Freshmen urged to get financial lives on track

Freshmen can avoid money woes College freshmen, listen up.

Get your financial life on track this first semester -- or you may wind up making mistakes and paying a heavy price later, warned R.D. Norton, author of "Start Here: Getting Your Financial Life on Track."

Living away from home with your peers is awesome, isn't it? But, as a freshman, "there are plenty of things that can get you into trouble," Norton said in an interview.

Clip this column and follow these tips to get on track right from the get-go:

• Make a place to put your bills.

It can be a cookie jar, a transparent plastic storage bag with "Bills" written on it using a permanent black marker, or something fancier with 31 slots so you can insert the bills on the day they are due.

The idea, Norton said, is to pay your bills on time and not let them pile up out of sight, and then forget to pay them. The worst habit that you can develop is to pay your bills late, or not at all, he said.

Why? Late bills rack up penalties and fees, adding a lot of money to your original debt. Also, your repayment history gets scored.

A high credit score is good. You'll get better rates and deals. A low one is bad.

You'll pay more, if you get credit at all.

• Don't rack up a lot of credit-card debt.

Credit cards "are a tremendous temptation, and it's easy to go overboard," Norton warned. "You'll end up paying an awful lot of interest on whatever debt balances there are. It takes forever" to pay the money back, he said.

And what if you want to go to graduate school after college? "You may have to take on really serious debt," Norton said. "It's best to keep your debt as low as possible during your undergraduate experience."

• Keep track of all your debit and ATM card transactions.

The purchases are deducted immediately from your bank account, Norton said. You could quickly overdraw the account. Then, "right away, they start sticking you with fees. If you don't respond, they will add further fees."

Same thing with ATM transactions. Keep a record of each transaction and "don't overrun your account.

Otherwise, you will have a nightmare of late fees. They pile up fast."

• Don't reveal your personal information on social networks.

"How do you know who that person is on the other end of the screen?" Norton asked. It may be an identity thief trying to gain access to your personal information in order to pretend to be you, or drain your bank account.

• Something phishy-looking about an e-mail?

Delete it.

Cyberthieves lurk on the Internet trying to trick innocent people, via official-looking e-mails, into providing personal information so they can steal it and commit fraud, he said.

Don't tell your account numbers, passwords, Social Security number or other personal data on the Internet, not even if you're looking for a job, and disclose your credit-card number only on a shopping page that has "https" in the address box.

Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or . Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/RTDIrisTaylor.