Best Student Credit Cards for 2024

The first and foremost step towards a solid financial future is establishing a good credit card history. Student credit cards are a great way to manage your finances in the best possible ways. However, few banks offer them as they are afraid to give credit to folks who won’t pay it back.

Building credit card in college is a task you must consider because you need it soon to finance your car or house and later qualify for the best credit card offers. It is important to note that being a college student is not enough to qualify for student card instead you need to have income to get it approved. The options are limited in case of student credit cards but here’s the list of Best Student Credit Cards for 2024. For the ease of students, we will dive into the details of each card.

Quick Summary – Best Student Credit Cards for 2024

• Discover it ® Student Cash Back – Best for overall cashback
• Discover it ® Student Chrome – Best secured card for rewards
• Bank of America® Travel rewards for student credit card – Best for students who travel often
• Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card – Best for students who prefer to dine out
• Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card – Best for students having minimal credit
• Petal® 2 Cashback, No Fees “Visa® Credit Card – Best for students with no credit history

Charting the Best Student Credit Cards for 2024

Best Student Credit Cards for 2024	Best for	Annual fee	Welcome bonus	Benefits	Credit score
Discover it® Student Cash Back	Overall cashbacks	$0	Earn 5% cash back at different places each quarter like Amazon.com, grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations up to $1,500 in combined purchases each quarter, then earn 1%. Plus, earn unlimited Cashback Match™ at the end of your first year!	Cash back rewards, no annual fee, Cashback Match™	Good or limited
Discover it® Student Chrome	Secured card for rewards	$25 security deposit (returned after 7 months on-time payments)	Earn 5% cash back at gas stations and restaurants on up to $1,500 in combined purchases each quarter, then earn 1% on all other purchases. Plus, earn unlimited Cashback Match™ at the end of your first year!	Cash back rewards, secured card, Cashback Match™	Limited
Bank of America® Travel Rewards for Students	Students who travel often	$0	Earn 1.5 points for every $1 spent on all purchases, plus 1 point for every $1 spent on travel booked directly through Bank of America Travel Center. Points can be redeemed for travel, statement credits, gift cards, and merchandise.	Travel rewards, no annual fee	Good
Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card	students who prefer to dine out	$0	Earn 3% cash back on dining, at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), and on popular streaming services and entertainment; 1% cash back on all other purchases.	Cash back rewards, no annual fee	Fair
Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card	Students having minimal credit	$0	Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day.	Cash back rewards, no annual fee	Fair
Petal® 2 Cashback, No Fees “Visa® Credit Card	Students with no credit history	$0	Earn 1% cash back on all eligible purchases, plus get a chance to earn 10% cash back every 3 months on your top spending category.	Cash back rewards, no annual fee, no credit history required	Not required

Best Student Credit Cards for 2024

Discover it ® Student Cash Back

Best Feature	Overall best option for student rewards
Credit Score	Fair to Good (580-740)
Annual fee	$0
Regular APR	18.24-27.24%
Welcome Bonus	Cash back match
Balance transfer fee	3% introductory balance transfer fee and later 5%  on future balance transfers
Foreign Transaction fee	None

The Discover it ® Student Cash Back card is a well-rounded and best student credit cards for 2024 with no annual fee. This card offers a golden opportunity for students to earn rewards while building credit at the same time. For the eligibility of this card, you must be a U.S. citizen with an age of 18.  Not just this, you should have a fair to good credit score to tick mark its eligibility criteria. The new cardholders can easily earn 5% cashback on several rotating categories with overall spending of  $1,500 in each quarter.

This card tops up the list of best student credit cards for 2024 with no foreign transaction fees  and viable option for students with fair credit scores. Apart from the bonus rotating categories , you can earn 1% unlimited cash back  on all other purchases.

Pros

• 5 % cash back on several rotating categories
• First year cashback match
• No annual fees
• Generous  Welcome bonus

Cons

• Low  1% base reward
• Bonus categories are activated quarterly

Discover it ® Student Chrome

Best Feature	Great Student rewards
Credit Score	Fair to Good (  580-740)
Annual fee	$0
Regular APR	18.24-27.24 %
Welcome Bonus	Cashback Match
Balance transfer fee	3% introductory balance  transfer fee and up to 5%  fee on future balance transfers
Foreign Transaction fee	None

With $0 annual fee this one is included in the list of best student credit cards for 2024 for all those who want to earn cashback on everyday spending.  With this card, you can earn 2% cashback on major categories such as restaurants, and gas stations after spending $1000 in each quarter.  For the first six months, new cardholders enjoy the introductory APR of 10.99% after which the APR gets doubled to 18.24-27.24%

Discover it ® Student Chrome gives students with average or limited credit card scores to manage their credits, no penalty APR and 1% cash back on all purchases is another plus point of this credit card.   In a nutshell, the low credit score and no foreign transaction fees make it an excellent choice for all those students studying abroad.

Pros

•  Great cashback on rotating bonus categories
•  First year cashback match
•  Generous welcome bonus

Cons

•  Bonus categories must be activated in each quarter
•  Low 1% reward rates on all other purchases

Bank of America® Travel rewards for student credit card

Best Feature	Travel rewards for students
Credit Score	Good to Excellent (700-740)
Annual fee	$0
Regular APR	18.24-28.24 %
Welcome Bonus	$ 200 bonus
Balance transfer fee	3% balance transfer fee on every transaction
Foreign Transaction fee	None

The Bank of America® Travel credit card for students is a great choice for all those looking for a travel  card with rewards. Being one of the authentic and best student credit cards for 2024,  the rewards are geared towards travel, and cardholders earn a 1.5% cash back on all the purchases they make.  With this card you can enjoy a greater welcome bonus, flat rate rewards, and introductory APR on bank transfers and purchases. Through this card, you can easily redeem rewards as statement credit to cover most of the qualifying travel purchases.

This is one of the few cards that offer no foreign transaction fees therefore is an ideal choice for students studying abroad. Not only this being the best student credit card for 2024 it also comes with than average distinct financing offer with no interest for 15 billing cycles. Getting money for over a year with no interest is a solid option to save a huge chunk of money on large purchases.

Pros

•  Easily redeem points for travel expenses, flights and hotels
• High Welcome bonus
•  Greater reward earnings
•  No fee charged on purchases made outside the U.S
•  No limit on expiration of points

Cons

• Low student-centric benefits to take advantage of
•  High transaction fee

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

Best Feature	Best for off-campus students
Credit Score	Fair to Good (580-740)
Annual fee	$0
Regular APR	19.99-29.99%
Welcome Bonus	$ 50 bonus
Balance transfer fee	No balance transfer fee
Foreign Transaction fee	None

For all those students who spend a significant portion of their money on food, Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card is a great option. This card provides unlimited 3% cashback on dining and exclusive 10% cashback on Uber Eats purchases.  Being one of the viable options among the list of best student credit cards for 2024 you can earn elevated cashback on entertainment, streaming services, and grocery stores and can build the credit card history at the same time.

For all the new cardholders it offers a welcome bonus of $50 when you spend a total of $ 100 in the first three months.  In brief, Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card offers  a great combination of features that are hard to beat, especially for student cards  it offers triple rewards  with $0 annual fee.  

Pros

•  Excellent cash back rewards in each category
•  No penalty APR and transaction fee
• Being one of thebest student credit cards for 2024 it offers automated cashback redemptions
•  No annual fees

Cons

• APR swings between relatively low to relatively high
•  Lesser student-specific features

Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

Best Feature	Best for students with minimal credits
Credit Score	Average to Fair ( 580-740)
Annual fee	$0
Regular APR	19.99-29.99%
Welcome Bonus	$ 50 bonus
Balance transfer fee	No balance transfer fee
Foreign Transaction fee	None

The Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card is a no-hassle gateway for all those students who want to earn rewards on credit cards.  With this card, you get  1.5%  cash back on purchases that you will find on the venerable non-student version.  It also offers a solid sign-up bonus on top of all the ongoing rewards making it an A+ option for all the carefree students. To qualify for this card you must have an average to fair bonus.  In addition, if you are willing to put effort you can get a flat 1.5% rate.

Being in the list of best student credit cards for 2024, the cashback can be easily redeemed in the form of statement credit or gift card.  Furthermore, the card holders can automate redemption to occur at a specific time every  year when  a specific amount is reached.

Pros

• Solid cashback rewards especially for students
• Travel accident insurance
• No annual or foreign transaction fee
•  Excellent extra benefits

Cons

•  Eligibility requires enrolled full or part-time student
•  Other cards may offer better earning potential

Petal® 2 Cashback, No Fees “Visa® Credit Card

Best Feature	Best for students with no credits
Credit Score	Fair, good, no credit
Annual fee	$0
Regular APR	18.24-32.24%
Welcome Bonus	None
Balance transfer fee	N/A
Foreign Transaction fee	None

Are you one of those individuals who are looking for best student credit cards for 2024 with no established credit history? Fret not, this card is a good choice for all those looking to kickstart their financial journey. This card has a high variable APR after the introductory period but is good for those who may even not have a social security number.

 The Petal 2 Visa keep is simple and straightforward with no annual and late payment fees along with no returned payment fee.  Through this card, you can earn 1% cash back on   all purchases which can be further boosted to the rate of 1.5% by making 12 on-time monthly payments. Moreover, the card holders can easily earn bonuses ranging from 2-10% at selected merchants.  

Pros

•  No credit card history and score is required
• 1% cash back on eligible purchases right away
• No annual or foreign transaction fee
•   Credit limits range from $300-$ 10,000

Cons

• Does not offer welcome bonus
•  Card is not for rebuilding credit score
• No special financing offers
•  High variable APR

What are the criteria of comparing student cards?

Although the list of best student credit cards for 2024 is crafted after the detailed analysis of each card but it is preferable to know the general criteria to make an informed decision.

Annual fees

Many of the high rewarding credit cards are pricier therefore the perks are greater. As a student with low finance, you would likely prefer cards with minimal to no annual fees. The best student credit cards for 2024 charge no annual fee and therefore bring more value when you don’t have to pay anything in return.

Foreign Transaction fee

Are you the one who’s planning to travel abroad for studies?  If yes, make sure that the card you use for transactions should not charge you a fee on every purchase. The best student credit cards for 2024  have no foreign transaction fees to facilitate a large userbase.

Credit reporting

The opportunity to build healthy credit during a young age is another plus point of student credit cards. For the best results look for the credit card issuer that reports all three major consumer credit bureaus including Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. The best student credit cards for 2024 will help you gain easy access to all student loans.

Rewards

Students credit cards offer lesser rewards than other credit cards that require high credit score. But stabilizing your finances in the college era can me made easy with a student credit card. The best student credit cards for 2024 offer great value to students with startup bonuses and additional restaurant,  travel, and grocery cashbacks.

Security Deposits

One of the greatest benefits of student cards is that they don’t require security deposits.  Although the cards are declared as unsecure alternatives to other credit-building payments but the best student credit cards for 2024 can help students collateralize a credit account for building credit.

Frequently Asked Questions