Student Credit Cards 101 – A Comprehensive Guide

Student credit cards make a new concept in the credit card world. They are just like the regular credit cards. The difference is that the student cards are the credit cards for college or university students only.

A credit card is a plastic rectangular card issued by the banks to the card holders enabling them to buy things at shops or stores with borrowed money. The credit card issuers allot a credit limit for each credit card.

The card holder can make spending up to that limit only. As this is a borrowed money, so you need to pay back the money to the credit card issuing institution in the form of a monthly bill, known as credit card statement or credit card bill.

Credit cards are different from debit cards in that debit card only if one have available cash in his/her savings account. In case of credit card, you do not need to have cash in your savings account to use a credit card. This is a credit or borrowed money.

Student credit cards are already available in the European countries or United States. In India, however, the cards for students have been launched recently by some select banks.

The eligibility criteria to get issued a student credit card is relaxing as compared to a regular credit card. We would be talking about them in detail further down.

Why These Cards?

Let us know the advantages of student credit cards :

1. They make instant cash available to them for their education related expenses. It can be buying books, paying some online course fee, paying rents or buying other necessary goods.
2. They can be used for entertainment or shopping purposes. It can be buying movie tickets, buying garments or clothing, doing online transactions for online shopping, for fuel refiling and so on.
3. Student credit cards are most useful for students studying abroad. They becomes too handy when they are far away from their homes with low or no cash and they in are in need of instant money.
4. Credit cards can be used to pay utility bills like electricity bill, house rents, mobile recharges, postpaid mobile bill payments, DTH recharges, insurance premium payments.
5. They can be used to withdraw cash from the ATM machines. However, the cost of withdrawing cash from the ATM is costly and also includes withdrawal charges every time cash is withdrawn.
6. Student credit cards have the facility to make big transactions into small easily payable installments (EMIs). This facility can be availed by just dialing the customer care number of the card issuing institution or bank.
7. Spending on credit cards earns rewards in the form of cashback, discounts or reward points. One can redeem the reward points for gifts or making credit card bill payments.
8. Using credit card wisely with discipline and making regular credit card bill payments on or before due date helps building credit score. A good credit score helps the card holder to get future loans easily.
9. Having a credit card at an as early stage of life as being a student also helps to learn the money management. It is very important for the post-student period of life to learn the financial management.
10. The credit limit issued against a student credit card is lower (₹15000). This is kept lower to prevent unnecessary spending to avoid card holder getting trapped in a credit card debt.

Like a regular credit card, the card holder needs to pay the credit card bill of all the spending he/she made, on or before the payment due date. Payment due date is such that it allows the card holder an interest free credit from 20 to 52 days.

How To Get Approved

Getting a regular credit card is really tough. It needs a lot of documentation and verification process like income proof, identity proof, residence proof. Even having all these documents does not guarantee the issuance of a credit card. Moreover, you need to have a get a credit score to get a regular credit card.

However, for getting a student credit card, you do not need too much documentation. Most important of all is that you need not present an income proof document. There is no need of a great credit score to get a student card. College students usually do not have any credit history. So, the student cards are the best credit cards for college students with no credit history.

The cards can be issued only against a security. It can be against fixed deposits (FDs) or against an education loan. Apart from that, you can also get it as an add-on card over an already issued credit card to your parents.

• Age 18 years or more
• Student identity card from college or university
• Security : against fixed deposits or as an add-on card

How To Apply For Student Credit Cards?

Minimum documentation is required to apply for student card. The required documents are:

1. Birth certificate
2. Residential address proof
3. Permanent account number (PAN) card
4. Passport size photographs

You do not need to produce income proof to get a student card. This is very useful because most of the credit card applications are rejected because of inadequate income proofs.

The card is issued after document verification process. These cards have a validity of 3 years or 5 years. Later on, this card can be converted to a regular credit card with increased credit limit after submitting your income proof when you are employed after studies.

Various Types Of Student Credit Cards Available

Not all banks or financial institutions issue student credit cards. The ones which issue also do so with some mandatory conditions as we talked above.

The popular cards for students in India are issued by state bank of India, ICICI bank and HDFC bank. The forex cards and international cards are the credit cards for college students who study abroad.

SBI Student Plus Advantage Card

SBI student plus advantage card is available exclusively for education loan customers with state bank of India or fixed deposit holders with the bank. There is no joining fee and no renewal or annual fee sbi student credit card if total spending is more than ₹ 35000 per annum. If the spending is less than that, then the annual fee is ₹ 500.

Features of SBI Student Plus Advantage Card

1. The card offers 1 reward point for every ₹ 100 spending. These reward points can be used to pay back the credit card bill. 10 times more reward points on international spending.
2. Up to 80% cash withdrawal limit from the ATM machines.
3. Online bill payments, online movie tickets, train booking tickets, fuel refilling with surcharge waiver.
4. Facility for a issue of demand draft or cheque against the cash limit.
5. Facility to covert big transactions to easy monthly installments (EMIs).
6. Facility of balance transfer from other bank credit cards.

HDFC ISIC Student ForexPlus Card

To get an ISIC student forexplus card from HDFC bank, you would need your AADHAAR, photocopy of passport, photocopy of visa or ticket along with other basic documents.

These cards are not totally free of charges and fees. There is fee for card issuance, card renewal, card reloading, re-issue of ATM PIN, balance inquiry,charge slip retrieval and cross currency charges.

Features of ISIC Student ForexPlus Card

1. The HDFC Bank student card is available in three major currencies – USD, Euro and GBP. that means, you can withdraw money from the ATMs in local currency where you are travelling.
2. The credit card can be reloaded instantly through prepaid net banking.
3. It can also be used as a student identity card.
4. In case of loss of the card, emergency cash can be delivered to you through assistance of their international customer care.
5. These forex cards also have insurance covers and other safety measures to avoid the credit card related frauds.

ICICI Bank Student Travel Card

The ICICI bank student travel card comes loaded with a lot of features and offers. First of all, the card comes with an annual fee of ₹ 499 and a renewal fee of ₹ 199. The renewal fee is charged from the second year of the renewal.

Like student credit card from HDFC bank, ICICI student credit card has several different types of transaction charges ; reloading fee, inactivity fee if card is not used in 180 days, cash withdrawal fee, lost card replacement fee and SMS alert charges.

Features of ICICI Bank Student Travel Card

1. International student identity card membership benefits of worth up to ₹ 590.
2. There is 40% discount on excess baggage. Moreover, you also get 20% discount on courier service by DHL.
3. You get discount vouchers for shopping at retail store croma.
4. Your card remains secured from online frauds with card protection plus insurance cover worth ₹ 1600. This is a quite useful feature in today’s world of cyber frauds.
5. There is also coverage for liability up to ₹ 5,00,000 in case of loss of card.

MNSSBY – Bihar Student Credit Card Yojana

Some state governments like Bihar, are now offering student credit cards to the poor students who have passed the 12th standard.This is a very good initiative to help the needy students to complete their higher education if their families are unable to bear the expenses of their studies.

There is financial assistance of up to ₹ 4,00,000 to complete the professional course under the Bihar student credit card yojana. It can be used for courses like B.A., B.Sc., M.B.B.S. and B.Tech. The credit is available at lower interest rates ; 1%.

When the students get employed and start earning, they are required to make the payments to the state governments for the money used on the credit cards.

Eligibility

Bihar student credit card yojana is for the residents of Bihar state. The eligibility crieria to get enrolled for the MNSSBY are as below :

• Resident of Bihar
• Passed 12th standard class
• Age not more than 25 years.
• AADHAAR card
• PAN card
• Bank account details
• Proof of admission to the above mentioned courses.

Sudents can apply for the student credit card online through the official website at student portal.