Hey, I guess there are some cool features that they provide, but not that many things unless you pay an annual fee (Gold cards, etc).

Just make sure you pay off your card at the end of every month or you will have to pay interest, and if you miss a payment your interest rate increases.

You need to be 18 years old, and have some kind of income. You get a $500 limit sometimes if you don't make any money, but they are basically banking on the fact that your parents will bail you out of any debt.

If you get OSAP, you can tell the company that you make "$XXXX a year".

I have a $2700 limit.

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Uschi
Queen's '10

You must be 18 or 19 depending on province to have your own credit card (as opposed to one of the pre-paid ones, or an arrangement where you are a second card holder on an account belonging to your parents). I know it's 18 in Ontario, 19 in BC and Nova Scotia. If you are going to school out of province you can apply in either province (I went from Ontario to NS and got my card in Ontario, my cousin went from BC to Ontario and got her card in Ontario..)

It's probably better to just start with the $500 or whatever limit they start you at (I started at $600) when you apply as a student with limited income. BMO has bumped up my limit several times, usually after I've come close to hitting it. I'm not sure if they let you apply with 0 income, but I would have applied in Dec. of my first year of university after reporiting like $2500 I'd earned over the summer.

I have the BMO one, which is nice because you can customize the features a lot should your needs change. You will probably want to start with something with no annual fee; most of the bonuses are not worth it on a card you are going to put a couple thousand per year on (The break even point for going from BMO's 0.5% cash back to 1% cash back with $49 annual fee is about $10,000).

And, always keep in mind, borrowing money on a credit card is one of the most expensive ways to do so (payday loans are worse). You really don't want to get stuck paying credit card interest rates. Don't put something on your credit card unless you can pay it off or it's absolutley essential.

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People who apply for credit cards should just remember that eventually have to pay it back and interest rates are no joke so just use them for like emergencies. Also, its a good idea to write down exactly what u use it for so that u don’t get charged for something u didn’t purchase...”by accident." Its funny how for this one credit card, it draws u in saying that if u apply for it, you may win there scholarship!! WOW lol

Who cares what your credit card looks like?

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-Stringer

Just because you have a credit card doesn't mean you're going to rack up a debt.
Once I get a credit card, I plan on doing the majority of my purchases on it, instead of my debit card, as there's $0 liability in case of fraudulent transactions. Banks are much harder to deal with than CC companies with those matters.
The rewards can be pretty good too.
I hardly ever use cash, as it's way harder to track.. having my month's expenses all summarized on one statement makes it a lot easier.

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Ryerson 2012
Politics & Governance

I think the PC mastercard is the way im going as well.

There's two uses to the credit card. One is as another option for payment, where instead of using cash or debit, you use credit. Credit cards are pretty much required to buy anything online. The other use is to buy things you can't afford right now.

That second use is a very bad habit to get into. That money on the credit card isn't free money; it is, in fact, very expensive money. You want to be paying off the card in full every month (at which point there is no interest); and at the very least, if you did make a large purchase that you need to pay off over a couple months, you want to pay as much as you can. That minimum payment is a minimum. You don't want to be consistently making that minimum payment.

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Credit cards are just plain evil....Unless you find the right one and can pay it off on time.

I definitely wouldn't get one unless I had a job.

Can you get the visa even if you're only 17?
when i start at dal in the fall, i'll still be only 17, & i want to get a credit card to keep my monthly expenses all together on one statement, but i'm not sure if that will be possible, since the age of majority in nova scotia is 19 and i won't be 19 till almost the middle of my second year.

It is 19 in some provinces, including Nova Scotia and BC. It is 18 in Ontario, and I believe most other provinces.

Before the age of majority in your province (if you are an out of province student you can apply in either province), it is possible to get a card that is a secondary card on an account belonging to one of your parents, or one of the "pre-paid" cards.

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