Is this crazy?

I'm a 21 year old college student and I have never owned a true credit card. I have never really had a need since I've always been able to get by on my visa/check card.

I am also a really big mountain biking enthusiast. Recently I've been given the option to buy a bike for whole sale from a company. This offer only lasts a short while (two to three months). This leaves me wondering how I can pay for this bike while I don't have any money at the time being. I still have till May before I start working full time (60 hours) and earning solid paychecks. Currently I work about 30 hours a week.

So I've started considering credit cards. Problem is I don't know where to begin. I see these ads for credit cards that offer six months free interest. That sounds great to me since I wouldn't mind making minimum payments over the next three months till summer comes and then paying off the rest of the total in the following two - two and a half months when my income is higher. I understand the need to make the payments on time and to have the bill paid off in under the six months to avoid the high interest rates. Is there anything else I should know about with these type of cards?

Is it crazy to think I could get a 1000 dollar credit limit on my first card? I need about 1700 dollars to buy this bike and I have about a thousand dollars that I can put on my line of credit that runs on my check card.

Could anyone suggest a good company to go through that would offer this service? I'm having trouble tracking down good info on something like this. I plan to research this site fully after posting this but I just wanted to throw this out there to see what everyone thought. This message board seems to see heavy use.

I know this sounds a bit odd to spend this kind of money on a bicycle but if I wait till summer I could end up paying retail which is in the range of 3200 dollars.

thanks for reading all of this and thanks for any help you can offer me,

Scott

 

Check out your student union. The halls are usually papered with credit card companies enticements to students. If you already work 30 hrs a week, you probably have enough income to get more than their usual 600-100 line of credit they offer to students with no income. Maybe even sign up for a few cards at once and take the one that offers the best deal.

 

Take advantage of your student status and apply for a card through AMEX. AMerican Express has excellent service and is a good company to establish yourself with.

 

Not for all of their cards, for example Blue and Optima. There is information on their website on their different products, as well as information for student applicants.