The Ultimate Student Credit Card Portfolio

School has started. You're walking through the hallways and common areas of your college or university and there they are. The booths from all the banks pitching you on your first credit card. Well, at least that's how it was when I was in university nearly 30 years ago. Not sure if its the same anymore but the premise is the same. As a student out of high school the time is now for you to start building your credit all the while starting to learn the ins and outs of reward programs.

The key to achieving this is through credit cards and more than likely some of you will get them to run credit. You need to. You don't have much money and need to stretch things out. But you need to be smart. Don't get yourself into a lot of debt. Don't make the mistake many of us have done in the past. Be proactive. Get yourself those credit cards but limit yourself, or better yet put payments on the cards before you even use them. That way you know you can afford what you are putting on them. I won't go into the major details of running a balance in this feature as it is meant to be a feel good one, you are excited to get your first credit cards and lets keep it that way. So with that said what are the best choices for a student? Read on!

As is typically recommended by Rewards Canada, you should, at a minimum, carry at least one Visa, one Mastercard and one American Express card in your wallet. This is standard with all of our Ultimate Wallets. The reason why is that there are benefits, promotions and earning potential unique to each brand of credit card.

Not only can you make the most of the brands but by having more than one credit card you are protecting yourself if one or more get lost, stolen or blocked due to fraudulent transactions.

Ultimately there are various options that could be utilized for such a portfolio but we look at one card from each issuing family that we feel are the best fit for students.

Now, this wallet is for the typical starving student who may be running student loans and perhaps one that may have a hard time making ends meet. This is not a wallet for students who may have an $80,000 a year job while going to school (lucky you if you do!) or for those who are more well off and are relying on the bank of mom and dad to pay for everything - including annual fees on high end cards. If you happen to be in the latter group you should check out our other Ultimate Wallets where you can pick specific reward programs that provide great value for being able to spend lots on those cards.

The Ultimate Student Card Portfolio

So what is Rewards Canada's Ultimate Student Credit Card portfolio? It is the following cards:

Two of the cards are heavily targeted to the student community. The Scene+ Visa Card and the BMO CashBack Mastercard for Students. Either of these cards should be easy enough for most students to apply and be approved for. The second option for Mastercard, the Rogers Red Mastercard also offers students the opportunity to establish and grow their credit. The third card, Amex's SimplyCash Card isn't marketed as a student card but with no annual fee and a decision by American Express to remove income requirements for all of their cards it also should be relatively easy to get for most students.

Remember though, there are no guarantee for you to be approved for any credit card - even if you meet the requirements that are laid out for each one. However with these four cards you definitely have better odds to be approved.

Five Key Benefits of this portfolio

• Has cards are targeted specifically to students or are considered entry level cards which means you should hopefully be approved for at least one of them!
• You can earn over $250 in cash back with the welcome bonus offers
• Everyday cash back earn rates of 0.5% to 3%
• All cards have no annual fees
• Two of the cards have extended warranty and purchase protection benefits. Buy those expensive, fragile items with one of these cards

Tips for this portfolio

• Allow some time between your applications for the cards to make sure you can meet the required spend and maximize the return of those welcome bonuses
• Start with one of the student specific cards first if you have zero or very little established credit. Once that card begins reporting to the credit bureaus and your credit rating increases then go for the other cards.
• If you feel it may be tough for you to be financially responsible don't get all three cards - take a look at your spending habits and get the one card that suits those habits the best. It is easier to be responsible with just one card.

 

Why you want to get each of these cards - AKA the earn and benefits they provide!

This portfolio is mainly about three things for the student. Establishing a credit rating, being able to have credit and being able to save money by utilizing the rewards associated with the cards. And there is one more important aspect to this portfolio and that is all the cards feature no annual fees, which is great as you need all the cash you can spare.

For the Mastercard slot in this portfolio, we provide two options - one for those students who are not Rogers/Shaw/Fido customers and the other for those who are.

Mastercard option 1: BMO CashBack MasterCard (Student)

If you are not a Rogers/Shaw/Fido customer the first card you'll want to grab in this portfolio is the BMO CashBack Mastercard for Students as the welcome bonus on the card provides the highest return out of all the cards.

Right now when you apply for and receive the card you'll get BMO's current 5% cash back welcome bonus offer. The 5% earn rate applies to qualified spend up to $2,500 (up to $500 qualified spend on grocery, up to $500 qualified spend in recurring bill payments, and up to $1500 qualified spend on all other purchases (less refunds and excluding cash advances, cash-like transactions, interest charges, fees, credit or debit adjustments) in the welcome offer period, with a maximum of $125 cash back.

After that the card earns 3% back on up to $500 of grocery purchases for each statement cycle. This is a big return even when comparing it to many cash back cards that come with annual fees! So you'll want to put all your grocery purchases on this card to earn those bigger bucks, however if you hit that $500 spend level before your statement cycle is up you'll want to make those purchases on the Simply Cash card as it earns 2% on groceries unless you shop at Sobeys/Safeway or other Empire grocery stores (see below).

That brings us to this card's other earn rates of 1% cash back on recurring bills (cable, streaming services etc.) and you'll only want to pay for those with this card if you choose not to get the SimplyCash card or if one of those merchants doesn't accept Amex.

Finally all other purchase on this card only earn 0.5% cash back, so once again if you have the SimplyCash card use that unless the place you are at doesn't accept Amex then use the Scene+ Visa. One of the best features of the BMO card however is near instant access to your cash back rewards, as long as your rewards balance is $1 or more you can request to receive the cash back!

Click here to apply for the BMO CashBack MasterCard (Student)

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Mastercard option 2: Rogers Red Mastercard®

If you are a Rogers/Shaw/Fido customer the you'll want to have the Rogers Red Mastercard® as the Mastercard option in your portfolio

Right now when you apply for and receive the card you'll get the current welcome bonus offer of $60 cash back when you make a mobile wallet purchase within the first 90 days and 6 automatic payments within the first 8 months for your Rogers, Fido or Shaw postpaid service.

Being a Rogers/Shaw/Fido customer means that when you have this card, all spending you put on it, doens't matter the category, will earn 2% cash back. Easy as that! That's a big return for your enitire gammut of spending.

Then as a Rogers/Shaw/Fido customer the card provides a 50% boost to your cash back rewards when you redeem them towards Rogers/Shaw/Fido bills or purchases of their products. That equates to a 3% return and is a really good way to save on your cell, internet or other services!

Finally all other purchase on this card only earn 0.5% cash back, so once again if you have the SimplyCash card use that unless the place you are at doesn't accept Amex then use the Scene+ Visa. One of the best features of the BMO card however is near instant access to your cash back rewards, as long as your rewards balance is $1 or more you can request to receive the cash back!

Click here to apply for the Rogers Red Mastercard®

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SimplyCash Card from American Express

The next card in the portfolio, the SimplyCash Card from American Express, provides a decent limited time welcome bonus where you earn a $10 statement credit for each monthly billing period in which you spend $300 in purchases on your Card in the first 10 months. That bonus maxes out at $100, so make sure that during the first ten months of having this card you try to funnel at least $300 in spending per month on the card.

Tip: You should spread out your card applications so that you can maximize these welcome bonuses and not be strained with trying to meet all the minimum spending requirements at once!

Once you receive the welcome bonus on this card and also after meeting any minimum requirements for the other cards in the portfolio you'll want to put as much of your credit card spend outside of groceries on this card since it has the highest regular earn rate out of the three at an amazing 1.25% (if you are not a Rogers customer with the Rogers Red Mastercard). On top of this is provides 2% cash back on gas and groceries.

If you are buying gas for your car (or you like buying items at a gas station convenience store) this will be the card to use. Almost all gas stations in Canada (especially the major ones) accept American Express. The card is also your go to grocery option after you max out your monthly grocery earn of $500 on the BMO card unless you shop at Empire Stores (Sobeys, Safeway etc.) as you can use the Scene+ Visa and earn the same return with quicker access to your rewards.

The card also features Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection insurance which is always good for things like new TVs and hot plates for your dorm room.

The biggest drawback of this card is your access to the cash back rewards - it is only awarded once per yer in September - so while it might not help you for this year of schooling it will be there waiting for you at the start of next year.

Click here to apply for the SimplyCash Card from American Express

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Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card

Finally rounding out this portfolio is the Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card. This has been the mainstay credit card for students for many years now and continues to be a popular choice. The main thing you want to know about this card and Scene+ in general, is the program is not just about movies anymore. The Scene+ program has evolved to become a preeminent loyalty program in Canada for travel, dining, groceries and of course, for movies as well.

With a current sign up bonus of up 5,000 points, you are looking at $50 of value towards travel, groceries, dining or movies as the Scene+ program has almost standardized their redemption rates across the board at 100 points to $1. Whether you use those points at Harveys, Cineplex, Sobeys or for travel it is perfect to help students save much needed cash.

On the everyday earning side you'll want to pull this card out for Cineplex purchases (in theatre or online) as it earns 2 points per dollar. It also offers 2x points for purchases at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà  by IGA, Voilà  by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op. More recently Home Hardware was added to this card with 2x points earning.

If you shop at those stores this card is your better option after maxing out the $500 on the BMO card since the 2 points on the Scene+ is equivalent to the 2% found on the Simply Cash card but with Scene+ you don't have to wait to get your rewards once per year. You can redeem much sooner than that with only 100 points for $1 at Cineplex, 1,000 points for $10 at Sobeys, Safeway and so on.

Outside of that the Scene+ card earns 1 point per dollar spent which equates to a 1% return when redeeming for groceries, dining, travel or movies.

Once you do have all three cards (excluding the Rogers card), have no more spending required to earn a welcome bonus and a place doesn't accept Amex or isn't a 3% grocery purchase from BMO, you'll want to put the spend on this card as the 1% back is better than the 0.5% on the BMO card. With Scene+ redeeming points is pretty easy - if you have 100 points you can redeem for $1 statement credit towards any travel purchased on the card or when making Cineplex purchases. You can also redeem 1,000 points for a $10 credit when shopping at Sobeys, Safeway etc. and other Empire Company stores.

Click here to apply for the Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card

Here are the current details on these four cards

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There you go. With these three cards you are pretty much covered as a student who is just starting in the credit card and loyalty game. You'll establish credit, learn the basics of rewards programs and when you leave college or university you can move into the higher end of the game with cards that have annual fees, loyalty programs that provide amazing travel rewards or even more cash back than this portfolio.

Other Card Options:

Although we feel the above combination of cards is your best bet, there are other options that can fit the bill for all three of the issuers. For the Mastercard you can look at BMO's other student card, the BMO No Fee AIR MILES Mastercard or guarantee yourself a credit card to build credit with such as the Neo Secured Credit card.

On the Amex side take a look at the American Express® Green Card. The Green Card may have lower comparable cash back earn rates than the SimplyCash however the Green Card gets your foot in the door for travel reward programs with potential returns well over 2%. Read our review of the Green Card to learn more.

You could also consider getting the no annual fee Scotiabank American Express Card as it earns 3 Scene+ points at Empire Grocery stores and 2 Scene+ points for every $1 you spend on eligible grocery, dining, entertainment, gas, daily transit and select streaming services purchases and those points pool into the same account as the Scene+ Visa Card.

For the Visa portion there are lots of options from many banks and credit unions with cards like the RBC ION Visa being a good option for students.

This feature was first posted on September 6, 2017 and is updated on a regular basis

Image by Naassom Azevedo from Pixabay