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Deserve Edu Mastercard
REVIEW

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Quick Summary

The Deserve® Edu Mastercard is perhaps the best student credit card for international students because you do not need a Social Security Number (SSN) to apply for the card. It is also a very good card for US students with no credit history as it offers a no annual fee credit card with rewards and some very student friendly perks.
 

Key Features

  • Earn 1% cash back on all purchases - You will earn 1% cash back on all purchases and get a $25 statement credit once you have earned $25 in cash back.

  • Amazon Student Prime Membership - When you use the card as your credit card of choice when you sign up for Amazon Student Prime, you will get a 6-month free trial. After that, you can choose either to get billed monthly ($6.50 a month) or pay annually ($59/year). The Deserve Edu will give you a statement credit of up to $59, which is one year's worth of the Amazon Student Prime if you choose to pay annually.

  • Up to $600 in cellphone loss and theft coverage - This is one of the perks that will interest some students. The plan covers the primary cell phone in the plan up to two secondary phones. While this sounds great, I think the vast majority of college students have plans that are based on their parents family plan so this perk will probably not apply. This perk is likely to be more valuable to international students who will probably have to get a new cell phone coverage from a provider.

Requirements for International Students

You do not need a social security number (SSN) to apply for this card. That means that international students with no credit history in the US. However, you do need the following:
  • Proof of US bank account balance
  • Your passport ID
  • Student Visa
  • I-20 form

You can submit these forms with your smartphone camera image. You can also scan and save the images of these forms on your computer and submit them. Or you can also save them to a cloud storage service.
 
I could compare the rewards of this card with other student credit cards. However, I will not because this card is not about it's reward program. It offers a basic 1% cash back on all your purchases. And there are other cards like Discover it chrome or BankAmericard Cash Back Student credit cards that perhaps have better rewards.

However, the main highlight of this feature is that you do not need a social security number to get this card and this appeals to new international students. You do need to scan copies of your bank account, passport and Visas. For international students who want to get a US based credit card to build a credit history, they are simply not going to bother about whether other banks give slightly better rewards.
 
Pros and Consts

Pros

  • No Annual Fee
  • 1% Cash Back on all purchases
  • No Foreign Transaction Fee
  • Amazon Prime Membership - Up to $59 in credit cards which is good for one annual plan.
  • Up to $600 of Phone Coverage - includes cell phone loss and theft.
  • $45 statement credit for purchases of MintMobile plans
  • $10 statement credit for Lemonade insurance plans

Cons

  • No Cash Advance
  • No Balance Transfer

Our Take

In our opinion, the Deserve Edu Mastercard is the best credit card for international students who have just arrived in the US and have no credit history or Social Security Number (SSN). Instead of using your SSN and looking up your credit report (which there is probably no record of any credit history), Deserve will check out your bank account, your passport and student Visas. All you need to do is to scan these forms and upload it during the application process. If you are a US student, then you do not need to submit these.

As far as features go, this card is very similar to other student credit cards. It has no annual fee and gives you a 1% cash back on your purchases which you get back as a statement credit once you have earned $25 cash back. It also has no foreign transaction fees (which will be helpful for international students when they return home during summer).

There are also some interesting perks like having $59 off your amazon prime fee waived (that is worth a one year subscription on Amazon Prime if you choose the annual payment plan). Another really interesting feature it has is that you get cell phone loss and theft coverage for your cell phone plan (primary cell phone and two additional ones).

To sum up, this is the best credit card for international students in the US. In fact, for US students, this is also a pretty decent student credit card with no annual fee, 1% cash back rewards and a cell phone protection (very important for student these days).