myself and the rest of kids that are in constant fear of being financially unstable at age 19 and so on, I'm here to tell you that it will all be okay. Yes, the student loan crisis is emerging more and more each day with naive kids whose parents have failed them in warning them of the harsh reality of owning a credit card while being in debt hell, but there is hope and to tell you it was easy to accomplish would be nothing more than a lie.
It's short and easy steps that will get you away from that little piece of devilish plastic and onto those sacred words, ah yes, "financial freedom". Get yourself out of your pool of tears, get a job and a calendar and begin to write, write until your fingers fall off and every bill and use of money (yes, even that taco bell combo #6 counts) is accounted for and next thing you know you're on a yacht sailing to Italy while you're donning some Versace pants, okay maybe not exactly accurate but I can tell you this. One day I woke up and was staring at my credit card bill and crying while scarfing down my last slice of Domino's heaven and a magical idea appeared in my head, to get a job and fix the issue. See, the problem with kids nowadays is that we often expect our parents to just jump right in and save the day and sadly one day that will not be possible. So, instead of staring at your bill and crying just take ownership for your actions and spend less money on partying and online shopping and focus more on eating at home and yes, the sad sentence we as naive raging kids all dread to hear, "start acting like an adult". Hopefully this article will reach out to other kids that are facing a bank statement requiring you to pay a minimum payment of $100 when your bank account is holding a staggering $2.32. Just relax and focus on how to fix the problem and you'll be just fine.
