Student debt > Student debt solving with Student Credit Cards

Card issuers will usually stipulate a minimum monthly payment of around £5 or 5% of the outstanding balance on your card.

However, you can clear the whole balance if you have the resources.
Most cards provide an upper spending limit. To begin with, this spending limit may be around £1,000, but card issuers will increase it if you prove to be a reliable customer.

In the past, most cards charged the user an annual fee of between £10 and £15. Some still do, but with the onset of American credit card providers, card issuers are clambering over one another to offer the most attractive deal and annual fees are becoming less of a norm. The interest rate charged is also plummeting, with some card issuers offering 0% introductory rates on balance transfers for the first six months.

Overall, borrowing on credit cards is becoming cheaper. However, only get a credit card if you have the resources and discipline to pay off the balance each month. As they are so easy to use, it is tempting to spend, spend, spend on a credit card and not be able to meet the balance at the end of the month or the next several months! The less you pay off, the more interest you are charged and, month-by-month, this interest will be compounded

You'll want to get the lowest interest rate you can but this is not as straightforward as it sounds. Card issuers don't just charge different rates; they calculate interest from different times and have different rates for purchases and cash withdrawals, as well as having low introductory offers. Which one is best for you will depend very much on your individual circumstances. See www.creditcards.co.uk for more information.

Most credit cards have some form of insurance built into them. This usually covers things like damage to goods purchased with the cards or cancellation of a flight or holiday. However, this insurance usually has myriad conditions attached to it, so if you intend to rely on it, read the small print and make sure you understand the conditions.

For example: a holiday may only be covered if the entire thing, plane tickets, hotels and so on and so forth were paid for with the card. Holiday accident cover may just pay out £100,000 in the event of death. A separate travel insurance policy would probably pay out closer to £1m in the event of death.

Affinity cards are just credit cards by another name. They operate like ordinary cards, but every time you use them the card issuer makes a donation to a particular cause, usually a charity. Organisations as diverse as human rights organisations and football clubs now have affinity cards and if you're committed to their cause, you might want to consider one. Just remember that these cards usually charge some of the highest rates in the market.