The Importance of Your Credit Score

You may not like to talk or think about money but that does not mean it will not have an affect on your life. As a college student, you may not have much to work with, but you will need to learn how to budget the money you do have wisely. Now that you moved out of your family home, you have regular financial responsibilities such as paying for Gainesville student living, credit card bills and groceries. The way in which you handle these new tasks will greatly affect your financial stability in the future through your credit score.

What is a Credit Score?

Most likely you have heard the terms “credit score” and “credit history”, but do you know what they mean? Whether you do or not, you are currently building one, for better or worse, or will need to begin doing so. Credit scores a reflection of your financial responsibility. If you regularly pay your bills on time and minimize the amount of debt you have, you will have a better credit score. You will have a low credit score if you pay your bills late, have declared bankruptcy or have gone into foreclosure. Often, this is the only information provided to businesses when you want to buy a car, rent student apartments near UF or are applying for a loan. If you want to live in the best apartments in Gainesville for UF students, you will need to prove that you are financially responsible.

How do You Increase Your Credit Score?

The first step you will want to take, is to make sure you have a credit score. You do not have a credit score at all if you do not have a credit card. Therefore, you will want to open one. To begin with, you may want to start with a secured card. Though it is not offered by all banks, preferred credit cards train you how to responsibly use a credit card. Instead of letting you spend a certain amount of money which you will later be required to pay off, you place a certain amount of money on the card and then you spend it from there. In the end, the most effective way to build your credit score is to regularly pay your bills and rent for your UF apartments on time. If necessary, set up automatic payments so that you will never forget. However, with this method, you will need to keep an eye on your bank account so that you do not accidentally withdraw more than you have.

Building Credit History as a College Student

The habits you make when you are in college will continue with you long afterwards. Therefore, it is best to be financially smart when you have less money so that you will continue to be responsible when you have more money. Further, the more faithful you are to paying your bills and University of Florida student housing rent, the better credit history you will have later when you want to rent another apartment or buy a house.