If you are in college, or have a college age child and you want the best opportunities for building a great credit history, these credit cards will give you the best deals with the lowest fees.

If you’ve been listed as an authorized user on your parents credit card accounts, or you have even a couple of positive credit references on your credit file, then unsecured credit cards are your best option.

If you do not have any sort of a credit history yet, you may not be able to get the credit cards listed in this section- so be careful. Applying for credit lowers your credit score slightly. If you aren’t sure whether or not you qualify, you can try applying for the one that you think is best. If you get it, congratulations!

If you are not approved for your first choice, the best thing you can do is apply for some of the secured or prepaid credit cards further down the list. This will prevent your credit score from dropping because you have too many unsuccessful inquiries.

You can also check out our reviews of these credit cards on our College Student Credit Card Guide and our Low APR Student Credit Card pages.

Unsecured Credit Cards:

The Citi® mtvUTM Platinum Select® Visa® Card for College Students
Right now, this credit card is my favorite pick for a college credit card because it has some incredible rewards attached to it. Things like:

• You can earn five points for each dollar that you spend at bookstores, record stores, restaurants, fast food, movie theaters, and video rentals
• You earn one point for every dollar that you spend on other purchases.
• You earn 25 points each time you pay at least your minimum payment and stay within your limit.
• You can earn points based off of your GPA each year as well (up to 4,000 points for a 4.0)
• You can even redeem points to reduce your student loans, or get VIP Passes to mtvUs Spring Break, or Tickets to MTV’s Video Music Awards
• This card has no annual fee, and no minimum income or cosigner is required.

The Citi® Drivers Edge® Card for College Students.

This is an auto credit card for college students, and it has tons of rewards that you can use on your current car, or put towards the financing on your next one:

• You earn You earn 3% rebates on purchases at supermarkets, gas stations, and drugstores.
• $0.01 rebate for every mile you drive in your current car.
• You can redeem your points for a purchase, lease, service, or maintenance of your current vehicle or a new vehicle.
• You also have the option to convert your rebates into ThankYou points from Citi.
• This credit card has no annual fee and a 0% APR for six months.

The Discover Student Credit Card

The Discover Student Credit Card is an excellent low APR credit card that offers rewards as well.

Features:

• 5% cash rebates from purchases at selected merchants
• You can double the value of your cash rebates by choosing to turn them into gift certificates or gift cards from over 60 selected merchants. Merchants include: Bennigan’s, Red Lobster, K B Toys, Pep Boys, Pier 1 Imports, The Sharper Image, BLOCKBUSTER, TicketsNow.com, FTD.COM and a huge list of other companies – even a few charities!
• When you use this credit card to shop with some of Discover’s partner merchants, you get an automatic discount – up to 20% off.
• The Discover Student Card has no annual fee.

These credit cards are all excellent choices if you are looking for a credit card to carry throughout your college years. They aren’t the only options though. If you are looking for a credit card with slightly different benefits, you can check out our reviews of all the best credit cards for college students.

But what if you don’t have a credit history yet? Most of the cards above assume that you’ve either had a credit card before, been listed as an authorized user, or have applied for and been approved for student loans, or an auto loan.

If you are just starting out, and you do not have any sort of a credit history, you may want to consider some of the cards below instead. You can open up one of these accounts, build your credit history up a little, and then graduate to the cards above – so don’t worry. If you pay your bills on time, and don’t max out your credit limit, it really doesn’t take very long to build up a good credit rating.

Secured Credit Cards:

Secured credit cards are an excellent place to start if you have no credit history at all. Some people really do not like them, because you have to have several hundred dollars up front to get the account, but the truth is, secured credit cards are one of the fastest ways to raise your credit score, and when you graduate to a non-secured card, you get your deposit back.

Best Secured Credit Cards:

If you are looking for a secured credit card, these three credit cards represent the best of the bunch. You can click on any link to read our reviews of these cards.

• First PREMIER® Bank Secured Credit Card - This credit card has an annual fee, but it reports to all three credit bureaus to help you build your credit score.
• The New Millennium Bank Credit Card – This is a cool secured credit card because it offers a few rewards – mostly travel benefits, so if you’re going to school out of state it would be the one to get.
• The Centennial Secured Credit Card - This credit card has a guaranteed approval and does report to all three credit bureaus to help you build your credit score.

Prepaid Credit Cards –

Prepaid credit cards are a great option if you don’t have $200 or $300 to start a secured credit card account with. Basically they work almost like a debit card – the money that you put on them becomes your available balance, and your charges get deducted from the total. The unique thing about these credit cards (and the reason they are better than having a debit card) is because you can pay a small monthly fee to have them report your available balance to all three credit bureaus each month. So, you are spending your own money, but having it reported positively on your credit reports.

This is probably the cheapest and easiest way to raise your credit score if you do not have a previous credit history.

The best prepaid credit cards:

• The Western Union® Prepaid MasterCard® – This credit card has a $9.95 set up fee, and no monthly fee if you use direct deposit.
• The Wired Plasticâ„¢ Prepaid Visa® Card - This is a flexible prepaid credit card that has low fees. It’s also extremely flexible, you can pretty much use it just like a bank account, even write checks and pay your regular bills with it. Check out our full review of the Wired Plastic Prepaid Visa.

No matter which credit card you choose to use in college, just make sure that you always make your payments on time, and that you keep your balances as low as possible. That will help you build an excellent credit rating that will last throughout your lifetime.

If you have questions about any of these cards, or which card would be right for you, leave us a comment below!

Keep Reading:

• The College Student Credit Card Guide w/ video
• LOW APR Student Credit Cards
• Retail Store Credit Cards

This entry was posted on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 16:06 and is filed under Reader's FAQ. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.