One of the biggest tips that we can give to anyone is that they should start building credit as fast as they possibly can, and that they should work towards achieving a good credit score.
The benefits of a good credit score are huge as you will be able to secure better loans and mortgages in the future.
How Do You Build Credit?
One of the easiest ways to build credit is to use a credit card and then ensure that you are always making payments on time. This is the best way to go about building your credit and ensuring that your credit score stays positive.
How Do I Get A Credit Card?
If you don’t have a credit card, you will have to send an application in towards a credit card company for a specific card.
If you have met all the necessary requirements, you will be approved and you will receive the card in the mail in a few months. Not all credit cards are created equal however as they offer different many different things.
What Credit Card Is Best For Me?
In order to pick a credit card you have to take a look at your lifestyle and see what your spending habits are like.
Credit cards feature rewards, fees, and interest rates. If you are someone who is able to make payments consistently on time, a standard credit card with small rewards is going to do wonders for you.
If you are someone who is making large purchases throughout the entire year, getting a credit card with a small monthly or annual fee might be best for you as you can take full advantage of the better rewards through your spending.
Finally, if you are someone who needs credit but is going to have trouble making monthly payments, you are going to want to turn towards a low interest card. These will help ensure you don’t end up in insurmountable debt like other credit cards would.
Let’s take a look at some of our top choices for the best credit card and how it can benefit you. Hopefully by the end of this you will be able to pick a credit card and start building your credit score.
Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card
If you are looking to pick a credit card with some cash back on your purchases while not having to worry about an annual fee this might be the card for you.
One of the most enticing things about this Capital One card is that if you spend $500 on purchases within the first three months, you will be given $200 back. This is a one time benefit that you will be receiving.
You don’t have to worry about your cash back rewards ever expiring as well as they are guaranteed for life as long as you have the card. Therefore, you can continually build up rewards that you can use to pay off future balances.
Having a card that has an annual fee of $0 is also quite an amazing thing to have. What makes us consider this to be considered for the best credit card in the cash back field is that they will not charge you any foreign transaction fees.
This means if you are dealing with other currencies, you are not going to be charged anything extra by the company.
As for the APR with the credit card, in your first fifteen months you can expect to see 0% APR with it increasing to a 15.49%-24.49% variable APR after that. This puts it in about the average range for APR from a credit card.
The one downside to this card is that it needs a fairly good credit score in order for you to be eligible for it. If you have been struggling to make payments and have not been able to build your credit up over the year, you might have a difficult time obtaining this card.
That being said, we highly recommend this and there is a reason why we consider it to be in the running for the best credit card when looking at cash back rewards.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • $200 cash bonus after spending $500 in 3 months | • Other cards have longer periods with 0% APR |
| • No annual fee | • No extra bonus rewards aside from the 1.5% cash back |
| • Unlimited 1.5% cash back | • Requires a good credit score to obtain |
| • No foreign transaction fees |
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
If you want to pick a credit card to help get you travel rewards, this might be the card for you. You earn 2 points per dollar on dining and eligible delivery services while also getting 1 point per dollar on every other purchase.
If you spend $4000 in the first three months, you will be given 80,000 points. These points can be redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards for $1000 towards travel.
While this is a large bonus, it is only useful if you plan on using the card often and making large purchases on it
The APV is standard for a rewards type credit card and therefore you should avoid it if you are going to be carrying a balance.
Therefore check on your credit card statements often to make sure that you have paid everything off. It is very easy to forget to make a payment and then get hit with interest.
When it comes to booking a trip using your points, you are also given a high degree of insurance to help cover you if anything goes awry leading up to the trip or on the trip.
This makes the card flexible in how you book the trip while also giving you protection regarding your luggage and auto-rental damage.
A cool added bonus to this card is that you get free deliveries and reduced service fees on orders over $12 when using DoorDash. If you plan on ordering delivery often, this is something you should take advantage of.
We also do have to add that this is a metal card, which does add some coolness to the card and makes it something that is meant to be shown off to other people.
Because this card requires a good credit score to obtain, the metal card can be seen as a status symbol as well.
All in all, the rewards and protection that this card offers makes it one of the best credit cards if you want to earn points for travelling.
Start packing your suitcases because you are going to be able to see the world with the added benefits this provides.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Large travel point bonus | • High credit score barrier |
| • Free DoorDash deliveries on qualifying offers | • $95 annual fee |
| • Good travel protection benefits | • $4000 in spending required to redeem the intro offer |
| • A metal card | |
| • No foreign fees |
Upgrade Card
The Upgrade Card is a great credit card for a person with an average credit score. While it lacks some of the rewards other cards have, it is one of the best credit cards because of how easy it is to obtain and how easy it is to work with.
One of the things we love about this card is that it has a $0 annual fee, $0 maintenance fee, and $0 activation fee.
When picking a credit card, if you want something that is not going to be taking money out of your account, you can’t go wrong with the Upgrade Card.
While the rewards won’t blow you away, the cash back is a nice added bonus for the flexibility that the card provides.
Speaking of flexibility, while you are waiting for the card to arrive in the mail, they are going to give you access to a virtual card that you can use right away.
With some credit cards, even the act of applying for a card can reduce your credit. Therefore, you want to make sure you meet the requirements of the card before you attempt to apply.
With the Upgrade Card, you don’t have to worry as you can qualify for this card in minutes without any worry about it hurting your credit score.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • A great credit card for someone with average credit score | • Potentially high APR which can accumulate debt quickly |
| • No fees | • Not available everywhere |
| • Decent rewards for what you are getting | • No intro offer |
Discover It® Student Chrome
This is one of the best credit cards for students mainly because of the intro unlimited cash back match offer.
What this means is that for every dollar you earn in cash back at the end of the year, it will be matched by the company. Earned $200 in cash back rewards? Enjoy another $200.
When at gas stations and restaurants, you will earn 2% cash back on up to $1000 each quarter. Every other purchase and everything after that is going to give you 1% cash back.
What we like about this card and what you should consider when picking a credit card is the forgiveness the card offers. There is no late fee on the first payment and no APR change for paying late.
As you are in college, credit cards might be new to you or you might not have the money one month to make a payment. They understand that and offer you that one time forgiveness to help you out.
The card also comes with a lot of different security features such as freezing your account easily and getting alerts if any of your information has been leaked.
Overall, we love this as a credit card for students as it is a great introduction into the financial world and helps to provide you with all the resources necessary to understand your credit score and how to improve it in the future.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • No fees | • There are better rewards out there |
| • One time payment forgiveness | • Discover cards are not accepted that much outside of the United States |
| • Cashback match | • 2% cashback is limited to $1000 per quarter |
| • Free credit score report |
Important Credit Card Features
When looking at credit cards, these are some of the features you should be looking at and seeing if they work for you.
APR - Average Percentage Rate, this is the amount of interest you are going to be paying if you miss a payment. It is listed as an annual percentage but it is compounded monthly
Reward Type: The most common reward you are going to see is cash back, however you can get travel points as well if you take a look around. When picking a credit card, try to avoid ones that don’t have rewards as there are no benefits towards using them.
Fees: Simply put, the more fees that are put into a credit card, generally the better the rewards are going to be. To make the most out of these cards, you are going to want to have a large income to both pay the fees, and also to take full advantage of the large rewards that they give.
At the end of the day, the thing that can hurt you the most with credit cards is the APR. We highly recommend only getting a credit card if you can afford to make monthly payments.
Credit cards should not be used to make purchases that you are unable to pay off as you will quickly find yourself in the hole. These are just a few of the best credit cards out there and we hope that you can use this information when it comes time to pick a credit card.
