Credit Cards for College Students

No, there is no Amazon student credit card. The easiest Amazon credit card for students to get is the Amazon Store Card, which requires at least fair credit for approval. It gives 5% cash back on Amazon purchases to cardholders with a Prime membership. And there’s a special version of Amazon Prime for students, which costs $6.49 per month or $59 per year when paid upfront. That’s up to 50% less than the price of a regular Prime membership, with all the same benefits (you just can’t invite members of your household to share the membership). The first 6 months of Prime Student are a free trial too.

For students who buy a lot from Amazon, an Amazon Store Card plus a Prime Student membership could be a beneficial plan. If you have limited or no credit, however, you need to start somewhere. And the best student credit card for Amazon purchases is the Deserve Edu Mastercard for Students.

The Deserve Student Card only requires limited credit history, has no annual fee, and comes with a free 1-year Amazon Prime Student membership. Paired with Prime Student’s 6-month free trial, that’s a year and a half of free Amazon Prime. The card also offers 1% cash back on all purchases.

The easiest credit cards for students to get are student credit cards for applicants with limited or no credit history and secured credit cards, which are available to people with no credit or even bad credit. Since college students tend to have higher incomes in the long term, issuers are willing to extend them better offers than most people without established credit could get. Think of it as an investment in a student’s future financial needs, which could prove quite profitable for a bank that gets in on the ground floor.

The best student credit cards, including Capital One Journey and Bank of America’s student travel rewards card, will be easy to get as long as you’re enrolled in school and have at least a small income as well as a credit score that’s anything but bad. In fact, you can get them even if you don’t have a credit score yet because you’ve never had a loan or line of credit before. And if you do have bad credit, a secured card will still be pretty easy to get.

Here are some easy credit cards for students to get:

• Journey Student Rewards from Capital One: No annual fee or foreign transaction fee. 1% cash back on all purchases (1.25% when you pay your monthly bill on time). You can get this card with limited credit.
• Discover it chrome for Students: No annual fee or foreign transaction fee. 2% cash back on $1,000 spent on gas and dining at restaurants each quarter. 1% everywhere else. 1st year earnings matched. $20 bonus each year your GPA is 3.0+. You can get this card with limited credit.
• Bank of America Cash Rewards credit card for Students: No annual fee. 3% foreign transaction fee. $150 bonus when you apply online and spend $500 in the first 90 days. 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, plus 3% on gas (first $2,500 in combined purchases). 1% cash back on all other purchases. You can get this card with limited credit.
• Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card for Students: No annual fee or foreign transaction fee. 20,000 points when you apply online and spend $1,000 in the first 90 days. 1.5 points per $1 on all purchases. You can get this card with limited credit.
• Capital One Secured Mastercard: No annual fee and no foreign transaction fee. No rewards. Minimum security deposit of $49, $99, or $200. You can get this card with bad credit.
• Discover it Secured Card: No annual fee or foreign transaction fee. 2% cash back on $1,000 spent at restaurants and gas stations every three months. 1% on all other purchases. Discover matches all your cash back from the first year. You can get this card with bad credit.

The easiest credit cards for students to get allow young people to begin building credit before entering the real world. If you use your card responsibly and pay your bills on time, you should be able to get a better deal once you graduate. And that’s true whether you’re starting with a student credit card or a secured card.

A student credit card is a credit card branded specifically for use by college and graduate students with limited credit history or better. Student credit cards are easier to get than the average credit card, and they usually have $0 annual fees, rewards equal to at least 1% cash back on purchases, and minimum credit limits of $300 or so. Some student credit cards offer low introductory APRs, but the regular APRs on student credit cards tend to be above average.

Students generally have less credit history and less income than professionals and older adults. But students also come with assumed future earning potential, so credit card companies are more willing to approve a student with no credit history than a non-student newcomer. Student credit cards work just like regular credit cards, however, because they are regular credit cards. They’re just aimed at students.

Student credit cards can help students with fair, limited, or no credit build their credit history. The right student card can also teach responsible credit card habits to people who are new to the game. For example, some give bonus rewards for on-time bill payments and/or good grades.

You’ll need to be at least 18 years old to apply for a student credit card—or any credit card— on your own. If you’re under 21, you’ll need an independent income that the credit card company can verify. Income from even a part-time job will help your approval odds. And of course, you should be a student; you’ll most likely be asked about your school information on the application. Limited or no credit history usually is not an issue with student cards, but if you already have bad credit, you may not get approved. In that case, you may want to aim for a secured credit card, like the Discover it Secured card.

It’s important to remember that student credit cards are definitely real credit cards. Like all unsecured cards, you can get in over your head if you aren’t using it responsibly. And the higher APRs of student cards can be a big extra weight if you carry a balance.

The best international credit card for students is one that is good to use outside of the United States, whether you’re traveling or studying abroad. The best card should have, at the very least, no foreign transaction fee. This way, you will not be charged extra for purchases made in another country.

The card’s global acceptance should also be taken into account. Not all credit cards are accepted everywhere, and cards from some networks are accepted in more countries than others. Mastercard is tops, at 210 countries and territories, followed by Visa (200) and Discover (more than 180). American Express cards can be used in around 160 countries and territories.

Best international credit cards for students:

• Journey® Student Rewards from Capital One®
• Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students
• Deserve® Edu Mastercard for Students
• Capital One® Secured Mastercard®
• Discover it® Student chrome

It’s also important to note the difference between international credit cards for students and credit cards for international students. They’re basically the same in terms of functionality, but cards for international students aren’t just for U.S. citizens or people with a Social Security number.

Student credit card issuers do have different requirements. Some cards may require an SSN or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Others may accept just a student ID and/or a passport.

College students should have credit cards because it is the best way to begin building credit history. Simply owning a credit card account and keeping it in good standing can allow a student to go from having no credit at the start of college to fair credit or even good credit by graduation. As a result, responsible credit card use will give students a leg up when they enter the real world. Without a strong credit profile, students may have a difficult time renting an apartment, getting a car loan, finding cheap car insurance, and even landing a job.

Despite cautionary tales of student spending run amok, nearly half of all parents agree that college students should have their own credit cards. Roughly 40% of parents say young people should get their first credit card between the ages of 18 and 20, according to a WalletHub survey, while 7% say it’s good to have a card even earlier.

It’s actually a myth that college students can’t get credit cards. To qualify, you have to be at least 18 years old and demonstrate the ability to afford monthly bill payments. More specifically, anyone between the ages of 18 and 21 must prove their ability to independently pay back debt before they can own a credit card, per the Credit CARD Act of 2009.Or, an applicant may have a co-signer who is at least 21 years old. The cosigner would be financially liable for the account. Most credit card companies don’t allow co-signers anymore, though.

At the very least, college students should have a credit card as an authorized user on a parent’s account. You can build credit as an authorized user while the primary cardholder is responsible for making payments. The primary cardholder can also monitor the account. If there’s any sign of reckless card use, they can remove the authorized user at any time.

Missing payments and racking up debt are the biggest reasons people say not to get a credit card as a college student. But there are easy ways to minimize the risk while still reaping all the benefits. For example, you’ll be less likely to miss any due dates if you set up automatic payments from a bank account. You could also pay any annual fee the card may have and then lock the card away somewhere safe – to resist the temptation to overspend. You’ll still build credit that way.

Finally, it’s worth noting that if you wait until after college to get a credit card, you could be costing yourself when it comes it annual fees and rewards. Credit cards for college students tend to be a lot more attractive than other credit cards for people with limited or no credit.