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Young adulthood is a time ripe with “firsts.” Soon after your college graduation – if not before – you might, as a twentysomething, be experiencing your first job and the purchase of your first car and first home (as well as plenty of first- belongings to fill it with!). Thanks to the passage of some much-stricter regulations on the marketing and issuing of credit card accounts to college students, it might not be until you have your diploma in hand that you open your first credit card account. If you are taking your credit seriously, as well you should, then this is a heady and daunting proposition. You will need to not only fish the right card for you out of a sea of plastic, but be able to use your new account wisely and discriminately. The timing is absolutely critical. Skillful management of your credit can be more effective than almost anything else at setting you on the right path towards adulthood. Err in these early stages, however, and you could be riding a rocky road for years to come.

Right now, two out of every three collegians has at least one credit card, and many students have more. Last year alone, colleges and universities made over a billion dollars shilling the financial records of their student body to credit card companies and their solicitors. These marketers know exactly how to target their product to young adults, bribing them with branded school supplies and coupons for free lunches at the campus food court. That’s usually all it takes to get these unwary junior consumers in the proverbial doors. The marketers naturally do not warn students about the severe penalties for credit card misuse, or the true cost of credit card debt over many years.

Credit cards can actually do wonders for college students. Used prudently and carefully, plastic can afford many advantages to young adults. It can help them build their credit history over time, up to the point of having a solid score at graduation. Accordingly, students could possibly obtain lower rates on auto loans and home mortgages their first time around, keep their insurance premiums reasonable, pass a credit check easily to rent an apartment, and impress any potential employer running a background check.

Even if you are a coed born with unprecedented financial precociousness, however, you shouldn’t jump on those credit cards being hawked by the marketers hanging out like vultures at the doors to the student union. Your school strikes exclusivity deals with certain credit card companies solely on the basis of what will make them money – not at all based on the best cards for their students. Many cards directed at students carry impossibly high rates of interest, no matter what your credit score is. This fact is often buried in pages of fine print, hidden behind the huge offer of a low promotional rate lasting only a few months. Many student cards are considered subprime, no matter how optimal the individual student’s credit happens to be… so these cards come equipped with annual fees and virtually no perks.

Even more than the normal consumer, college students really need to do their research when it comes time to select their credit card. There are numerous publications and Web sites devoted to comparing the costs and benefits of student credit cards. Young adults should especially watch for cards boasting flashy rewards and low promotional rates. Either one of these so-called benefits is really an invitation for trouble. One will psychologically motivate consumers to spend more than they would otherwise, and the other will quickly turn moderate balances into debt behemoths.

According to experts, the best cards for students include the following features. First, they do not include an application charge or annual fee of any kind. Second, the interest rate is fair for a card targeted to students: fourteen to seventeen percent is fair. Beware of the marketing term “rates as low as x%,” because this almost always means an APR much higher than what is being advertised. You also want a card that reports to all three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. You may be asking yourself why this is important. Without credit bureau reporting, you are losing out on the number-one advantage of using plastic: building your credit score. If you are getting a card from a major and instantly-recognizable issuer like Citibank, Discover, or JP Morgan Chase, it’s a safe bet to assume that you are covered in this regard.

It’s said that the best procedure for students building their credit history is to apply for and use only one card for at least several months, if not a full year or more. Judicious use of a second card will build your credit faster, it’s true, but every subsequent card you obtain places you at a higher risk for running into trouble with debt at a young age. When you receive your new card, take a while to familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions attached to your account. Yes, the print is tiny and the brochure seems huge. Keep in mind that you will probably never have eyesight as sharp as in your 20s, and that the terms and conditions have nothing on your civics textbook. Get used to the details of the agreement – you will be poring over many in your lifetime, if you intend to be a responsible consumer. Items of interest: your credit limit, your interest rate (including the separate rates for balance transfers and cash advances), your benefits, and the fees and penalties. Keep in mind that many student cards will have laughably low credit limits at first: five hundred dollars isn’t unusual. If you are practicing sound debt utilization management, you will never have more than one hundred fifty dollars as a balance on the card. That’s just fine. Remember that you are building your credit, and not your closet or your DVD collection.

Students will want to familiarize themselves with the practices and peculiarities of their card issuer. For example, what is the billing and due date for your account? Plan on getting your payment in the mail at least a week in advance of this date, or paying by phone or internet several days beforehand. Check out the cutoff time as well: just because your bill says that your payment is due on the 3rd, that does not mean that it will be counted towards your balance any time before midnight. It could be that any payments received after noon in the time zone where your creditor is located are considered late. Depending on where you live, this could be before you have even rolled out of bed for your first class! Program your card company’s toll free (1-800) number into your cell phone for convenient balance checks, problem solving, and answering of questions.

Get into good habits now. No late payments – those will cost you at least thirty bucks a hit. Don’t procrastinate on your payment and end up having to swallow a pay-by-phone or “expedited” payment charge. NEVER take out a cash advance on your credit card. And always ask yourself a simple question before you swipe your hard-earned plastic at the cash register during the point of a sale: “Do I really need this?” If the answer is no, condition yourself to walk away. A credit card is not a toy. Ignore this advice now, and I can pretty much guarantee that you will pay later. Credit cards can offer a world of benefits to young adults starting out in the world, but their usage is also fraught with risk. Don’t become a financial statistic. Use your plastic responsibly.