What are some good starter credit cards for students?

The best first credit card is Discover it® Secured because it offers 2% cash back on the first $1,000 spent per quarter at gas stations and restaurants and 1% everywhere else. Those are the best rewards you’ll find on any credit card for first-timers. Plus, Discover will match all the rewards earned during the first year on the first account anniversary. Discover it Secured has a $0 annual fee, but it does require a refundable $200+ security deposit to open the account. The credit limit is equal to the amount of the deposit, up to $2,500. … read full answer

If you’d rather not put down a deposit, there are some good unsecured first-time credit card offers as well.

Best for no deposit: Capital One Platinum Credit Card is the best unsecured credit card for first-timers because it has a $0 annual fee. The downside is that Capital One Platinum does not provide rewards.

Best for rewards with no deposit: Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases but has a $39 annual fee.

Like all Capital One cards, both of those options do not charge foreign transaction fees. Some of the best first credit cards are targeted specifically toward students. Only people enrolled in school can get them, but they provide some of the best terms and rewards.

Best for students: Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students is the best credit card for first-timers who are still in school in large part because it offers a bonus of 25,000 points for spending $1,000 in the first 90 days. It also gives 3 points / $1 spent at the BofA Travel Center and 1.5 points / $1 everywhere else. To top it off, the annual fee is $0.

Even if you’ve never had a credit card before and don’t have a credit history, you should have high chances to qualify for any of these cards if you have an income.

The easiest unsecured card to get is the Fingerhut Credit Account. But it won’t suit everyone’s needs. Fingerhut is an online marketplace, and its card can only be used to make purchases on the site. So while it will give you an unsecured line of credit, it won’t really help you cover emergency expenses.… read full answer

If you’re looking for a card that can be used for anything, the Credit One Bank® Visa® Credit Card is your best bet. You can get approved for it with bad credit. It offers a $300 starting spending limit. And you can use it wherever Visa is accepted.

Those aren’t your only options, though. WalletHub’s editors compared all of the unsecured credit cards in our database of 1,000+ offers. And we selected our favorite easy-to-get offers.

Easiest Unsecured Credit Card to Get Approved For

• Fingerhut Credit Account: Overall
• Credit One Bank® Visa® Credit Card: Rewards
• Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business: Small Business
• Petal® 2 Visa® Credit Card: Limited Credit
• Deserve® EDU Mastercard for Students: Students

The easiest unsecured credit cards to get generally work best for minor emergencies. You will only receive a small amount of spending power, after all.

Unsecured credit cards for people with bad credit also tend to be very expensive, charging lots of fees and high interest rates. So if you don’t need a small emergency loan, the best course of action is to improve your credit inexpensively with a secured card. Secured cards are cheaper than unsecured cards, build credit just as effectively, and offer the closest thing you’ll find to guaranteed approval.

To learn more, check out WalletHub's complete list of the year’s easiest credit cards to get approved for​.