nFinanSe, Inc. : Financial Tips to Keep College-Bound Students From Going Broke

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - July 8, 2009) - Thanks to a new federal bill, starting in February 2010, many students under 21 years of age will be restricted from getting credit cards unless they can prove they'll be able to pay the debt or have a parent/guardian co-sign. In response to the new legislation and to the struggling economy, Tampa-based financial services provider nFinanSe (OTCBB: [ NFSE ]) is releasing money-saving tips for college students who find themselves looking for new ways to make it through college debt-free (or with as little debt as possible).

Beware of bank overdraft fees. The average bank ATM user pays a total of $3.43 in surcharges and bank fees per transaction, according to Bankrate.com data from 2008. But if you overdraw, especially at a non-branch ATM, your bank can hit you with some very high fees. For instance, one University of Colorado - Boulder, student discovered her bank had charged her $35 every time she overdrew, regardless of the amount she'd overdrawn. "In one day after using my ATM card to buy a coffee then again for school supplies, I'd already racked up $70 in fees and didn't know it," the student said.

Keep an eye on your account balance. If your bank doesn't have any branches near your school, considering switching banks so you can easily make deposits and withdrawals without worrying about added fees.

Avoid credit cards. According to The Counsel of Economic Education, credit card debt is the number one reason that students drop out of college. It can damage your credit and take years to pay off. Try a reloadable prepaid card instead. Reloadable prepaid cards can be used like any credit or debit card but are loaded with money upfront and don't require having a bank account. They're cheap, and many offer email and text updates on balances and transactions. nFinanSe sells its reloadable prepaid card for just $3 at Dollar General stores nationwide -- or you can get one for FREE on their website, [ www.nfinanse.com ]. You can use nFinanSe's card without worrying about racking up debt and can even have your paychecks directly deposited onto the card.

Use your student ID for discounts. Oftentimes though they might not advertise it, many local businesses offer discounts to students who have a college ID. From restaurants to movie theaters, museums to zoos, you can take advantage of student discounts for all kinds of entertainment and save big on a fun Friday night out. Incoming freshmen are sometimes embarrassed to ask for student discounts, but within a few months, everyone's doing it.

Stick to the meal plan rather than eat out. Think about it. If you buy a $3 coffee at Starbucks every day, five days a week, you're spending roughly $480 yearlong just on your caffeine fix. Why not just get coffee at the dining hall? Your college dining hall might not seem very appealing, but admit it, it offers a pretty good variety of foods and you can have unlimited amounts of it. Besides, your college meal plan probably lets you eat at other on-campus eateries besides the cafeteria-style dining hall that offers more restaurant-type food.

Buy used textbooks. Brand new books can cost you up to several hundred dollars at your campus bookstore (plus you'll probably end up trying to sell them back at the end of the year anyway). Sure, they sell used books there too, but many students nowadays are finding even better deals on used textbooks on the Internet. Just make sure the website you order them from is trustworthy and tells you what condition the books are in. Savvy students are using [ www.Amazon.com ], [ www.Craigslist.com ] and [ www.Half.com ], among others.

Forget cable TV, watch Hulu instead. Cable TV can be expensive. If your dorm doesn't already include cable TV or if your school charges extra to get it, try watching your favorite TV shows online. Sites like [ www.Hulu.com ], [ www.Fancast.com ] and [ www.tvDuck.com ] let you stream the most recent episodes of many popular TV shows (as well as movies) for free. The major networks such as NBC and CBS also let you stream episodes for free.

Arranging Interviews

To arrange an interview with Clare Morgan, vice president of nFinanSe, about ways college students and their parents can save money, please contact Carla Collado or Tracy Williams at 310.479.7055, or through email at [ ccollado@olmsteadwilliams.com ] or [ tracy@olmsteadwilliams.com ].

About nFinanSe

nFinanSe Inc. is an innovative financial services company and provider of stored value and prepaid card solutions headquartered in Tampa, Florida. nFinanSe has developed the nFinanSe Network, a secure, reliable, point of sale (POS) and PC based software platform that connects retail merchants with multiple stored value prepaid card processors and issuing banks. nFinanSe owns and operates the nFinanSe Network as a standardized, national network of stored value and prepaid card cash load stations located throughout the United States.

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