Canadian Student credit card debt under control says BMO report

Student credit debt

A recent study by the Bank of Montreal (BMO) has revealed that most students expect to have little or no credit card debt when they graduate.

The annual BMO survey found that only six per cent of post-secondary students use their credit card to pay for school expenses with just 30% of these expecting to graduate with more than $1,000 in credit card debt, and only 10% saying it will take more than a year to pay it off once they graduate.

Su McVey, VP, BMO Bank of Montreal said: “Despite the obvious stresses on students struggling to pay for their post-secondary education, it is impressive to see how well they understand and manage their credit cards. Students are doing their homework when they use credit cards. They clearly understand the wisdom behind treating them as payment vehicles – not borrowing instruments.”

The report also discovered that more students are availing of discount and loyalty schemes, chief among these being the Student Price Card (SPC) programme. “While there’s been a healthy increase in the number of students taking advantage of cost-saving programs such as those offered by SPC Card, we’d like to see even more students use discounts and their credit card rewards programs on planned purchases to help lower their everyday expenses even further,” added Ms McVey.

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