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 best secured credit card for students is Discover it Secured, as it adds 1%-2% cash back rewards on top of no annual or foreign transaction fees. There aren’t any secured cards that are specifically for students, but students can definitely qualify for any of them. Secured cards are best for students with bad credit or those under the age of 21 who don’t have independent income. Students with limited or no credit history can get unsecured student credit cards with much better terms, as long as they have a bit of their own money saved up. Capital One Journey Student Rewards and Discover it Chrome for Students are two of the best options.

Here are the best secured credit cards for students:

• Best for everyday rewards: Discover it Secured
  2% cash back on $1,000 spent per quarter at restaurants and gas stations. 1% back on everything else. Double rewards the first year. Minimum deposit of $200. No annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
• Best for students tight on cash: Capital One Secured Mastercard
  No rewards. Minimum deposit of $49, $99, or $200 depending on your credit. $200 limit. No annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
• Best for study abroad & spring break: AeroMexico Secured Visa
  3,500 bonus miles and a companion certificate for using your card once. 2 miles per $1 spent on gas and groceries (1 point per $1 on everything else). Companion certificate each account anniversary. Free baggage on AeroMexico flights. $300 minimum deposit. $25 annual fee.
• Easiest approval: OpenSky Secured Visa
  No rewards. No credit check. $35 annual fee. $200 minimum deposit.

If you’re a student with bad credit, a secured card is right for you. But if you have limited credit or better, there are plenty of unsecured student credit cards you can get that will pay you, rather than the other way around.

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.

Bank of America has three student credit cards: The Cash Rewards, Travel Rewards and BankAmerica cards for students. Its requirements are that you must be a student, at least 18 years old, and a U.S. citizen. A valid Social Security Number is required to verify citizenship. You must also consent to letting Bank of America obtain a copy of your credit report and your employment history.

While all three Bank of America student credit cards have the same requirements, each offers its own unique package of perks and benefits. The drawback is that you’ll start out with a high interest rate and a low credit limit. Bank of America does not charge an annual fee for its student cards.

The student Cash Rewards card offers a $200 cash bonus when you spend at least $500 in the first 90 days, and 2% cash back on grocery store and wholesale club purchases. The Travel Rewards card earns you 25,000 bonus points (worth a $250 travel credit) when you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days, and 1.5% cash back on all purchases. The BankAmericard for Students has a 0% APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers.

For the age requirement, If you are under 21 years old, there are additional mandates that must be met under the Credit CARD Act of 2009. The law requires that you either provide proof of income sufficient enough to make at least the minimum payment due each month, or have an adult 21 years or older co-sign the application for you. If you are a student 21 or older, you will still need to provide proof of income and provide all sources of that income.

To meet the student requirement, you should have a valid Student ID and an active college e-mail address. A physical address, not a P.O. Box, is also required. If you’re living in a dorm, you can enter the dorm’s street address on the application, but you’ll need to include a campus box number.

Student credit cards are fairly easy to get, as they are targeted to students with limited or no credit. You’ll likely qualify for a student card when you wouldn’t normally be approved for a general credit card, and you’ll be well on your way to building a positive credit profile. However, if there are negative entries on your credit card such as delinquent payments or defaults on credit accounts, you’re not likely to be approved.

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 Chase student credit card limit has not been made public, but the Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited credit cards have limits of $500 or more. It's possible that the Chase Freedom Student card limit starts at the same level, though a Chase spokesperson has noted the card will have a "low credit limit." And cardholders who make 5 on-time payments in the first 10 months will be rewarded with an automatic credit limit increase, which is good news for students, though the terms stipulate that an actual payment must be made (i.e. you can't simply not use the card and qualify for a limit increase).

The Chase Freedom Student card is the only student credit card currently offered by Chase. It comes with no annual fee, a $20 annual credit for keeping the account in good standing, 1% cash back on all purchases, a low regular APR, and a $50 signup bonus. To apply for this card, you'll have to visit a Chase branch in person.

There is a student credit card available with no credit check: the OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card. It's rare to find a credit card offering that doesn't check your credit report, even among secured credit cards, but the OpenSky Secured Visa card fits that bill. All the issuer needs is to verify your identity, and you'll be approved. However, it is a secured card, which means you'll need to put down a refundable deposit (OpenSky requires $200 minimum). The deposit becomes your credit limit. A secured card is great for rebuilding bad credit, because it reports to credit bureaus like any other card, but won't allow you to go into more debt than your initial deposit.

There is a price to pay for a credit card that won't check your credit report: a $35 annual fee. It's not outrageous in terms of annual fees, but it's more expensive than many other student credit cards. If you're worried you'll get denied for a credit card because you have limited credit history, you might be surprised at the student cards you'll qualify for, even with no credit. You might consider skipping the secured card route to apply for a student card, with the possibility of saving yourself an annual fee.

It's hard to say what a student credit card's credit limit will be without knowing an applicant's personal credit history, because that's what credit limits are based on. Credit card companies don't usually make maximum credit limits public. But they do sometimes have a minimum credit limit in their terms and conditions, or a customer service representative may tell you if you ask. No matter how you go looking for a student credit card limit, know that the most accurate information will come from the card company itself after you apply for the card.

Here are a few student credit card minimum credit limits: The minimum credit line for all of Bank of America's student credit cards is $500, according to BofA's customer service. The lowest limit you'll get with the Capital One Journey Student Credit Card is $300, according to the card's terms and conditions. The Discover it Student Cash Back card's minimum credit line is $500, according to WalletHub.

To do a student credit card balance transfer, you'll want to find a credit card with a good deal on balance transfers, then do some math to make sure the transfer will save you money in the long run. That means looking at 3 things: your current card's APR, the new card's balance transfer fees, and the new card's APR. Some cards have 0% APR on balance transfers for a period of time, but they'll charge you a percentage of the balance as a fee. Balance transfer fees go as high as 5% on some cards, which can get expensive, and might make the transfer a bad idea.

But there are great deals out there, even for college students. For example, the BankAmericard Credit Card for Students has no balance transfer fee for the first 60 days, and 0% APR on balance transfers for 15 months. Granted you transfer your balance within 60 days, you're virtually guaranteed to benefit financially from a balance transfer to this card, because there is no fee or APR, and whatever credit card you're transferring from will most certainly have a higher APR than 0%.

The top student credit card benefits are rewards in important spending categories for students and 0% APR periods. College students in the U.S. spend a whopping $11 billion per year on food, which means student credit cards with dining or grocery store rewards categories will benefit college students in a big way. The same goes for rewards on gas—the average college student spends between $1,000 and $5,000 on gas annually. About 75% of college students use credit cards, and many carry a balance from month to month, so a student card with a long 0% intro APR period could be a godsend to a student eager to pay off a lingering debt.

The Bank of America Cash Rewards card for Students seems to hit all of those notes. It offers 3% cash back in a chosen category—gas and dining are two options—and 2% back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs. The card has 0% APR for 15 months, and a $200 bonus for spending $1,000 in 90 days.

Cash back for good grades and rewards for paying your bill on time are perks, but in the long run, students will find ongoing rewards and lower APRs far more beneficial.