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CREDITSHOUT RATING:

Excellent

The Discover Student More Card was created for students to help them start building credit. If you are a student and haven’t established your credit score, finding a good credit card can be a difficult process. The Discover Student Card is a surprisingly good card and has a great rewards program that you can earn up to 5% cash back with on certain purchases.

Not only is the rewards program on this card good, but it has fairly low rates, which is rare for a student credit card. A minor thing that I thought was actually pretty cool about this card was option to customize the art of the card. There are 10 different designs to choose from.

With the Discover® Student More Card, customers earn 5 to 20 percent cash back on purchases made on Discover’s online shopping mall. Customers also earn 5 percent cash back on rotating categories. The rotating categories are as follows:

• January – March: travel and restaurants
• April – June: home and fashion
• June only: grocery and drug-store purchases
• July – September: gasoline, hotels, movies and theme parks
• October – December: restaurants and fashion

As you can see, the categories are timed fairly well for the typical student‘s spending habits. The travel and restaurants categories from January through March could add up to significant cash back if you must take a flight or bus ride back to campus and/or plan on traveling for spring break (assuming it’s in March). If you prefer to dine out instead of eating at the cafeteria (I’ll give you a hint – the food is probably better in restaurants), then the 5 percent cash back in that category will really add up as well. The home and fashion category may benefit you if you plan on renting a place for the summer and the gasoline, hotels, movies and theme park cash back will help if you plan to spend a lot on travel or entertainment over the summer. The fashion and restaurants cash back from October to December is a bit questionable, as you’ll probably buy your winter wardrobe before you head back to college. However, you can at least get 5 percent cash back for dining out, so it’s not so bad overall.

One percent cash back is offered on all other purchases. To get 1% back, customers must spend at least $3,000 annually. The first $3,000 spent earns .25 percent cash back in this regard. For warehouse club purchases, customers receive .25 percent cash back.
The rewards have no expiration date.

The Discover Student Card has no annual fee. For a complete list of updated rates and fees check the card website before you apply.

Discover More Student Card vs Capital One Journey Student Rewards Card

Overall, the Discover Student More Card is a better deal than the Capital One Journey Student Rewards Card. While the Capital One Journey Student Rewards Card offers 1 percent cash back on all purchases (the Discover Card pays .25 percent up to $3,000 and 1 percent thereafter), it does not offer 5 percent on rotating categories. It does offer a 25 percent bonus on any cash back in the 1 percent category (most categories) if you pay your bill on time, effectively making it a 1.25 percent cash back offer. However, if you intend to make significant use of the 5 percent cash back feature that Discover offers, you’ll end up better off with That Card.

The only significant advantage that the Capital One Card offers is that it’s fees are a little lower in some categories. If you intend to make a balance transfer – which most students probably will not – there is no fee for doing so. The cash advance fee is also lower than the 5 percent offered by Discover, as it is 3 percent with Capital One. If you intend to take a lot of cash advances, then this could work out for you. There is also no foreign transaction fee, so students who travel and/or study abroad may actually want to strongly consider taking Capital One’s offer. However, with this card, there is no low introductory purchase APR, so 1 late payment could add a lot of money to your bill. Overall, Discover offers a better deal to most students when comparing these 2 cards.

Discover More Student Card vs Citi Forward for College Students Card

The Discover Student More Card also edges out the Citi Forward for College Students Card. However, this is not to say that Citi does not make a decent offer. Here are some statistics associated with the Citi Forward for College Students Card:

• No co-signer required
• $75 statement credit after $150 is spent on back-to-school items within the first 3 months
• 1,000 bonus points for signing up for paperless statements
• APR is reduced by .25 percent for 3 consecutive months of paying on time (up to 8 times or 2 percent)
• No annual fee
• 2 points for every dollar spent on dining, books, music and movies
• 1 point for every dollar spent on all other purchases

The fees with this card are similar to those offered by Discover. However, the points system is a bit more restrictive than Discover’s cash back system. The points must be redeemed via CitiBank and it takes at least 1,000 points to pay for a reward. There is also a 75,000 yearly point limit. The points also expire after 5 years (sooner if you terminate the account). In other words, Discover offers a simpler, more flexible way to earn rewards than Citi does when comparing these 2 cards. After all, which would you rather have – points that are worth who-knows-what or cash back that you can do whatever you want with?

Discover More Student Card vs Citi Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students

The Discover Student More Card blows away the Citi Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students. As mentioned, Discover offers numerous rewards with their Card. However, Citi offers no cash or points back on purchases with This Card. It is not a total loss, but it generally offers basic benefits that are available on most cards. It has a 0 percent introductory purchase APR for 7 months, but this is less than the 9 months offered by Discover. In a nutshell, the Discover Student More Card beats the Citi Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students in nearly every category.

Pros

• Great rewards program allowing you to earn up to 5% cash back
• Discover has an easy to use website that allows you to access your account and pay your bills online. You can also receive email reminders so you never are late with a payment
• Through the Discover website you can shop at selected merchants and receive a 5-20% cash back Bonus at their exclusive online shopping mall. This is another great way to save money. Some of these partners merchants include Barnes and Nobles and FTD
• No annual fee

Cons

• If you’re not shopping through Discover’s website or within a rotating category, the cash back rewards are lackluster (.25 percent for the first $3,000 and 1 percent thereafter as well as .25 percent on warehouse club purchases)
• Balance transfers may not be accepted

Overall, the Discover Student More Card is good if you are a student and looking to build your credit. I was pretty impressed with the rewards program. The 5% cash back is a great incentive and there are enough merchants participating in the program to make it actually worth while. Although this card doesn’t have the lowest APR around for a student card its very good (its APR is about 1% lower than most other student cards). On an additional note, if you have been rejected for other cards because of your lack of credit,
you may want to try applying for this card.

Apply for the Discover® Student More Card.

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Discover® More Student Card

• Credit Required
  No Credit
• Rewards Program
  5% cashback bonus on rotating categories. 1% unlimited cashback on all other purchases.
• Signup Bonus
  0% Intro APR on purchases for 9 months.
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CreditShout Rating:

( Excellent )