Many banks and companies which offer student credit cards require the student to have a co-signer as their form of collateral or insurance. The co-signer must sign off on the credit card. If for whatever reason the student cannot make his or her payments; it would then fall on the co-signer to make the payments. Normally, a guardian or parent is the co-signer. They give the credit card companies piece of mind, that even if the student does not follow through with paying for debt, the co-signer will.
Student credit cards often come with a higher interest rate or APR. This helps to reduce the risk the bank or company takes by issuing a credit card to a student. Often times, the spending limit is considerably less than more traditional credit cards. They average spending limit is between $250-$800. The reason for this is that most students have not established any type of credit, therefore they will not have a good credit rating.
When a student is planning on making a large purchase, he or she can greatly benefit from a student credit card. In order to make a large purchase, you generally need good credit. This is where a student credit card comes into play. You can...