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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.
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The information related to Journey Student Rewards from Capital One, Discover it® Student Cash Back, Discover it® Student chrome, Discover it® Secured, and Secured Mastercard® from Capital One have been collected by Credit Card Insider and have not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of these products.
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:
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.
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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.
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 rotate 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.
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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.
The Discover it Student is just as rewarding as the non-student version, the Discover it® Cash Back (Review), although some of the other terms are different.
The information related to Discover it® Student Cash Back has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
Heading out for an exciting adventure in another country? It’ll be nice to have a convenient payment method, one that won’t cost you extra for using it outside the U.S.
The Bank of America Travel Rewards® Credit Card for Students checks that box by having no foreign transaction fee, so that should help keep expenses down. You’ll also get a solid rate on purchases through the BofA Travel Center, so try to book through that service when possible.
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This card 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.
Gas and dining are pretty popular categories on student cards, but the the Discover it® Student chrome (Review) provides the best consistent rewards for those purchases.
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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 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.
The information related to Discover it® Student chrome has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
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 may also provide a higher credit line after your first six months. 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 information related to Journey Student Rewards from Capital One has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
With no fees at all aside from potential interest charges, the Petal® 2 Cash Back, No Fees Visa® Card is a great first credit card.
Most card issuers will check your credit history when you apply — but what if you don’t have any credit history yet, and no credit scores? The Petal card might be for you.
If you have no established credit, Petal will ask to connect to your bank account to check your financial situation, as a way to judge your riskiness as a borrower. This gives you another avenue for approval if you don’t have any credit. If you do have some credit built up, Petal will likely run a hard inquiry to check it, like most issuers do.
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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.
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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 $200–$2,500. 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 may have to have some kind of income for that to happen.
Citi is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
A student credit card is simply a credit card designed for college students. These cards usually require you to be an active student when you apply (the Journey Student Rewards from Capital One (Review) is an exception — you don’t need to be a student to qualify).
Students typically have limited or no credit, because they haven’t yet established a credit history (learn how to build credit with credit cards here). As such, student cards typically come with few rewards or benefits, and low credit limits.
Other than that, they’re pretty similar to regular credit cards.
There are a variety of student credit cards, designed for different purposes. Our favorite student cards include:
Yes, student credit cards can help you build credit like most other credit cards — as long as the issuer reports the card activity to the credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).
Most credit card issuers (including the major credit card issuers, like Chase, Citi, and Discover) report card activity to the bureaus, so you typically have nothing to worry about.
In some cases, smaller, less established credit card companies may not report activity to the credit bureaus. But this is rare. Some companies only report activity to one or two of the bureaus, rather than all three; these issuers can still help you build credit, but the effects won’t be as robust.
Commit to using your credit cards responsibly to help improve your credit scores — in time, as your scores go up, you may qualify for better rewards cards with valuable perks.
You have to be at least 18 to apply for a student credit card.
If you’re younger than 21, you’ll need to meet more stringent criteria to prove you can pay your bills each month. When the issuer asks for information about how much money you make, you’ll only be able to report your own independent income (and most card issuers don’t allow cosigners).
Once you turn 21 you can include your total household income, and that can include your spouse’s income — this can make it easier to qualify.
If you’re under 18, you can explore becoming an authorized user on a parent’s credit card. Authorized users can get their own copy of someone else’s credit card, but keep in mind that only the primary cardholder has full legal responsibility for paying the bill.
The answer: It depends on your card issuer. Your typical options will be:
Contact your card issuer to see what your options are — we recommend upgrading to a non-student credit card if possible, because you’ll probably get better rewards and benefits. You might be awarded a higher credit limit whether you keep the same card or upgrade, since you may be entering the job market and earning more money.
We usually suggest not closing your student card after you graduate, unless it has an annual fee. Keeping your cards open can help improve your credit scores by reducing your credit utilization and increasing your overall age of accounts, among other effects.