Spaces vs. Tabs: The Indentation Debate Continues
A TLDR guide to credit cards (TLDR as in too long didn’t read)
Here are my opinions as someone that
- Started off their banking with a Local Credit Union
- Had an SSN
- Have intentions of using points back for travel rather than cashback in the future
- Had an intent of staying in the US after graduation
My personal roadmap would be looking back would be
- Get a HYSA checking account in a internet heavy bank like Ally
- Note: This really depends on how you do your transactions, but much of mine are already Apple Pay or Google Pay, so I have never needed much cash.
- I have a pair of a credit union as well as a large bank, so that I can get the benefit of a local branch as well as be able to pull out some cash if I needed to in any other location in the future.
- Get a starter credit card
- Get a mid tier credit card afterwards
- Chase Freedom Flex, an entry card into the Chase ecosystem.
- BILT, a great card that turns rent into points
- Figure out if you are Team Travel / Cashback and figure the next card from there
- There are some people who like to churn signup bonuses on credit cards like r/churn, but that requires much more income and time, which is usually a luxury we can’t afford as a student
- For those wanting to churn, I would highly think about which card to get next based on if I wanted to be using Chase credit cards as they have a infamous 5/24 that restricts people frm getting Chase CCs if you already have 5 CCs.
Some other tips are
- **ALWAYS TURN ON AUTOPAY **
- Autopay is a feature that is taken for granted in many other credit cards around the world, basically it means that you automatically pay out of your bank account in full each time.
- NEVER USE MINIMUM PAY OR HAVE UNPAIED CREDIT
- It means that you roll over anything you didnt pay onto the next cycle, with many times a much more costlier outline
TLDR Tier List for
- [Discover IT Student (it)] / Capital One Savor One (c1) / Chase Freedom Flex
- Bilt / Chase Freedom Flex
- Venture X /
If your an international student, like me, and knowing nothing about what credit card to get in America, this is a little tutorial on my expereince. In my experience, its hard to get used to things like a “credit score”, or
A TLDR guide to banks
TLDR: Use a internet banking heavy bank like Ally orSoFi that have a great HYSA
banking
Internet banking in the US is a bit strange, with each bank having different ways of getting fees from you.
Other ways of transactions
Apart from banking or credit cards, you will notice that many of your friends will use Venmo / Cash App / Zelle to trade money if you do decide to split the bill or get the bill for someone if they didnt have cash, etc. My barber actually exclusively does everything on Venmo.
Many of these require a bank account, and with some credit unions, they will not have Zelle (this was the case for me with the MIT Credit Union).
What is Zelle? Zelle is a system that banks use to be able to send cash easily back and forth. Think of it like Venmo, but easeier and without the hassle of wiring money to and fro. Also it doesnt have fees like that. (With wire transfer’s its like $20 ish as of writing)
So it’s better to pick one that you can do all 3 with, just in case.
Ally
My pick is to use Ally, which has actually been around for a long time, and is also a great pick because it gives you a 4.5% APY HYSA (High Yield Savings Account), which is basically a fancy way of saying a high interest savings account. If you have just money lying around in there, it accrues at a 4.5% interest rate, neat!
Other ones I considered but didn’t do were
- SoFI (There High APY is only accounted for the deposit only, otherwise it’s waaaay lower than advertised )
- Chase (I considered against it for a easier online option, still good I think)
- Bank of America (I am against it in theory, but alot of international students do go for it )
- Wells Fargo (No.)
What’s a credit score?
A credit score is like a checkbook, but of the worst kind. You actually get a better score if you have debt, and lower usage of credit (which is odd because the whole reason you get something is to use it).
Discover IT Student
1% Cashback
It gets you 1% cashback on all purchases, and 5% on rotating categories. It also has no annual fee, and no foreign transaction fees. The only downside is that it’s not accepted everywhere, but it’s a good card to start with. And better yet, it will match your points for everything, making it effectively a 2% cashback card and 10% on rotating categories. And really, its a good starter card that you can use for the beginning and kind of forget about it after the bonuses.
The rotating categories are things like Amazon or Target, usually with a cap with the cashback (like 75$) but I have found that I had never had the limit. Its also highly friendly to students and those just starting out, which is great for us.
Here is a signup link, here.
Capital One Savor One
Its a card issued by Capital One, with a 3% cashback on things like dining and groceries, which is the bulk of much of the expenses that I would have as a international/grad student. Also referred to one half of the Capital One Duo, those points earned could be put back into a travel card like the Venture X down the line, or just use it as cashback if I needed to.
Here is a signup link, here.
BILT
This is a card issued by Wells Fargo, with a specialty of being a 1% cashback on rent, which is also another big bulk of expenses. Though you do need to have 5 expenses per month for those points to be accumulating, it can be any 5 transactions, so you could have 5 coffees each month and be good to go. Some people set recurring expenses which is also a nice way to regulate these transactions.
Here is a signup link, here.
Freedom Flex
The Chase Freedom Flex is my go to for the no annual fee, but still a Chase card category. Sure there is the Freedom Unlimited, but I think that the flex is just better because you get more cashback value 5% on a category at the end of the day. And who doesn’t really like a gamble? It also just is something that you can keep for longer, the unlimited is for around 1.5% for everything, which is like a jack of all trades, but a master of none. You really don’t need something like that when your optimizing for everything and it really doesn’t suit any of the cards.
Venture X
The Venture X is part of the Capital One Duo, in partner with the Savor One, and is the card to be able to transfer out to the multiple partners that the Capital Ecosystem has. It has an annual of $xx as of writing, but you get back a xx amount of credit per year, which is for me like a good trip out to NYC or a trip in the summer with some friends.
Travel Partners
I value United Airlines over all other travel partners, just because my family has been with them for so long and I’ve accumulated the most points with them. So for me, any of the travel partners that go along with them, just make the most sense.
Sidenote
The links here may contain referral links that give a kickback to me as a person maintaining this blog