If you are student-young or old, full- or part-time, at home or in another state-the last thing you need to be added to your educational efforts are financial worries and credit card problems. Today, there are many special “student credit cards” whose arrays of benefits are intended to simplify your budgeting and payments and assist you in establishing a good credit record. As with many consumer-level credit cards, introductory rates and balance transfer options for students make starting up easy and relatively painless. Suppose you handle everything well while in school.
You can look forward to graduating with a good credit record. This makes it much easier to get a car loan with a good interest rate and be approved for mortgages later. However, a main selling point for the best student credit cards is the range of services, the convenience, and the valuable rewards that the lenders offer to you while you’re still in school.
Deserve EDU Master for Students
Because the Deserve EDU Mastercard for Students isn’t a typical credit card, it has a slightly different approval process. Furthermore, if you’re an international student, you don’t need a social security number to apply for the card. So, you can apply even if you’re studying in the United States.
While the Deserve EDU Mastercard for Students only offers 1% cash back on every dollar spent. The additional features of this no-annual-fee card may more than compensate for the lower rewards rate. For starters, this card includes cell phone insurance, which can save you hundreds — if not thousands — of money throughout your academic career.
Wells Fargo Cash Back College Card: Top-notch best credit cards for students
The problem of APR is significant because you will almost certainly have student debt after four years of college. When it comes to credit cards, the smaller the annual percentage rate, the better.
Your Wells Fargo base APR starts at 13 percent and rises to 23 percent. Unlike the other cards on this list.
The 2% may not seem like much, but it will mount up over four or more years in college — either to your favor or to your detriment.
Even better, you don’t need a decent credit score to be approved for the card. To acquire the card, you must first open a Wells Fargo bank account. It’s an intriguing card worth investigating.
Petal 2 Visa Credit Card
When it comes to approving applications, WebBank, which offers the Petal 2 Visa Credit Card, adopts an unconventional approach. Instead of relying solely on your FICO credit score to determine if you should be authorized for the card, Petal creates a “Cash Score” based on your banking history.
This takes your income, spending, and savings into account, so even if you’re a student with no income, your banking history can help you get approved.
Furthermore, you’ll also note that collecting rewards with this card is slightly different from what you’re used to. In addition, you’ll get 1% cashback on all purchases for the first several months. After six months of on-time payments, your rewards rate rises to 1.25 percent, and after 12 on-time payments, it rises to 1.5 percent.
Additionally, there are a few merchants where you can get 2% to 10% cashback. These bonus cashback chances are updated regularly and may be found in the Petal app. Customers will also appreciate the fact that there are no annual fees, late fees, or foreign transaction fees with this card.
Capital One Journey Students Rewards:
This is on the opposite end of the APR spectrum from Wells Fargo on this list. With a fixed APR of 26.99 percent, this card can get a student into serious trouble if they fail to keep a low balance on their card. Capital one journey students’ reward card is also one of the best credit cards for students.
So, why would you recommend it? First, there are a 1% flat rate rewards benefit, which can be increased to 1.25 percent later.
Furthermore, The Journey card keeps things easy, so you don’t have to worry about meeting spending restrictions or falling into the appropriate calendar quarter to obtain greater cashback benefits.
In addition, if you make your first five payments on time, you may be eligible for a credit limit increase, which is something that not all the cards on this list provide.
Citi Rewards+ Student Card:
Consider this Citibank card if you enjoy rewards programs and plan to use them in the long run. This is the first card on the list to give a signup bonus. Fifteen thousand bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days. It is also considered the best student credit card by students,
For the first 12 payment cycles, there is a 0% APR promotional offer, after which you will be charged the normal 15–25 percent APR. Those 15,000 points can go a long way toward future purchases at Amazon and Best Buy.
Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students:
The Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students may be the right solution if you don’t want to worry about bonus categories and want a more straightforward approach.
In addition, no matter what you buy with this card, you’ll get 1.5 points for every dollar you spend. This is greater than the regular 1% cashback, but you’ll miss out on certain other cards’ bonus categories, which may earn you up to 5 times more.
Furthermore, it’s also worth noting that, unlike some other cards on our list, the Bank of America Travel Rewards for Students pays out in points rather than cash. While you may always cash in your points, you will lose some.
Capital One Quicksilver Rewards for Students:
The Capital One Quicksilver Rewards for Students credit card is a new credit card that just went live, and it’s a great choice if you want simplicity and cashback on a card with no annual fee. Experts consider capital one credit card as the best credit card for students in 2021.
In addition, you’ll get an unlimited 1.5 percent cash back on everything you buy, the highest flat-rate cashback of the cards on our best credit cards for college students list.
Furthermore, one of the best things about Capital One credit cards, including the Capital One Quicksilver Rewards for Students, is to use a virtual card number to pay for all your online purchases.
Additionally, this extra layer of protection will keep your credit card safe, especially if you’re sharing a device with someone else.
Discover it, Student.
We’ll start with Discover’s Discover it Student credit card, which is an all-purpose card that should be ideal for students trying to get their credit foot in the door. Discover it the Student was also one of the best students’ credit cards in 2021.
Some website evaluations make a big deal about the balance transfer capability of this card. But for most first-year students, it’s a non-essential feature. Apart from the lack of a signup incentive, you can expect an APR of 15 to 25%, depending on your creditworthiness.
You must have a decent credit score. And discover offers 5% savings on their quarterly categories as normal. Discover will add $20 to your cashback bonus total if you achieve a 3.0 GPA by the end of the year.
Bank of America Cash Reward Credit Card for Students
The Bank of America Cash Rewards Credit Card for Students allows savvy college students to earn a lot of extra cash by earning 3% cash back in one of their favorite categories. Bank of American cash reward credit card is considered one of the best credit cards for students because of its numerous benefits.
Gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drugstores, and home improvement/furniture are among these categories. Furthermore, best of all, depending on your spending habits, you can change your category every month.
In addition, even on regular credit cards, this is a rare perk, so being able to maximize your cash back based on your spending habits is a huge plus. For example, if you have a month-long road trip planned, that would be the ideal time to switch your bonus category to gas and earn 3% cashback every time.
Discover it Chrome
This card is different from the one mentioned before in that it is designed to help students who spend a lot of money on petrol and eating out. The term “a lot” refers to around $330 each month, which may or may not be beneficial to some students.
The Discover Student card has the same APRs and GPA bonuses, but the big benefit is getting 2% cash back instead of 1% on all those gourmet outings.
Secured Mastercard from Capital One
If you can’t be approved for a student credit card designed for people with fair credit, a secured credit card like Capital One’s Secured Mastercard could be the answer. Although this card isn’t geared for students, there are no restrictions on who can apply. It was one of the best students’ credit cards in 2021.
Additionally, before using a secured credit card, you must first put down a cash deposit. The Secured Mastercard from Capital One has a $49, $99, or $200 refundable minimum-security deposit.
This ensures that the bank has your funds if you fall behind on any payments. The more money you put down as a security deposit, the larger your credit line will be.
Furthermore, once you’ve been approved for the card, you can recoup your initial deposit by acting responsibly, such as paying your bills on time.
Your account will be closely monitored, and the security deposit will be returned to you as a statement credit once the bank determines that your account is ready. Your security deposit will be refunded if you decide to close your account.
One more of the best credit cards for students is:
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Because some above cards demand a decent credit score, why not include a card that isn’t exactly a student card in the mix? If you qualify, Chase Freedom Unlimited will reward you with 3% cashback on all purchases for the first year. Chase Freedom Unlimited is also on the list of best credit cards for students in 2021.
One distinction is that the Chase card’s base APR starts at 17 percent. Another disadvantage is that your cashback incentive is reduced to 1.5 percent after the first year. You can take advantage of this situation by getting this Chase card for a year and then switching to a Discover card after that.