College Credit Cards

College credit cards are designed specifically with college students like you in mind — these cards typically don’t charge you an annual fee, and they usually offer student-friendly perks like the chance to earn rebates on gas, books, movie tickets, and MP3s. Some college credit cards will even reward you for keeping a good GPA.

A credit card can be a good backup to have in case of a financial emergency, and student credit cards offer you a way to start building a solid credit history.

Discover Student Credit Cards*

College student credit cards from Discover offer low rates, cash rewards, and great benefits:

• $0 annual fee
• 0% introductory rate for the first six months
• 5% cash-back bonus on purchases in special categories like gas, groceries, and restaurants
• 1% unlimited cash-back bonus on all other purchases
• Up to 20% cash-back bonus when you use ShopDiscover, Discover’s exclusive online mall, to shop top online retailers like iTunes, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Patagonia, Macy’s, Under Armour, and The Body Shop

Discover’s student credit cards also make it easy to customize the look of your card and manage your account from virtually anywhere for the utmost in both style and convenience.

• Choose from over 150 unique card designs to get the perfect card that fits your style and personality.
• Get automatic e-mail and mobile alerts to let you know if you’re nearing your credit limit or remind you when your payment is due.
• Leave the hassle behind with easy online account access, paperless statements, and free online financial tools to help you track and analyze your spending.
• Manage your account on the go from your cell phone with Discover.com Mobile.

Discover Student Credit Card

How to Use Your Student Credit Cards to Build Your Credit

Using your college credit cards responsibly — paying your monthly bills on time, not going over your credit limit — can help you build a good credit history with a solid credit score.

Smart use of your card can also pay off in other ways: Some student credit cards will reward you with a rate reduction or rebate points once you’ve established a pattern of making on-time payments and staying within your credit limit.

5 Credit-Building Tips for College Students

To help you earn those incentives and build a strong credit history, here are five simple tips for managing your student credit cards and student credit card applications:

1. Don’t go college-credit-card crazy. Avoid applying for multiple college credit cards, especially all at once. A flurry of multiple applications for credit within a short period of time can have a negative impact on your credit score. Each student credit card application you fill out results in a credit inquiry, which affects your credit score. Limit yourself to one or two student credit cards. If you end up cancelling a card and need to apply for a different one, try to leave at least six months between credit card applications.
2. Don’t play the revolving-credit-card game. Many student credit cards offer introductory rates, incentives, and bonus points, and you may be tempted to just keep taking advantage of these introductory offers over and over — getting new college credit cards, cancelling them after the intro period, opening new ones, cancelling those, and so on. Don’t do it.Besides the fact that those multiple student credit card applications can hurt your credit (see # 1), length of credit also counts toward your credit score. The length of your credit history makes up 15 percent of your FICO score. If you keep closing your credit card accounts soon after you’ve opened them, you’re not establishing any length of credit history. You want to try to find at least one credit card that you can keep open for a long time to come.
3. Avoid maxing out your credit cards. The amounts you owe on your college credit cards count for 30 percent of your FICO score. Your credit score doesn’t just reflect whether or not you pay on time, but how you use the credit you have available to you. Consistently maxing out your student credit cards to their limits can hurt your credit (it’s considered a risky behavior), even if you’re paying off your balances in full and on time each month.
4. Keep your outstanding balances low or paid off completely. The best way to manage your credit card debt is to pay off your card balances in full each month. That way, you’re not paying anything extra in interest charges. If you must carry a balance forward, try to make sure it’s less than one-third of your available credit. Carrying a high balance relative to your credit limit, even if you’re making your minimum payments on time each month, can hurt your credit score — the balances you carry forward on your student credit cards are part of that 30 percent of your FICO score that takes amounts owed into account.
5. Pay your credit card bills on time each month. This one may sound like a no-brainer, but when you’re juggling deadlines for essays, exams, lab projects, and term papers, it’s easy to lose track of what needs to get paid when. And even though a missed payment here and there may not seem like a huge deal to you right now, late payments can tank your credit score — a missed payment can stay on your credit report for up to seven years, even if you get caught up the next month. Late payments will also cost you in sizable late fees and higher, penalty interest rates. To help avoid missing your payment dates and racking up late fees and extra interest, sign up for text or e-mail alerts that can remind you when your payment is due. Or better yet, set up automatic payments so you always stay on time.

The Credit CARD Act of 2009: What it means for you

For a long time, a lot of the advice on credit cards, especially credit cards for college students, has revolved around making sure you uncover what all the hidden catches are, from sky-high interest rates after your introductory period to double-cycle billing (where you’re charged interest on your previous month’s balance even if you’ve paid it off).

The new credit card legislation just signed into law by President Obama in May 2009 — the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act — is intended to help make a card company’s guidelines easier to understand and will make it harder for credit card companies to bury critical details in the fine print. In general, these new regulations, which are scheduled to go into effect in February 2010, will make it harder for credit card companies to surprise you with sudden rate increases and hefty fees.

Highlights of the Credit CARD Act

Here are just a few of the key provisions of the Credit CARD Act that will help protect you as a holder of student credit cards:

• Introductory promotional interest rates must remain in place for at least six months.
• A card issuer may not raise your standard interest rate within the first 12 months.
• A card issuer must give you 45 days’ notice before making significant changes to the terms of your credit card — this includes the benefits and rewards system of any reward-type student credit cards.
• Credit card companies may no longer charge you penalty fees for going over your credit limit unless you’ve specifically agreed beforehand to be allowed to spend over your limit. If you don’t opt in to over-limit spending, any charges you try to make that would put you over your credit limit will come back as denied transactions, preventing you from incurring automatic over-limit penalties.

New Restrictions for Under-21s

One thing to note is that, under the new legislation, credit card companies won’t be allowed to issue you a credit card if you’re under 21 unless you either have an adult co-signer or you can show proof of income that demonstrates you have a means to repay your credit card debt.

If your parents or guardians do co-sign on your college credit cards, then you’ll be required to get your parents’ or guardians’ permission before you can get a credit limit increase.