Growing up means starting to think about finances. As much as it pains everyone, it is necessary to think and discuss to ensure you make the most informed financial decisions. One of the major financial decisions to make in college is taking out a credit card. Credit cards are an excellent way to start building your credit. On the other hand, it is important to be aware that if handled irresponsibly, it can badly damage your credit score. So, it is essential to consider all the different factors that go into having a credit card and deciding which one is best for you. Here is a few credit cards that could be best suited for you depending on what you are looking for.
Discover Student Credit Card
Discover offers a student credit card for college students trying to build their credit. This card provides six months with no APR or annual fees, no foreign fees, and contains different cashback reward options. After the six-month 0% APR introduction, it will be established between 15.99% to 24.99%. Discover gives you 5% cashback on everyday purchases such as groceries, Amazon purchases, restaurants, and gas. You can also earn an unlimited 1% on all other purchases automatically. This card is convenient if you are interested in using it for daily purchases such as groceries and gas. As a college student, receiving cashback will be nice.
Chase Freedom Student Credit Card
This card is brand new for Chase. With its solid rewards program, this card has no annual or foreign fees and offers everyday cashback rewards. Using this card will allow you to earn 1% cashback on all purchases, which will never expire. There is also a welcome offer for new cardholders that will earn them a $50 bonus after the first purchase is made within the first three months of opening the account.
CAPITAL One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card
Made just for students, the Capital One student credit card is a new version of one of their already-established rewards cards. This one offers no annual fees, no foreign fees, and a 1.5% cash back on every purchase. It also provides a 5% cashback on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. There are no limits to how much you can earn. This card is suitable for those who travel back and forth a lot and will make use of the travel cashback offers.
Discover it Miles Card
The Discover it Miles card is perfect for those interested in receiving travel rewards. This card can be beneficial for those who travel between school and their home or for trips or vacations. This card has no annual fee, and it has a miles-for-miles match. This means that at the end of your first year, Discover will give an unlimited match of all the miles you’ve earned. For example, if at the end of your first year you earned 35,000 miles, then you will get 70,000 miles thanks to Discover’s Miles for Miles Match program. Automatically you will earn an unlimited 1.5x miles on every dollar of every purchase. You will also get 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases, which will later be between 14.99% – 25.99% APR.
The cards listed work great for college students starting to build their credit. All of the cards listed have no annual fees. This is a bonus to not worry about paying for the credit card annually. If you decide to look into other cards not listed, look more closely at those annual fees and see if the benefits outweigh the fee. If they do, apply for the best card that fits your needs. But if the cards without annual fees give you everything you want, then there is no need to add a fee. Another thing to look into is the APR. Some of the cards listed offer a 0% intro APR for a limited time. While this is beneficial, not all cards offer that. Once again, you will have to weigh the odds as to which card benefits you and your needs more. Taking out a credit card is a huge responsibility and must be taken care of, or this could damage your efforts to build your credit.