OHIO COUNTY, W. Va. (WTRF) When students arrive at college, they are immediately greeted with a lot of financial temptation.
Their student mailbox and their email inbox are filled with dozens of credit card offers.
It’s all too easy to sign up and start charging purchases.
Jason Haswell, managing director of The Monteverde Group, says soon the bills start arriving.
He says if they start to pay late—or not at all—it can end up having a crippling effect on their lives for years to come.
“And if you miss payments, it’s gonna affect your credit score negatively, so when you get out of school, you may not be able to rent an apartment, you may not be able to buy a car, and the big thing is you’ve gone to school for four years or longer, depending on graduate school, and you may apply for the job you’ve always wanted but because your credit score is so low, they won’t hire you.”
Haswell says the parents of every college-bound student should sit them down and have a conversation before they leave.
He says they should explain the importance of creating a budget and sticking to it, and the dangers of using credit.
He suggests a debit card is a better option.
He says parents can fund the card from back home, and monitor the account as well.
And you can’t spend beyond your means, because “once the money is gone, it’s gone.”
