Discover it® Student Chrome review: A solid starter card with easy rewards

If you already have some credit experience, you want to practice earning rewards and you don’t mind tracking the revolving door of categories, you may benefit more from the Discover it® Student Cash Back.

Both cards have a few of the same standout features, including Discover’s Cashback Match, no annual fee and a reasonable ongoing APR. The primary distinction between the two is the highest reward tier. With the Discover it® Student Cash Back, you have access to one of the highest cash back rates among student credit cards.

Your trade off is that you’re limited to Discover’s quarterly bonus categories, which you have to activate every three months. Monitoring rotating categories and enrollment dates could be difficult on a student schedule, and could be even less worth it if your spending habits don’t sync with a quarter’s bonus category.

If you want a hands-free rewards-earning student card, the Discover it® Student Chrome is your best bet. But if you don’t mind putting in a little legwork for more lucrative rates, then go with the Discover it® Student Cash Back.

One of the few cards that might be even easier to manage on a busy student schedule than the  Discover it® Student Chrome is the Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card. You’ll earn an unlimited 1.5 percent back on all purchases you make with this card, in addition to earning 10 percent back on purchases you make through Uber and UberEats and complimentary Uber One membership statement credits through 11/14/2024. Though you won’t earn a higher rewards rate on the Discover it® Student Chrome’s categories, you’d still get even better deals on rideshare and takeout through Uber for a limited time.

The Discover it® Student Chrome does win out if you’re a commuter or someone who spends a lot on gas.  But its 2 percent cash back for these purchases still marginally outshines the Quicksilver Student’s 1.5 percent cash back. The Discover it® Student Chrome also is a bit more forgiving with interest, given its slightly lower ongoing interest rate and thanks to its intro APR offer.

The Capital One Quicksilver Student could be a better card if you like the idea of earning the same for every purchase with no spending caps. Just know that carrying a balance could prove costly. For students who commute or who are still getting comfortable with learning responsible credit habits, the Discover it® Student Chrome is the much more forgiving choice. 

The rewards program for the Discover it® Student Chrome is easy to manage and understand. The elevated rewards rates cover gas and dining — two of the most popular spending categories for students — and the unlimited 1 percent cash back you earn on all other purchases makes earning on everyday spending a breeze. 

Since you’ll earn your highest rewards rate on gas and dining and an unlimited flat rate on all other purchases, the Discover it® Student Chrome doesn’t require much strategizing. You won’t have to track enrollment dates, activate bonus categories or keep an eye on rotating calendars to get the most out of your rewards. This kind of earning structure could be ideal for a student’s busy schedule.

The most important thing to remember when getting your first credit card is to use it responsibly. A key way to practice responsible habits is to avoid overspending on your credit card. The top earning categories on the Discover it® Student Chrome have a combined spending cap each quarter, which could help students keep their spending in check in an effort to avoid these caps.

A student card’s cost has a large influence on its overall score. 

Students already face a ton of expenses, so extra card costs are best avoided if possible, and people with limited or damaged credit tend often find the cards they can qualify for are much pricier than traditional credit cards designed for people with a good or better credit score. 

We compare a card’s total cost, including any annual fees, account activation fees, monthly fees and more against the total cost of other cards in this category and assign each card a score based on its affordability. We also factor rewards-earning potential into our assessment of a credit-building card’s total cost, subtracting a card’s expected earnings from the sum of its fees. 

To get a sense of a card’s rewards-earning potential, we estimate its average annual rewards rate and average annual earnings based on the most popular spending categories (as covered in the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer spending report). 

However, we use a slightly lower spending assumption ($300 per month or $3,600 per year) to estimate average earnings, assuming students and credit-builders will start out with a lower credit limit, will want to keep credit utilization low and will focus primarily on small purchases they can easily pay off.

Given the many costs students face — from textbooks to laptops — the presence of an introductory APR on purchases or balance transfers also plays a role in a student card’s score.

A card’s APR is also a major factor in its credit-building score. Each card’s average APR is compared against the average APR of other cards in the category, and the cards with lower-than-average APRs receive a higher rating. 

Though high APRs are hard to avoid when you’re just starting out or working on your score, credit-builders should strive for as low an APR as possible since they’re likely to either be new to managing cards or trying to establish better financial habits and avoid falling into debt.

Along with a credit-building card’s cost, our rating system takes into account how easy the card makes it to build credit. To assess this, we evaluate its credit limit potential and minimum deposit requirement.

Unsecured cards with a high starting credit limit and secured cards that let you put down a large deposit and get a matching high credit limit will score the highest according to our “Ease of building credit” rubric and are more likely to appear on our list. 

This is because a high credit limit can make it much easier to keep your credit utilization low, a primary credit-building factor that makes up 30 percent of your FICO credit score. 

Secured cards have a slight advantage in this category since the maximum credit limit on a secured card tends to be much higher than the typical starting credit limit on an unsecured card that’s available with a bad or fair credit score. However, unsecured credit-building cards have the upper hand in another key aspect of building credit: accessibility. 

Cards that carry no or a low deposit requirement can also receive a high score according to our “Ease of building credit” rubric since these cards offer a lower barrier to entry than secured cards that require you to put up hundreds of dollars in an upfront deposit. 

Indeed, some users may prefer to pay a non-refundable $50 annual fee while they work on their credit score than tie up hundreds in a refundable security deposit.

We also evaluate each card’s benefits based on how useful they are for students or someone looking to build a positive credit history and save money on everyday spending. 

We consider the inclusion of a rewards program, student-centric perks and access to your credit score or a credit monitoring service of prime importance, along with the ability to prequalify for the card with only a soft credit pull and a clear path to increase your credit limit or graduate to an unsecured or full-fledged rewards card.

Cards that include these benefits are likely to score higher according to our credit-building card scoring rubric.

This card is designed for students with no credit or limited credit history. So, there’s a chance of approval without a credit score.

No, but you will need to report a source of income on your card application. This income comes from a regular allowance or a part-time job. Whatever income value you put down can also affect the credit limit you’re offered.

Yes, but you should call the issuer to update any income changes for potential credit limit increases or product upgrades.

Students that are approved for a Discover It® Student Chrome are guaranteed a credit limit of at least $500. However, Discover or any other issuer determines your credit limit from many factors including your income and credit worthiness.

The primary difference between these cards is the intended consumer. Since one card is designed for students and the other is not, they carry different features, advantages and disadvantages. For example, the student version of the card has less strict credit requirements for approval, but also a less generous intro APR offer on purchases and balance transfers than the non-student version.