College students may find themselves in financial difficulty soon after they start college. That may be due to relying exclusively on their parents for support, not fully grasping the importance of pursuing financial responsibility.

Spending Habits

Within months of setting foot on campus, some students begin to undertake spending habits that will eventually come back to bite them. These include running up a balance on a high interest rate credit card, overdrawing a checking account or simply spending through the cash allocated to them by their parents.

Even if you’re financially responsible and careful not to take on excessive debt, your personal credit may not be that strong. Every consumer has credit reports on them, information that is developed and maintained by the three major credit reporting bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. These reporting agencies simply accumulate data about you that is supplied by your creditors, with each bureau keeping track of your spending habits, your credit payments, debt balances, where you live and work, and more.

Reporting Errors

Guess what? Sometimes the information about you is wrong. Wrong information will effect your credit score and could impact you in many ways including your quest to get a job, find an apartment or buy a new car. That’s very serious, but it doesn’t have to wreck your plans. You should obtain copies of your three credit reports and examine these to ensure that the information about you is correct. If something you find is incorrect, you can request the respective credit bureau to correct your report for free and issue you a new copy.

Every American consumer is entitled to receive one free copy each of his three credit reports annually. By law, all three credit reporting bureaus must give you a copy of your credit report for free when you request it. However, there is only one website where such reports are dispensed to consumers at no charge to them. That website is AnnualCreditReport.com. Ignore the other so-called free credit reporting websites — sure, you may get your reports for free, but there are strings attached. Like, credit monitoring services you probably do not need.

Report Rotation

One good way to manage your credit is to simply order one report from a different credit bureau every four months. By rotating between TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, you will ensure that you won’t have to pay a fee for your reports. Moreover, you won’t find yourself overwhelmed or confused by having to sift through and compare three different reports. Anyway, if you find errors, you’ll have to contact each bureau individually — you’ll be better off concentrating on one bureau at a time.

Your credit score is not included with your free credit report, however. Your FICO score or credit score can be obtained separately and usually involves a fee somewhere between $5 and $8. Is it worth paying for your credit score every once in awhile? Absolutely! That’s because your credit reports impact your score and your score will determine whether you receive credit and at what terms. The higher your credit score, the better for you.

If you are in college or are a recent graduate, then you are just the type of consumer Scion wants — young, energetic, and full of fresh ideas.

Scion is the “youth brand” for Toyota, a line of vehicles inspired and designed by young people in a bid by Toyota to capture new consumers. The thinking here is that if you like Scion, then you’ll move up to Toyota when you have been working for a few years or have started a family. Lexus is for people who have arrived and desire high-end, refined driving.

But we’re talking about Scion, the brand for you!

Cars For The Hip Hop Culture

Three Scion models are currently available for sale, the xB — the boxy crossover-type vehicle that defies easy categorization, the sporty tC coupe, and the xD, the four-door compact hatchback which is the subject of this review. Both the xB and xD are new for the 2008 model year, rides which were designed with you in mind.

The xD is the product of consumer feedback and it is the input of young people which has determined what features are included with this model including:

• Your choice of three wheel cover designs.

• 60/40-split folding, reclining and sliding rear seat.

• Under-floor storage in the cargo area.

• Auxiliary audio inputs and iPod jacks.

• Front sport bucket seats with fabric upholstery.

• Pioneer 160-watt maximum output AM/FM/CD head unit (MP3/WMA and satellite-tuner capable) with iPod compatibility, six speakers, Scion Sound Processing, a user-customizable welcome screen, and Sound Retouch digital equalization for clearer MP3/WMA-CD sound.

• Power door locks, outside mirrors, and windows with one-touch auto down on driver’s side.

Air conditioning, cruise control, chrome exhaust tip, ABS, brake assist, and side mirror turn indicators are some of the other standard items with the xD, a surprisingly generous package of amenities not normally found in a car of this class. Clearly, Scion packaged the car just the way most drivers want it to come.

 

Affordable and Economical

What good is getting a new car if you can’t afford to drive it? With gas prices hovering at $3.30 per gallon, even the most fuel efficient car can be costly. Fortunately, at $15,170 for a xD with a manual transmission ($15,970 with an automatic) the well equipped Scion won’t bust most budgets. With EPA fuel numbers of 27 city and 33 highway, the xD also saves on gasoline.

Best Value In Class?

With its broad list of standard amenities, good fuel economy numbers, and low standard price, the Scion xD could be the best value in its class. Add in your own bling and you’ll have a ride that gets noticed without devastating your bottomline.

Scion photos copyright Toyota Motor Sales, USA 

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