You're Making History
If you haven’t already, you’ll probably start building your credit history in college. You’ll start the moment you take out a loan, whether it’s for school, a new car or even a revolving line of credit – like a credit card.1 Your performance in paying back these loans, and your other bills, will determine how your credit is graded – this is called your credit score.
These things go into your credit score:
- Your repayment track record
- How often you’ve applied for new credit
- The amount of debt you owe
- The types of credit you currently use
- How long you’ve used credit
Read these tips on using credit wisely.
Find out how your student loans impact your credit.
- When you open a new credit card account through Chevy Chase Bank, we will provide you with disclosures that spell out any possible fees or finance charges you may incur when you use your credit card. These fees or finance charges may include:
- Annual fee – an amount charged once a year simply for having the card. While some cards have an annual fee, the Chevy Chase Bank Student Flexible Rewards Platinum Visa® credit card has no annual fee.
- Cash advance fee – shown as either a per-use flat rate or a percentage of the advance amount.
- Late payment fee – charged if payment is received after the due date. (Caution: Miss a few payment deadlines, and your interest rate could skyrocket.)
- Balance transfer fee – sometimes charged to transfer balances from one card to another.
- Over-the-limit fee – charged if you go over your credit limit. (Overages can also trigger rate increases.)
- Minimum finance charge – charged to your account whenever you carry a balance to the next monthly statement cycle.
- Annual Percentage Rate (APR): The interest rate you’ll be charged if you don’t pay the balance in full each month. Credit cards often have different APRs for purchases, cash advances and balance transfers, so make sure a low APR in one category isn’t offset by unreasonably high APRs in others. Also, if there’s a low introductory APR, note how long it’s offered and what the rate rises to afterward.
- Grace period: The number of days you have to pay your bill in full without being charged interest. Beware of short grace periods, and note that there’s usually no grace period at all for cash advances, balance transfers or balances carried over from previous months – you begin paying interest immediately.
- Cash advances: Cash advances can bail you out of emergencies, but they can become very expensive loans if you don’t pay them off quickly. Ask about each card’s cash advance APR, fees and any other limits that may apply.
