Compare our best credit cards for students

Yes, student credit card providers will usually count your student loan as well as your salary from your job if you have one.

Some banks will only offer a student credit card to people who have a student current account with them - however, that doesn't mean you have to take one out. Other providers offer credit cards to anyone who qualifies, no matter who they bank with.

You’ll need to be at least 18 years old and ideally in good financial shape to get your first card. Here is how to find a card that’s more likely to accept you.

When you graduate and leave your course, you will still usually be able to use your student credit card. However, if you have managed your credit well, you might now qualify for a credit card that offers better benefits such as cashback or interest-free purchases, or a higher credit limit or lower APR. So, it could be worth switching to a more competitive deal.

A credit limit is the maximum you can owe on your card at any point. It’s set by your provider when you apply. Here is how a credit limit works and how much it costs if you exceed it.

Yes, your credit record does matter as it helps lenders decide whether to accept you as well as what APR and credit limit to offer.

Yes, you can use a balance transfer, but not many student credit cards offer them. These cards offer 0% balance transfers.

Yes. Credit card providers may offer their own protection services as well as protection through Section 75 and the Chargeback scheme.

Paying the full amount by Direct Debit means you never miss a payment or pay interest. Here are all the ways to repay.

Your credit card balance is the amount of money you owe your credit card provider. In other words, it's the amount you borrowed using your credit card to buy goods and services. It's also sometimes referred to as your credit card debt.

Withdrawing money from an ATM on a credit card is known as a cash advance, and it nearly always attracts a cash withdrawal fee, usually of around 3%. In addition, interest is charged on cash withdrawals from the day you take the money out, sacrificing your standard interest-free period.

Several other transactions - including buying stocks and shares, foreign currency and lottery tickets - are frequently treated as “cash-like” transactions by card providers and have the same rules and fees applied to them.

Your credit limit is the amount you can borrow on your credit card at any one time. If you exceed this amount, you can be charged a fee - typically £12 - and it can leave a mark on your credit report.

You won’t usually find out your credit limit until the end of an application process - although you can ask your provider to increase – or decrease – your credit limit at any time.

Credit limits are set based on your credit history and your earnings.

Once you've reached your credit limit, you need to make a payment to bring down your balance before you can use the card again. Find out more in our guide to credit limits.

Your credit report is your history of borrowing and paying bills over the past few years. Lenders send this information to one or more of the three credit reference agencies, which compile reports on UK residents.

Before deciding whether to let someone borrow, lenders check your report from one or more of the agencies. You can request a copy of your credit reports to ensure there are no mistakes on your file, request changes if you spot one and add notes explaining any missed payments.

Your credit score is calculated based on your credit history. Each credit reference agency has its own method of calculating this.

Your credit score will go up for things like making payments on time and down for things like being late or defaulting on a loan. Typically, the higher your score, the more likely you are to be offered a lower rate of interest or higher credit limit.

There is no absolute pass or fail mark attached to a credit score, with each lender making its own decision on what it considers acceptable.

If you miss a few payments, generally between three and six, your credit card provider will send you a default notice, giving you at least 14 days to pay the amount stated on the notice. 

Court action could be used to recover the debt, and if you fail to make the payment, your account will be “defaulted”, meaning you won’t be able to use your credit card anymore. It is possible that your provider may have already blocked spending on your account after the first couple of missed payments. A record of the default will also stay on your credit report for six years, making it harder to get any form of credit throughout this time.

A Direct Debit is when you give a company permission to take payments automatically from your bank account. It decides the amount, but you are free to cancel the arrangement. For example, you can set up a Direct Debit to pay off your credit card. This could be for the minimum amount due, a fixed sum, or the entire balance.

Minimum eligibility criteria define the attributes the provider expects customers to have before offering them a product. They’re designed to help customers understand if they should proceed with an application.

Meeting the minimum eligibility criteria is not a guarantee of approval. Eligibility criteria include factors such as age, salary and sometimes other details, depending on the product.

If you buy something abroad or from an overseas website, you are likely to be hit with a foreign transaction fee, which is often around 3% of the total payment.

Some credit cards charge no foreign transaction fees and are designed for use abroad. However, cash withdrawals tend to incur an additional cost, whether at home or abroad. The exchange will be based on Mastercard or Visa currency rates (depending on who issues your credit card).

If you’ve made an application for credit, such as a credit card, loan or mortgage, lenders will carry out an in-depth check of your credit report, known as a hard credit check.

This is a detailed look into your financial history, especially your borrowing history, so a lender can see your track record of repaying money you've previously borrowed.

A hard check will show any negative marks on your credit report, like overdue payments, missed payments, previous credit applications and even bankruptcies.

Every time a hard check is carried out, it leaves a mark on your credit report, which can hurt your credit score.

Interest-free credit cards allow you to either transfer a balance, make purchases or transfer cash to a current account without paying any interest on your balance for a set period. However, you must keep making at least the minimum monthly repayment during this time.

Once the 0% deal is over, you will be charged interest on any remaining debt at your standard APR. With balance transfers and money transfers, you will usually have to pay a transfer fee. 

Credit card introductory offers include bonus reward points, extra cashback, 0% on balance transfers or 0% on purchases.

Introductory offers are used to attract new customers, but once they expire, they revert to the standard offer or rate. When this happens, you should check if you’re still getting the best deal or whether you need to switch to a different credit card.

Every credit card has a minimum monthly repayment amount set out in its rules, which you can find in the summary box.

The minimum payment is calculated by working out what interest you've built up over the past month and then adding a small percentage of your total balance. If you have a small overall balance, there might be a fixed sum instead - for example, £5.

As minimum monthly repayments are set at such low levels, it’s best to pay off more than this each month if you can. You’ll clear your debt faster and pay less interest too.

A soft credit check is a top-level view of your financial history. It lets lenders assess you for their offers and can show you what you could be eligible for.

Although a soft credit check is recorded, it doesn’t leave a mark on your credit file. This means that while you can see soft checks when you look at your own report, lenders can't. A soft credit check won’t impact your credit score, but you’ll be able to see if anyone has checked your credit history.

In certain industries, some employers will perform a soft credit check if you’ve recently applied for a job with them.