College student credit card

Name of Student
Name of Instructor
Course Code
Date of Submission
College student credit card debt
Introduction
Purchasing on credit cards is currently a common practice among the college and university students. The credit card was not used some years back by the college students to avoid the accumulation of the debts. The credit card was introduced for the college students about a decade ago. Recently, most of the credit card companies are liaising with the colleges to set up the booths to market their credit cards. The credit card companies convince the students by giving them gifts such as t-shirts and food for them to register for the credit cards (Hancock, 360). The college students can also get access to the credit cards before they are admitted to the universities.
The main disadvantage of the credit cards is the accumulation of the debts and the increase of the interests in which most of the students do not notice until they complete their studies. The companies which offer the credit cards include the Capital One, the Wells Fargo, Citibank and the Chase bank (Hancock, 365). The companies are luring the customers by sending emails to the parents with children between 16 to 18 years. The parents are lured to insist their children acquire the credit cards before they set their foot to the college.
Statistics on Students credit cards
The shared credit cards are now used by at least 9% of the students. The shared credit cards are used by the college students who have a close relationship or family members.

Others use the shared credit cards to help their colleagues who do not qualify to acquire the credit cards. The married couples also share the credit cards to buy the household items. The consumer advocate discourages the students to use the shared cards. This is because one of the credit holders might be forced to pay for unnecessary debts in future due to ignorance of the other holders. The lender can also think that the credit load is too high and deny them further purchasing on credit. One might be denied the access to the credit due to the inclusion of the debt to income ratio to their credit report because of some other members who are overspending without paying the debts and the interests (Hogan, 110). The best option is to have a credit card which is not shared.
The options for the credit cards
The basic options for the shared accounts are as described below. The first option is for the two students to become the joint applicants. The applicants are liable for the debts and the charges. They must agree on the purchasing power of each person. One applicant is accountable for the overspending of the other colleague. The applicants must have the full trust between themselves. The second option is becoming the guarantor for another applicant. The guarantor should be able to pay the debts and the interests of the other if he or she fails to pay. The guarantor does not, however, get the privileges on the account. There is also a big difference in the liability matters of the account. The bank, however, does not go for the guarantor unless the applicant fails to pay the debts within the stipulated time.
The third option is adding the authorized applicant to your account or a joint account. The authorized user gets the charging privileges like any other user (Hogan, 115). However, the original users of the account have the entire responsibility on the membership of the other person. They can decide to deregister him or her in case of overspending without the awareness of the others. The authorized users sometimes are held legally for the charges in the account.
Letter of transmittal
Dear instructor,
I hereby write this letter to highlight the options for the college student credit cards. The research done shows that most of the students are using the shared credit cards. The shared credit cards are beneficial to the students who cannot qualify to get a credit card. However, some of the members might end up paying for expenses in which they did not purchase.
I, therefore, recommend for the credit cards which are owned by only one single user. The user of the credit card is able to plan on his or her expenses well. The user is accountable for the charges and thus he pays the interests which he spent, unlike the shared credit card option.
Yours sincerely,
Work Cited
Hancock, Adam M., Bryce L. Jorgensen, and Melvin S. Swanson. “College students and credit card use: The role of parents, work experience, financial knowledge, and credit card attitudes.” Journal of family and economic issues 34.4 (2013): 369-381.
Hogan, Eileen, Sarah Bryant, and Leslie Overymyer-Day. “Relationships between college students’ credit card debt, undesirable academic behaviors and cognitions, and academic performance.” College Student Journal 47.1 (2013): 102-112.