The average amount of credit card debt for a student is $2700.00, but many students have even higher debt.  The average interest rate on a standard card is about 13%, but many students pay much higher rates due to their short credit history. Making the minimum payment each month on a $4600 card debt, it would take 250 months (almost 21 years) to pay off the debt and cost $4,868 in interest. If a 20 year old was able to instead find a card with only a 7% interest rate, he or she could instead be completely out of debt in less than 10 years. If he/she then chose to invest the savings until retirement, this could be worth nearly $500,000. Explore the links below to see how you could save on credit cards.

1. http://www.indexcreditcards.com/ is another good index of credit cards by type. Start your search here. Newsweek magazine called this “As comprehensive a list as you'll find of all the credit card offers on the table now.”
2. http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/shop/default.htm Credit card terms can be complicated. This great publication from the Federal Reserve breaks things down and makes them very understandable.
3. www.powerpay.org is an awesome site that provides information on how to get out of debt quickly following an accelerated debt reduction plan.