Student credit cards: Capital One vs. Discover

By Jeffrey Steele

World Series of Credit Cards - Game 1

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 2011 Money Blue Book World Series of Credit Cards! With baseball post-season in full swing (so to speak) we've decided to have a little fun ourselves and compare some of our best credit cards in seven different categories under a baseball theme. Grab some peanuts and Cracker Jack and enjoy the game!

Student credit cards

Leading off in Game 1 are two of our best student credit cards. We can genuinely say that the two rivals competing in today's game have youth on their side. This game pits the Capital One Journey Student Rewards card against the Discover Student Open Road card. Although you won't find this contest on ESPN, it's sure to be followed avidly on the nation's campuses of higher learning.

If you're a student, you probably don't have much credit history. Student credit cards are designed to make it easy for you to build your credit score without letting you get too overextended (although, of course, you can still get into trouble if you let payments slide).

Both teams deserve high marks for their star-studded lineups of top credit card features. Let's run down those lineups before the first pitch of today's game and give you a chance to grade each card's merits in this student credit card competition.

By Rich Mintzer

Nicki, a college student, decides it's time for a new laptop. She finds exactly what she wants online, but can't buy it because she does not have a credit card. Her close friend offers to put it on her card, but she's already over her card limit. These are not uncommon situations; in fact, a quarter of U.S. citizens do not have credit cards while so many more are in credit card debt. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, cardholders topped $886 billion in credit card debt in 2010, and that number is expected to top $1.1 trillion this year.

The alternate route

With those sobering statistics in mind, entrepreneur Danny Shader thought it was time to revitalize the basic concept of paying by cash for those without plastic, those who abuse it and those who don't want to write checks on their savings accounts to make loan payments. "We have built a transaction network, as opposed to just a payment network, which lets people make full transactions with cash," explains Shader, CEO of PayNearMe, the cash payment service that launched in the fall of 2010.

The PayNearMe cash payment process is relatively simple. Consumers purchase products online and choose PayNearMe at checkout as a means of payment. They then print a sales slip and take it to the nearest 7-Eleven where they pay in cash. The cashier simply swipes the slip, which completes the transaction. The purchase is shipped to the customer's home, not unlike paying online with a credit card.

By Tracy Clark

So, you're planning your wedding and are dazzled by the extravagant weddings of celebrities like Kim Kardashian but you don't have $10M dollars laying around in your checking account? The bubbly alone for Ashley Judd's big day cost as much as the average American wedding!

In an era when the rich and famous drop $80,500 on party favors (because yes, every guest at Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's wedding deserved a $350 Tiffany clock, daaahling) it's easy to dream big. No worries though, you can make your wedding dreams come true without going broke.

Save on the wedding, plan for the future

Planning smart for a wedding is no different than looking for the best online savings account rates, the best money market accounts, or cd rates. If you do your homework, shop and compare, you will find that there are fantastic deals to be had.

Ask yourselves what you could do with the money by not overspending on your wedding. Your wedding is one day, one goal, in a lifetime of goals together. Your future may include buying a home, investments, children, and retirement.

Start your life together knowing that you are working toward those goals and not against them. You can have an elegant, stylish, and beautiful wedding without paying for that day for years to come. If you'd rather not mortgage your future on your wedding, check out the following tips for saving money on your big day.

By Angela Spires

Vices--habits we would like to break, but just don't. Mine was an addiction to Dr. Pepper, but once I looked at not only the health benefit of lowering my soda intake, but also the financial impact--about $250 per year in soda alone--I knew it was time to make a change. By cutting back to one can per day, I was saving more than $150 a year.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, in 2010, Americans spent between $5,800 and $7,100 per person on media, alcohol, and dining out--three of the top five vices for Americans.

Giving up a vice isn't always the easiest thing to do, but you may be more inclined if you know what else you could be doing with that money. Imagine what you could do with these savings in your personal savings accounts or savings account alternatives.

1. From Dining out to Disneyland

A Disneyland family package, including airfare, runs about $5,000. Wonder where you can come up with the money for a week of family fun?

By Jennifer Rose Hale

"I can't get a credit card on my own. Will you help?"

Imagine this conversation with your boyfriend or girlfriend, child, or even a newly divorced parent. They're asking you to co-sign on a new credit card account, and you're tempted--or pressured--to help out. It might just be one more account for you, but it can make a big difference for their financial futures. What do you do?

Opening a joint credit card may seem like a good solution for a number of situations. But signing your name to joint accounts has risks. Understanding those risks can reduce the chance that you will pay for this decision, literally, in years to come.

Best case scenario

When you share a joint account with someone, you both are equally responsible for the card's balance. Every purchase made, every charge incurred: From the issuing bank's perspective, they're as much your purchases and charges as your fellow account holder's.

By Francine Huff

Don't wait until graduating from college to think about your credit score. It's easy to get pulled into a debt trap as a student if you have student loans, credit cards, utility bills, rent, etc. But there are some things you can do even while attending college that can help you build excellent credit.

If you regularly pull out your credit card to pay for purchases with the attitude that you'll pay off your balance once you graduate and have a job, you could be setting yourself up for major financial disaster.

Worse yet, don't rely on your parents' promise to pay off the card for you because they could end up unemployed or have some other financial catastrophe that strips them of their income.

Keep your credit history clean

All it takes to derail your finances are regular late-night pizza parties, shopping sprees at the mall and impulse purchases, among other things. So make sure you do all you can to build your credit score going forward. Here are five things that can help: