so i remember back in college i didn't really pay attention to credit cards and i was just using a debit card for most of my spending but looking back on that i was definitely missing out because i could have been building my credit better while getting some other really nice benefits on a few great no annual fee student credit cards that are out there so that's why in this video we're gonna go over what i think are the six best credit cards for college students or anyone else that's currently getting some sort of an education now what i mainly looked for in these cards was that they had no annual fees since student credit cards are really geared towards beginners with limited income but i also focused on finding credit cards that earned above average cash back or rewards ones that had some sort of a sign up bonus or ones with some other notable benefit like no foreign transaction fees for those studying abroad and i even found one with no social security number required for international students studying here in the u.s that are looking for an entry into building credit so with all that said let's get right into it here make sure to go ahead and tap the like button and subscribe down below to help support the channel if you haven't already and if you're in college then go ahead and share this with your other college friends or if you're not in school then go pass it along to anyone else you might know that'll find this info useful but let's get started with credit card number one which is going to be the discover it student cashback now this card is an easy favorite among many people and not just college students since there's almost an identical regular non-student version of this card but the discover it student cashback is a powerful card and a pretty popular choice for starting your credit journey so this credit card has no annual fee and it's gonna get you five percent back in rotating quarterly categories that discover tells you about each year and for 2022 those categories are going to include things like grocery stores gas stations target restaurants paypal purchases amazon and purchases made with digital wallets too so that's a lot of options where most people spend a good amount of money which makes it pretty easy for the five percent cashback earned with this card to add up quickly now you are going to be limited to earning that five percent back on only up to fifteen hundred dollars of spending each quarter which would be about 75 dollars of cash back per quarter if you max that out but honestly as college students most of us know that we're not gonna have that much money to spend at that time in our life so i wouldn't worry about that limit and as a quick side note for this video if you are using credit cards as a college student this is a time where we have to be extremely careful about not overspending beyond what you can afford to pay back in full so as a general rule of thumb that i recommend here on my channel treat your credit card like a debit card and only use it if you already have the money set aside in a bank account to pay off your balance on time and in full each month don't spend money that you don't already have because then you'll carry a balance and pay high interest and really that just wipes out any of the benefits of earning the cash back in the first place so just be careful but back to the discover it student cash back card you'll also get one percent cash back on all other purchases outside of those rotating five percent categories and then the real power of the student credit card comes from the first year cash back match offer that they have basically whatever cash back you earn in that first year with this card discover is gonna match it dollar for dollar up to any amount so if you earn 250 in cash back in year one they're gonna match that with another 250 for a total of 500 cashback which means that effectively for your first year with this credit card when you include that match you're getting 10 back and rotating quarterly categories and 2 back on everything else now you won't get that match until the first whole year with this card is over for you but still that's huge especially compared to other credit cards out there that are aimed towards beginners that offer very little in rewards there's also no foreign transaction fees but unlike some other cards that we're gonna get to next year that are visa or mastercards discover sometimes is not accepted as widely outside of the us so just something to keep in mind now next let's move on to credit card number two and that is the capital one saver one student credit card so i think this is another really valuable no annual fee card especially for college students since it gets three percent cash back on dining entertainment popular streaming services and grocery stores which is a lot of categories where you're getting triple the normal one percent back that most basic credit cards have now you do also get that standard one percent cash back on all of the purchases outside of those specific categories plus as of the filming this video in august of 2022 there's a limited time 100 bonus after spending 100 on this card in the first three months of having it but even if you're watching this video later on and that sign up bonus isn't available i still think this is a really solid option as a student credit card also there's some other cool benefits like a temporary eight percent back through vivid seats until the end of january 2023 plus no foreign transaction fees as well and it is a mastercard now one last thing with those categories on the saver one student card where you earn three percent back on capital one's website you can find out exactly what types of purchases count for each category so for example with grocery stores that's going to exclude groceries bought at places like walmart and target but the good news is that with that dining category that'll cover a wide variety of places like cafes bars and fast food since those are probably favorites among most college students where you spend a lot of money already now moving on to the third best credit card for college students here we're just gonna stick with capital one for a minute with another popular card from them which is going to be the capital one quicksilver rewards for students card and really quickly this quicksilver card as well as the saver one card and some of the others in this video are also available as regular non-student versions with essentially the same benefits except with those regular credit cards there's usually gonna be better welcome bonuses or higher credit limits as well but the whole point with most student credit cards anyway is just to make them available to those that might not already have the highest credit score or the highest income just yet so for the capital one quicksilver student card this is a good one if you just want one solid card that'll earn you a flat 1.5 cashback on everything instead of having higher earning categories now you'll get a lot of the same things as that saver one card that we just went over like that limited time 100 welcome bonus after spending 100 bucks in three months again though that might not be available depending on when you're watching this but of course there's also no annual fees no foreign transaction fees and it's a mastercard as well and by the way all these cards that i'm talking about here have all those other basic credit card protections and benefits that come standard with most credit cards like zero liability protection purchase protection extended warranties and things like that so i really wish that i was using credit cards and not my debit card back in college because some of those protections would have been really nice to have now there's not much else to the capital one quicksilver since it just earns a flat 1.5 cashback on everything but again i think it's a solid card if you're spending in many different categories or if you just don't want to keep track of several credit cards and where to use them then next for these last three student credit cards i've got one that would have been my favorite when i was in college back in the day at penn state one that's good for international students and one that's just okay but it can be really good for your credit card strategy after college so let's start with that one at number four which is the no annual fee chase freedom student credit card so to be honest this card from chase is really really basic with not too much going on it's definitely not a bad card but it's only earning one percent back on all purchases which is the bare minimum for any credit card so it's nothing amazing now there is a 50 welcome bonus after you make your first purchase with this card which is cool because you could just go ahead and buy a chipotle burrito or something small and get a nice 50 back but you do also get a 20 bonus for good standing rewards each year that your account is open so an extra 20 bucks for college students is great and i know it would have been great for me to get like 20 slices over at canyon pizza over the course of a semester at penn state if the prices haven't gone up with inflation and by the way with that penn state shout out anyone watching this that goes to school there go follow me over on instagram or send me a dm and i'll follow you back for that alumni connection but for the chase freedom student card the real benefit here is going to be two things number one is that you're earning chase ultimate rewards points for all these bonuses and the one percent earnings so that 50 bonus is really in the form of 5 000 chase points that you can convert to 50 and number two is that you're starting to develop a relationship with chase which is actually really important for getting some other good credit cards later on in college or after college so chase has some of the best credit cards out there when it comes to earning points for travel and i've made plenty of other videos about that here on my channel that i'll link to down below but they can also be a little challenging for some people to get approved for if you don't already have a relationship with them from banking or a student credit card like this one plus with those points that you're earning on the freedom student card you could actually save them up and then combine them with a card later on like the chase sapphire preferred and then you can redeem those points for even more value towards travel with that card again that's too much info to get into here so go subscribe down below to learn how to do that but the only real downside to this card that is a visa card is that there's gonna be a foreign transaction fee of three percent so that makes it not a good option for anyone studying abroad then next for credit card number five this is gonna be that international student option if you're having trouble getting started with credit cards here in the us without a social security number and that is going to be the no annual fee deserve edu mastercard for students so this card also only gets one percent cash back on all purchases there's a few benefits that made me mention it here in this video first of all there's an amazon prime credit available for one year after you first spend 500 on this card within the first three months of getting it and this amazon prime credit is worth up to 69 which currently is the exact cost of one year of amazon prime student membership so that's gonna be your best use of this credit but if for some reason you opted for the monthly student prime membership instead then that's gonna cost you 749 per month which this card will then reimburse you for but the credit only works on up to 69 total anyway so at 749 per month that's only gonna cover you for a little over nine months there's also a cell phone protection benefit that covers damage or theft on up to six hundred dollars per claim and one thousand dollars per 12 month period after a 50 deductible that's a nice thing to have as well but the real important benefits on this credit card are directed towards international students studying here in the u.s since there are no requirements for a social security number to apply and then you also have no foreign transaction fees so you can travel back to your home country and then use this card without having to worry about that so you'll build your credit here in the us and get some nice benefits as well like the amazon prime credit even though the cashback isn't great but to me this would be a good option if i was an international student and finally for credit card number six on this list that i think is a really great option and kind of unique compared to some of the others that we've talked about so far and that is the no annual fee bank of america customized cash rewards credit card for students so the reason this one is unique is because it actually gives you as the card holder a bit of flexibility in deciding how you want to earn with its top 3 cashback category and the way this works is that you get three percent cash back in one of six categories that you can choose from which are gas online shopping dining travel drug stores and home improvement and furnishings so for me the most interesting category that i think people might want to choose is going to be online shopping since that's going to apply to a huge number of places where you'll be able to earn three percent back and also you can change that three percent category once per calendar month but it's gonna be set to gas by default then on top of that you also get two percent cash back on both grocery stores and wholesale clubs plus one percent back on all other purchases now the only limitation is that you're only getting three percent back and two percent back on up to 2500 in spending each quarter in combined spending of your choice category grocery stores and wholesale clubs but then that one percent back on all other purchases is unlimited this customized cash reward student card also comes with the largest welcome bonus out of all the credit cards we talked about in this video with a 200 cash rewards offer after spending a thousand dollars in the first 90 days of account opening so that's a bit of a higher minimum spend if you are a student but with book purchases and some other supplies i'm sure you could hit it and then the last thing to note with this visa card is that there is a three percent foreign transaction fee so again not a good option to use outside of the us now most of these cards should be pretty easy to qualify for as a student where your credit score isn't too high just yet so i'm gonna have a link down below where you can check out a few of the best student credit card offers going on right now if you want to learn more also even though everyone's approval odds will vary if you're having trouble getting approved for any one of these then what you might want to consider starting out with is a secured credit card first and since you're likely going to be a beginner when you get any type of a secured or student card you'll want to make sure that you don't use these credit cards the wrong way so make sure you go ahead and check out this video over here next on the five lessons credit card beginners need to learn because i'll explain some key concepts that you have to know but as always thank you so much for watching and i'll see you in the next one