Discover it® for Students

10-second breakdown:

Although it’s intended for Students, the Discover it for Students credit card is a strong contender for anyone that has fair credit and is looking for a great cash back rewards program.

Key benefits:

• 5% cash back in certain categories (the categories change every month).
• New cardmembers will get all cash back bonuses matched after their first year.
• $20 cash back for a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Who it’s for:

While it seems like it’s only for a certain group, don’t let the Discover it for Students fool you. This is a solid credit option for anyone that has middle of the road or ‘fair’ credit. Try not to be too quick to typecast “it”, because you could end up passing up a great option.

This card is for individuals with fair credit (from 650 to 699).

The details:

The reason why the Discover it for Students card appeals to so many people is because of the low introductory rates – most cards targeted at students don’t offer any kind of a sign-on bonus. Discover does things a little different though, you get 0% APR on all purchases for 6 months, and then your normal APR kicks in between 12.99% and 21.99%. Keep in mind this doesn’t include balance transfers, you’ll be paying on those from day one. Another appealing trait is the yearly fee – or in this case lack of. The Discover it for Students has no yearly fees at all.

Discover’s cash back rewards program is second to none for middle of the road credit score consumers. You earn unlimited cash back at 1% and 5% cash back in ‘bonus categories’ like Amazon, gas, restaurants, holiday shopping and more. The bonus categories rotate every quarter and Discover caps you at $1500 each quarter, but the 1% is unlimited.

College students tend to lose things. Whether it’s from partying too hard or rushing to class and dropping the card at Starbucks, there’s a really good chance the credit card is going to get lost at least once. While normally the words ‘I lost the credit card’ can make you feel light in the knees, Discover has one of the best fraud protection in the entire industry – student card or not. It comes with a $0 Fraud Liability Guarantee, so you will never be held responsible for unauthorized purchases on your card.

If you notice that your card is lost, after you make sure that no one has rung up any purchases while you weren’t looking, why not deactivate the card completely? Discover has a unique feature they call ‘Freeze It’ that acts like an on/off switch for your card, open up the mobile app and turn off the card in seconds with the flip of a digital switch. Found out the card fell out in your dorm? No need to order a completely new one, just turn it back on from the Freeze It app.

One of Discover’s biggest strengths is in their customer service. It’s 100% US-Based and lots of current customers have praised the support team online. Whether it was a call to order a new card, a panicked phone call early in the morning because you found fraud, or just a casual chat to discuss getting the credit limit raised, the Discover team is ready and able to help.

If you’re picking up this card because you want to establish your credit or perhaps fix it up a little, Discover also throws in your FICO score each month for free on your statement. You can also view it online at any time to see where you’re at.

Now if you actually are a student, there are a couple of additional features that appeal to your demographic. The Discover it for Students is one of only a handful of credit cards that allows co-signers on the account. So students who are under the age of 21 with low income can still get approved for this Discover card as long as they can convince a parent to co-sign with them.

In addition to that, students get a little extra cash back every year. If they maintain a 3.0 GPA Discover will credit the account a $20 in rewards at the end of each school year, up to a maximum of 5 years.

If you do decide to go with the Discover it for Students cash back card, you might want to give Discover a call. Occasionally they offer first time Discover members a $50 sign-on bonus. This counts towards the double rewards during your first year too, so you could potentially get $100 just for signing up.

While the Discover cash back program is pretty generous, it’s not automatic. During each of the four rotating quarters, you need to remember to go onto the Discover site and manually sign up. The intended audience of college students already have enough to worry about with homework, classes and tests – something like signing up for your credit card’s bonus each month is easily swept under the rug.

The Discover it for Students credit card is an appealing credit card for a much wider audience than just students. With no annual fees and a solid cash back rewards program, this Discover card appeals to anyone with fair credit.

For complete rankings of all personal credit cards, go here.

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