Credit Cards for College Students and Lower Spending

[Cwadda]

Hi Folks,

There is a credit card recommendation page on the MMM website. The purpose of this topic is to bring to light any credit cards that may benefit students, young adults, and other people who have pretty low spending. Many credit cards require spending of $3-4k in a few months to get the bonuses. There are a few, however, that have lower spending requirements. It's important to build credit in the early years, and some cards have some pretty sweet bonuses (free money) - so why not take advantage of the opportunities!

Chase Freedom (link here)
No annual fee. $100 bonus after spending $500 in three months. 5% cash back on up to $1500 per quarter on alternating categories, 1% back on all other purchases.

Examples of 5% categories
January-March: Groceries, Starbucks, and movie theaters
March-June: Restaurants, Overstock.com, H&M, and Bed Bath & Beyond


Bank of America Cash Rewards (link here)
No annual fee. $100 bonus after spending $500 in three months. 3% cash back on groceries, 2% on gas, and 1% on everything else. Also, if you deposit the rewards into a Bank of America checking or savings account, you get an additional 10% on those rewards. This effectively makes the bonus $110, 3.3% back on groceries, 2.2% on gas, and 1.1% on everything else. Bank of America offers free checking to students!


Citi Double Cash (link here)
No annual fee. 1% cash back on all purchases plus another 1% when you pay the card off. 2% cash back with an incentive to pay off the card in full balance. Set this baby on autopay and you're good to go.


Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express (link here)
No annual fee. Spend $1000 in 3 months to receive $100 cash back. Earn Cash Back: 3% US supermarkets up to $6,000 per year in purchases, 2% at US gas stations & select US dept stores, 1% on other purchases.


Sallie Mae Mastercard (link here)
No annual fee. $25 signup bonus. 5% back on the first $250/250/750 on gas/groceries/bookstores per month. Amazon counts as a bookstore (aside from digital purchases, which includes, ironically, Kindle books). 1% back on everything else. This card does does not require a loan with Sallie Mae. You can redeem points for a statement credit.

[Cwadda]

Hopefully folks have some more cards to add!

[johnny847]

Sallie Mae Mastercard
No annual fee
$25 signup bonus
5% back on the first $250/250/750 on gas/groceries/bookstores per month. Amazon counts as a bookstore (aside from digital purchases, which includes, ironically, Kindle books)
1% on everything else
Does not require a loan with Sallie Mae. You can redeem points for a statement credit.

There's a whole bunch of other cards that are great, but I don't think they're all that appropriate for this list.

[kpd905]

Maybe try to wait for the Chase Freedom to bring back the $200 bonus if possible.  A $200 bonus for $500 spend if awesome.  And I think they give you $25 for adding an authorized user.

[College Stash]

Any recommendation for getting a credit card as a college student without a credit score?

[MDM]

Any recommendation for getting a credit card as a college student without a credit score?

Have a parent be joint on the card.  That's what we did with our students, via our local credit union.  Set it up to auto-pay the full balance from the student's checking account, with the understanding that there would not be any late payments.  Never have had a problem. 

As they develop their own income, they are getting their own cards and have a good payment history in hand.

[vhalros]

> Any recommendation for getting a credit card as a college student without a credit score?

Would it be possible to get a secured credit card and build up your credit that way? The limit would be low, but presumably they don't care that much about your credit history when it is secured.

Although when I went to college, I didn't have to do anything, they were practically handing out credit cards to students. I guess they assumed they would get loyal and financial naive customers that way.

[johnny847]

> Any recommendation for getting a credit card as a college student without a credit score?

Would it be possible to get a secured credit card and build up your credit that way? The limit would be low, but presumably they don't care that much about your credit history when it is secured.

Yup. That'd how I started out. Bank of America didn't even do a hard pull for my secured credit card app.

By the way, I only got that first card September 2013. I now have 9 cards, of which I got juicy signup bonuses for five of them. So for those of you starting out and looking to start churning it doesn't take long for you to be able to do that. It's highly recommended that you establish at least six months of on time payments first though before you try to get better cards.

[Cwadda]

Any recommendation for getting a credit card as a college student without a credit score?

Personally I just applied for one without much credit. The only thing I had going for me was a FAFSA student loan. I was accepted almost instantly though. They will most likely give you a pretty low credit line - I started with $900. But the newest card I got gave me a $2500 credit line after just 1 year of credit. Also my credit line on my first card went up to $2000ish.

Thanks for the responses; I will had them to the OP.

[Cwadda]

Maybe try to wait for the Chase Freedom to bring back the $200 bonus if possible.  A $200 bonus for $500 spend if awesome.  And I think they give you $25 for adding an authorized user.

When's the last time this was being offered?

[johnny847]

Maybe try to wait for the Chase Freedom to bring back the $200 bonus if possible.  A $200 bonus for $500 spend if awesome.  And I think they give you $25 for adding an authorized user.

When's the last time this was being offered?

December of last year.

[Cwadda]

Right now there's a deal going for the Chase Freedom card. Referral gets you $50. I might do this with some friends and split $25 each. I believe the referral deadline is May 15th.

[sheepstache]

Great idea for a thread!

http://www.tdbank.com/personalcreditcard/cashrewardscard.html
The TD Cash Rewards card is offering $200 bonus for spending $1500 in the first 90 days. However, I got an offer in the mail that gives you the bonus for spending only $500. So I don't know if people can google around or if they might be successful calling TD and asking for the deal.

You also get 5% back for the first 6 billing cycles on gas, groceries, restaurants, and utilities up to $1500 (or $450 cash back). After the limit is reached / after the first 6 billing cycles it's back to 1%.

[nellebird]

Does anyone know of the Sallie mae card counts towards Ebay purchases as books? I do a lot of buying and selling as a side hustle on ebay. It'd be great to get cash back for the books I buy.

[nanu]

Does anyone know of the Sallie mae card counts towards Ebay purchases as books? I do a lot of buying and selling as a side hustle on ebay. It'd be great to get cash back for the books I buy.

I doubt it (though I haven't tried). However, you can always find ebay gift cards somewhere else (not Amazon unfortunately, but many grocery stores stock ebay gift cards) and then just use those. I do that all the time (also Target.com is currently running a sale on $50 and $25 ebay GC [used to have on $100 GC, but I don't see those anymore] and you can get an even larger discount by using a Target Redcard if you have one).

And while I'm here, the Discover It card has 5% rotating categories and 1% back on everything else (pretty much like the Freedom) - categories for next quarter for example are Amazon, Department Stores, and Clothing stores.
Not only that, but there's currently a promotion going on that at the end of the first year they will double all the cash back you received during the first year - essentially making the card a 10% back on the rotating categories and 2% back on everything else for one full year!
I believe the best sign up bonus they offer is $50 back after first purchase, which you can also get through my referral link: http://bit.ly/1PrKXXK (you don't actually have to be a student to apply)

[nellebird]

So I'd use the credit card and just buy ebay gift cards at whatever store will qualify for the 2% cash back at the time?

I'm not sure I'm organized enough yet for rotating categories.

[nanu]

So I'd use the credit card and just buy ebay gift cards at whatever store will qualify for the 2% cash back at the time?

I'm not sure I'm organized enough yet for rotating categories.

Well, 2% cash back is the absolute minimum that you should always get because some cards offer that without any annual fee or category restrictions  (Citi Double Cash, Amex Fidelity).
If you get the Discover It card you'll get 2% back on everything and an extra 8% (so 10% total) on the rotating categories for the first year.

But if specifically you're trying to buy ebay gift cards at a discount, I would figure out where can you buy ebay giftcards (Target is one example, a grocery store near you might be another), and then just find a card that gives you 5% back there.
For example, if you want to buy them at Target, you can get the Target Redcard (a prepaid card, not a credit card, so it works differently, but you get 5% off at Target), and if you want to buy them at a grocery store you could get the Sallie Mae card (5% back on the first $250/$250/$750 spent at grocery stores/gas stations/book stores (Amazon included) per month).

[FreedomInc]

Sallie Mae Mastercard
No annual fee
$25 signup bonus
5% back on the first $250/250/750 on gas/groceries/bookstores per month. Amazon counts as a bookstore (aside from digital purchases, which includes, ironically, Kindle books)
1% on everything else
Does not require a loan with Sallie Mae. You can redeem points for a statement credit.

There's a whole bunch of other cards that are great, but I don't think they're all that appropriate for this list.

Just FYI, I don't think this card exists anymore. It was kind of too good to be true (5% on amazon and groceries and gas!!??) so I think they replaced it with the upromise card which is significantly worse, and honestly not worth your time.

https://www.salliemae.com/credit-cards/upromise-card/

[johnny847]

Sallie Mae Mastercard
No annual fee
$25 signup bonus
5% back on the first $250/250/750 on gas/groceries/bookstores per month. Amazon counts as a bookstore (aside from digital purchases, which includes, ironically, Kindle books)
1% on everything else
Does not require a loan with Sallie Mae. You can redeem points for a statement credit.

There's a whole bunch of other cards that are great, but I don't think they're all that appropriate for this list.

Just FYI, I don't think this card exists anymore. It was kind of too good to be true (5% on amazon and groceries and gas!!??) so I think they replaced it with the upromise card which is significantly worse, and honestly not worth your time.

https://www.salliemae.com/credit-cards/upromise-card/

I've still got the card and it's still earning 5% on gas/groceries/bookstores. It is not, however, open to new customers.

There are rumors going around that the awards system will be changing for current cardholders.

[JimLahey]

Sallie Mae Mastercard
No annual fee
$25 signup bonus
5% back on the first $250/250/750 on gas/groceries/bookstores per month. Amazon counts as a bookstore (aside from digital purchases, which includes, ironically, Kindle books)
1% on everything else
Does not require a loan with Sallie Mae. You can redeem points for a statement credit.

There's a whole bunch of other cards that are great, but I don't think they're all that appropriate for this list.

Just FYI, I don't think this card exists anymore. It was kind of too good to be true (5% on amazon and groceries and gas!!??) so I think they replaced it with the upromise card which is significantly worse, and honestly not worth your time.

https://www.salliemae.com/credit-cards/upromise-card/

I've still got the card and it's still earning 5% on gas/groceries/bookstores. It is not, however, open to new customers.

There are rumors going around that the awards system will be changing for current cardholders.

My Amex BCE will get more use once that happens. Combined with the 5% on gas for Discover. 10% if you factor in the double cash back promo.