Discover Student Card Review

Another nice benefit of the Discover Student card is that it comes with an introductory annual percentage rate (APR) of 0% for purchases. The intro rate lasts for the first 6 months and after that will be as low as 12.99% as determined by creditworthiness and other underwriting factors. This is a great rate for students considering the average rate for rewards credit cards was 17.27% as of July 31, 2011.

One drawback of this card is the APR for cash advances. While the APR for purchases can be as low as 12.99%, the APR for cash advances is as low as 24.99%. This means you will only want to use your credit card to draw out money in instances of emergency and you’ll want to repay that amount immediately. Otherwise, you’ll be paying quite a bit in interest.

While the cash advance APR is a drawback, two features that make this student card worthwhile are the cashback rewards and account management capabilities.

Easy Cash Back

Students earn up to 1% unlimited cashback bonus on their purchases with this credit card. It’s important to note that the cardholder must first make $3,000 in purchases before they start to earn the 1% bonus. During the first $3,000 of purchases, cardholders do earn 0.25% in cashback.

To help increase possible earnings, there is a 5% cashback bonus when cardholders use their Discover Student card for purchases in specific merchant types like travel, department stores, gas, groceries and restaurants. Cardholders do need to enroll for the 5% bonus and should be aware that there are specified limits on the bonus; once the maximum bonus amount has been earned, cardholders will earn their regular 1% cashback in these categories.

To maximize cashback earnings, students are able to shop through Discover’s exclusive online shopping mall. By shopping through the online mall, students can earn anywhere from 5% to 20% depending upon the selected merchant. Cardholders can make their earned rewards go even further when they choose to redeem their points for gift cards or eCertificates instead of cash.

Easy to Manage

Discover has acknowledged students’ need for easy management of credit cards. With their mobile banking, cardholders are able to view and manage their Discover account at anytime from anywhere. Mobile banking features account summary, transaction history, rewards and payment capabilities. This makes it easy for students to make payments on the go so they don’t accrue late fees or interest charges.

Discover also has a robust customer service team that helps out first time credit card users. Available through the phone or email, the customer service team is available to help cardholders with their account and answer important questions. And they promise timely response to emails so cardholders can avoid unnecessary fees.