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Student credit cards are designed for students — meaning people with limited or no credit history, and relatively low income. But before you get one, it's important to understand how credit cards impact your credit history. If you use a credit card irresponsibly you could end up with lots of expensive debt, negative items on your credit reports, or both.
By Brendan Harkness
The best credit cards for students will build credit while costing you nothing, and actually saving you a bit of money through rewards and benefits. Here are some things to consider for your first credit card:
By Brendan Harkness
Student cards are special credit card products that are usually only available to students enrolled in college or university. They’re designed for people with little to no credit history, which is common among college students who haven’t had many opportunities to establish credit yet.
Don’t assume that you need to get a student credit card just because you’re a student — it’s possible to get other cards with little or no credit, like secured credit cards which require a refundable security deposit. But you may also qualify for some of the best cash back or travel rewards credit cards, especially if you have established some credit already.
You may be surprised at some of the cards you qualify for, especially if you have any experience paying back loans, like student or auto loans. Check to see if you’re pre-qualified for any credit cards — it’s free and it won’t hurt your credit.
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The Bank of America Cash Rewards™ Credit Card for Students (Review) is one of the most rewarding cards for students, with a 3% category you can customize to your liking each month.
This card is good for traveling abroad, because not only does it include travel as a potential 3% category, it also comes with chip-and-PIN capability, making it more useful at certain terminals and automated kiosks outside the U.S. You can easily set or change your PIN online. If you’ll be traveling to foreign countries it’s often a good idea to have a PIN card in your wallet.
With this flexible card you can adjust your bonus category each month to fit your expected spending. So if you’re going on a trip next month, for example, you could use the travel category to get 3% back on your airfare and hotel bookings, and even a car rental. Then, when the new month begins, you can switch your category to gas to help fuel your adventure.
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If you make a variety of purchases throughout the year (and who doesn’t?) it’s useful to have a card with a variety of bonus categories.
That’s what you’ll get from the Discover it® Student Cash Back (Review), which is probably the most rewarding student card available. Its 5% cash back categories change throughout the year, covering some pretty common student purchases. If you want a simple but rewarding card with excellent customer support, this could be the one for you.
The Discover it Student is just as rewarding as the non-student version, the Discover it® Cash Back Credit Card (Review), although some of the other terms are different.
Discover’s Cashback Match means you’ll be earning a cash back equivalent of 10% in the bonus categories for the first year, and 2% for everything else. Those are excellent rates, even for non-student cards.
You’ll be limited to $1,500 per quarter for the bonus categories, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem for the average student. Are you going to spend more than $500 per month on groceries, gas, or dining out? Probably not.
Although statement credits are usually the best redemption option for cash back cards, when it comes to Discover you’ll actually get the best value from gift cards. You’ll get at least $5 added to each gift card redemption — a nice feature, but only useful if you’ll be able to utilize those gift cards.
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Gas and dining are pretty popular categories on student cards, but the the Discover it® Chrome for Students (Review) provides the best consistent rewards for those purchases.
You won’t be earning a ton of cash back with this card, which is fairly typical for student cards. But in your first year you’ll get very competitive rates for gas and dining, equal to some of the best non-student cash back cards.
So this card is great in the first year, providing a 4% cash back equivalent on gas and dining, and 2% back for everything else. After that it drops to a more tame rewards program.
You’re limited to $1,000 in spending per quarter in the bonus categories, which means you can earn a maximum of $40 cash back per quarter at the 4% rate in the first year. After the first year you can earn up to $20 cash back per quarter at the 2% rate.
You could earn more than that in a given quarter with the runners up below, but the Discover it Chrome for Students is the only option to offer both of these categories year-round. The Bank of America Cash Rewards for Students has a 3% category, and you could choose gas or dining for that, but only one at a time. And the Discover it Student will offer 5% back for gas, but only for one quarter out the year.
Like the Discover it Student card, the most valuable redemption method here is for gift cards, which will get at least $5 added to their value. But this option isn’t as useful if you can’t use those gift cards for purchases you were already going to make.
Flat-rate credit cards provide the same rate for every purchase, making them excellent choices to fill in the gaps between the bonus categories of other cards.
You might have cards with good bonus categories for groceries and gas, but what about those random Walmart and corner store purchases? That’s where flat-rate cards come in handy.
The Journey® Student Rewards from Capital One® (Review) is the best flat-rate card for students. As long as you pay on time (and why wouldn’t you?), you’ll be earning almost as much cash back as the typical non-student flat-rate card, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Review) which provides 1.5% back.
The Journey Student also provides a higher credit line after you make the first five payments on time. That extra spending capacity should be very useful on a student card, which usually comes with a fairly low credit limit.
Anyone can apply for the Journey Student Rewards card — it isn’t limited to students, despite the name.
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The Deserve Edu Mastercard (Review) is good for international students because it doesn’t require a Social Security number to apply. Deserve will also check more than the usual credit history factors when you apply, like your education and future employability, giving you a better chance of approval than most cards.
So, if you’re arriving in the U.S. to study and you don’t have an SSN this may be one of the few cards available to you. International students will need to provide proof of a U.S. bank account and copies of their student visas, passport IDs, and school documents.
Take note that Deserve will need to connect to your bank account to verify your balance. If you have privacy or security concerns this might worry you, but it seems reasonable because Deserve bases its decision on more than the typical credit approval factors.
You’ll probably have trouble getting approved for any credit card — even secured cards — if you’re working with little to no income. If you’re under 21, issuers are required by law to consider whether you can make your monthly payments before they issue you a card. With that said, if you’re going to be approved for any credit card with minimal income, it’s likely going to be secured.
The Citi Secured Card is a good option because it doesn’t require a bank account, which you may not have (or want to use), in order to apply. However, if you’re not using a bank account, you must apply and provide your deposit in person at a Citibank branch.
It’s a no-frills secured card, requiring a security deposit of at least $200. You’ll get a few basic benefits, like a free FICO score and purchase protection.
The Citi Secured Card requires a security deposit of $200 to $2,500. Your credit limit will be equal to your deposit.
With consistent responsible use, your security deposit may be returned, and you could be upgraded to the unsecured Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card (Review). But you’ll probably have to have some kind of income for that to happen.
The information related to Citi® Secured Mastercard® has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
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The information related to Citi® Secured Mastercard® has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.