Credit - Let's Be Smart
By Janelle Lyons

Credit. It's a word that doesn't mean much to most teenagers. We think, hey, why should I care about credit? I don't need it yet! Well...this is not true. When you think about it, many of our parents do not have good credit. They have loans to pay back from college, car loans, and a mortgage to pay. This can all be overwhelming. So many people have bad credit just because of those few things. It can be hard to stay on top of your payments.

If you start out early, knowing that you want your credit to be in good standing, you can save yourself a lot of stress. There are a few things that you can do to prepare yourself for the real world:

1) Don't spend money that you do not have.
So many people are in credit card debt. You see something while you’re out shopping and you say, "Hey why not, it couldn't hurt to reward myself a little.” This is a false sense of security. Don't buy anything that you cannot see yourself definitely paying off within the next couple of months.

2) Save your money.
When you save up, you can have money to spend at times when you need it. It is okay to take out a loan, but if you do not have the money you can get behind on your payments. Let’s be smart.

Basically we just need to use our brains. Right now all that we are worried about are things like cell phones, clothing, friends, and what college that we are going to get into. In the real world, credit does matter. It decides whether or not you get that car or house you want, how high your monthly payments will be on things that you buy, and whether or not you can get the loan that you really need. Let’s start a new generation of good credit. It starts now, and it starts with you!