As a college student one great way to start building your credit early is by getting a student credit card. When used the right way, a credit card can help you build credit, earn some cool rewards, set you up for success, and develop smart money habits. But with so many options out there, how do you pick the best one? Here’s a rundown of some of the top student credit cards that make it easy to get started.
1. Discover It® Student Cash Back
- Rewards: 5% cash back on rotating categories (up to a quarterly max, then 1%) and 1% on everything else.
- Intro Offer: They’ll match all the cashback you earn in your first year.
- Credit-Building Features: Free FICO® credit score access and no penalty for your first late payment.
- Annual Fee: $0
- Link: https://www.discover.com/products/student-it
2. Chase Freedom® Rise
- Rewards: 1.5% cashback on all purchases.
- Intro Offer: Earn $25 statement credit when you sign up for automatic payments within the first three months of opening your account.
- Credit-Building Features: You will be automatically evaluated each year to upgrade to your first Chase Freedom Unlimited card when: Your Freedom Rise account is open and you’ve made a purchase on your Rise card the past 12 months or you’ve made all payments on time to all financial lenders in the past 12 months, and none of your Chase accounts are suspended.
- Annual Fee: $0
- Link: https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/freedom/rise
3. Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card
- Rewards: 1.5% unlimited cash back on all purchases.
- Intro Offer: No intro bonus, but solid cashback makes up for it.
- Credit-Building Features: Access to Capital One’s CreditWise tool to monitor your credit.
- Annual Fee: $0
- Link: https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/quicksilver-student
4. Bank of America® Travel Rewards
- Rewards: 1.5 points per dollar spent on all purchases, redeemable for travel.
- Intro Offer: 25,000 bonus points if you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days.
- Credit-Building Features: Free FICO® Score updates.
- Annual Fee: $0
- Link: https://secure.bankofamerica.com/apply-credit-cards/public/icai-single/#/info/
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