Comments on: Best Student Credit Cards & Tips For Smart Credit Use

By: tb

tb — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:22:45 +0000

For those who are struggling getting their credit build the best way is to get the secure credit card from your bank where you have checking or saving account.I did this 2 years ago as I had no credit at all and within a year I got it on about 550 and now is within the 20% of consumers with excelent credit card. It as well builds a discipline for paying your bills and staying within the limit. Hope this helps.
By the way I have a credit card with annual fee. You have to figure if you spend montly 250$ on credit card with APR and it is lets say 11%, that comes out to 27.5$ montly in APR and 330$ per year. I pay my annual 100$, so I guess saves me money and do not have APR and have a membership reward points that I cash in.

By: Ap

Ap — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 12:18:02 +0000

I graduated high school early this year and have been working in the banking industry since. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to get any sort of credit card. How am i supposed to build my credit without one? I was wondering if you HAD to be a college student to get one of the discover cards. I do not plan to attend college at this time because of the job I have been fortunate to recieve at a young age, it does not say anywhere on there sight if being a student is a must. This is the only card i have a chance to be approved for. If anyone knows the answer to this i would be very happy.

By: chelle

chelle — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:19:33 +0000

I was declined for the citi credit cards because I do not already have a credit record. Ah, life. So I am still looking for a way to establish credit, but I wanted to let you know that citi does not help out the average student.

By: Glenn Lasher

Glenn Lasher — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:50:19 +0000

Off-topic, Jim, but are you located in Albany, NY? That photo is from the University at Albany campus, near the student union.

By: Olivia

Olivia — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:21:36 +0000

My husband just got the Discover Student card and we are very happy with it. We researched credit cards a lot before we chose one. The student card offers the same rewards as the Discover More card. You can read about our search on my blog.

Philip–I agree that when you spend a lot an annual fee may be worth it, but I do not believe that most people spend that much. I think the majority of people are better off with cards without an annual fee.

By: Philip White

Philip White — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:12:39 +0000

Jim, though I agree that a typical student has no business paying annual fees, I disagree that this is a general principle. The reason is that with some cards, an annual fee comes with a higher cashback percentage. If you enough, the cashback exceeds the fee.

Having said that, there’s a caveat: you must maintain a high enough spending to make the annual fee worthwhile. This is the reason I don’t have a card with an annual fee: as I try to cut down on my spending, I don’t want to feel forced to spend more than necessary to justify the fee.

My anecdotal evidence tells me that there are plenty of people who charge thousands of dollars monthly on a credit card. For those, the higher cashback greatly outweighs the annual fee, and they come out way ahead.