hey guys it's adrian here the canadian in a t-shirt and today i'll be breaking down the
best credit cards in canada for students these credit cards are perfect for absolute beginners
even if you don't have any credit history or income just as long as you're a student
at post-secondary education like college or university you'll likely get approved and can
start building your credit score from scratch so if you're a student or the parent of a student
definitely consider applying to one of these cards to jumpstart your financial future i've already
made a video on the best no fee credit cards for beginners with low incomes many of those cards
offer better cashback rates than these ones but they do require at least some income around 10 to
15 000 and a low to fair credit score so if you're a third or fourth year student with some income
from co-op or side jobs definitely check out that video and apply to some of those cards but if you
are just out of high school with zero income and you've never had a credit card before then
this video is for you all the cards on this list are designed for canadian students they have no
annual fee so they are completely free and they have no income or credit score requirements and
they're designed to be your very first credit card so as long as you're a registered student you'll
most likely get approved just make sure that you're at the age of majority in your province
so you have to be at least 18 in ontario quebec and most of canada or 19 in british columbia and
the maritime provinces a credit card is a powerful tool if you use it correctly and it is by far
the easiest way to build your credit score but it does take time everyone in canada starts from zero
and it takes years to build your credit score so it's so important to start early once you graduate
and enter the workforce you will need a credit score when you try to rent an apartment or apply
for a car loan or even a mortgage without a credit score the bank has no reason to trust you you have
no history or way to prove to the bank that you can responsibly handle their money but if you
get a credit card while you're in school and you pay your balance in full every single month over
those three or four years you are building your credit score step by step now you have financial
credibility and now the banks have a reason to trust you with a loan plus you'll be earning
some extra money with cash back along the way but only spend what you can afford the cards in this
list can give you around two percent in cash back that's free money but that's nothing compared to
the 20 of interest charged against you if you can't make a payment so be smart control your
spending and always pay your credit card bills in full and if you want to improve your credit score
check out my video on the basics of credit scores in canada and how to improve your credits in seven
steps so click the pop-up at the top right and then come back to this video so with that let's
jump into the best student credit cards in canada starting at the top we have the BMO cashback
mastercard for students i don't actually own this credit card but it will look something like this
this card offers a whopping 3 cashback on groceries that's incredible and even better than
most premium credit cards for high income earners the BMO card has no annual fee and still gives
you three percent cash back on any purchase in a grocery store however you are limited to 500
a month on groceries to get this three percent rate any groceries above 500
a month will only get you 0.5 cash back but for a student it's very unlikely that you'll be spending
more than 500 a month on groceries so this card is perfect this card also offers one percent cashback
on recurring builds so that includes your cell phone internet netflix and utilities once again
benefit at all but with cash back this credit card will effectively give you at least a 0.5 discount
on everything you buy and at grocery stores you'll get a 3 discount which is amazing and here's a
cool hack this 3 back rate applies on any purchase you make at a grocery store even things like
electronics or gift cards so if you need to buy something on amazon and you use this credit card
you'll only get 0.5 cash back on your purchase which isn't great but if you go to a grocery
store and buy an amazon gift card that counts as groceries so now you'll get three percent cash
back on your amazon purchase i personally do this gift card trick whenever i buy things on amazon
itunes or the xbox store but it works for any gift card and in my case i actually get four percent
cash back using my scotia visa infinite card but this is a premium card did i talk about in this
video it's not for students you'll need a higher income and a solid credit score so i only got this
card when i graduated and got a full-time job and unfortunately walmart is not considered a grocery
store and neither is costco so you'll only get 0.5 cashback but this BMO card is a mastercard
so at least it will be accepted at costco as a signup bonus this card will offer a five percent
promotional cashback bonus on all purchases for the first three months or the first 2500
spent that will get you up to 125 dollars in bonus cashback when you sign up this is an
extremely generous signup bonus especially for a no fee card so definitely take advantage of it
most credit cards pay off their cashback once a year but with the BMO mastercard
you can redeem your cashback anytime you want as long as you have a balance of at least one dollar
this is a great feature this student mastercard is actually identical to the regular BMO cashback
mastercard that i talked about in this video the only difference is that this card is targeted
towards students so there's no income requirements so when you graduate your student mastercard will
be converted into a regular BMO mastercard you'll still have the exact same cashback benefits
and it won't hurt your credit score at all since you're not canceling your account
at number two we have the cibc dividend visa card for students this card is similar to the BMO in
that it focuses on groceries but it has a few other benefits too this card has no annual fee
and it offers two percent cash back on groceries technically this two percent cash back is limited
to twenty thousand dollars a year on groceries but even large families don't spend twenty thousand
on groceries so for a student you really don't have to worry about this limit the BMO card
offers a higher cash back rate on groceries but it's limited to 500 per month whereas the cibc
is essentially unlimited this card offers one percent cash back on recurring bills so your phone
internet and subscriptions just like the BMO card but the cibc visa also offers one percent
cashback on gasoline transportation like buses and uber and on restaurants all other purchases will
get you 0.5 cashback so if you eat out a lot or drive a car or pay for public transit then
the cibc visa might be a better option for you but if groceries are your biggest expense then
go with the BMO as a sign up bonus it's very simple cibc will give you 30 in bonus cashback
as long as you make a purchase in your first four months you can redeem your cashback anytime you
want but you need to have a cashback balance of at least 25 this flexibility is great since you don't
have to wait a whole year to receive your cashback like you do with most credit cards the cibc visa
also offers you a free sbc plus membership this is even better than the regular student price
card membership which normally costs around 10 a year but with the cibc visa you get the upgraded
spc plus version and it's totally free and you can use this spc plus program to save up to 30 percent
across hundreds of retailers clothing stores and restaurants the average spc user saves about 200
a year and i can say from personal experience it's definitely worth it i bought the spc card
every year while i was in school and the savings definitely paid for itself but the fact that this
cibc visa gives it to you for free makes it even better and if you drive a lot you can link up
your cibc visa to the journey rewards program for free and that will save you three cents per liter
at pioneer ultramar and chevron gas stations again this is a student-focused card so there
are no income requirements but when you graduate your card will be converted into the regular cbc
dividend visa which has the same cash back rewards but at that point you might consider upgrading
to the platinum card for even better cashback and eventually upgrade to the cabc visa infinite card
for some of the best cashback on groceries and gasoline available in canada check out my video
on the best premium canadian credit cards to learn more about that one at number three we have the
scotiabank scene visa for students this is one of the most popular student credit cards out there
and i bet you've seen advertisements for it at the movie theater but it really is a great card
and one that i honestly use to this day this card has no annual fee and strictly speaking it doesn't
offer pure cashback like the other two but it does offer scene points which can be easily redeemed
for movie tickets snacks and food this scene visa gives you five scene points for every dollar spent
at cineplex movie theaters or at cineplex.com and you get one scene point for every dollar
spent everywhere else if you love watching movies like i do this card can get you over four or five
percent cashback through these scene points which is just incredible i'll break this down in just a
minute you can redeem these scene points for free movie tickets popcorn and drinks movies at home
through their website or discounts at rec room arcades and restaurants like swiss la harvey's
montanas and eastside marios you can redeem 1250 points for a free movie ticket either regular or
3d 2 000 points will get you an enhanced movie ticket so imax ultra avx or d-box moving seats
and 2 500 points will get you a vip movie ticket for food you can redeem 500 points for
five dollars worth of popcorn and drinks or five dollars off of any of the previous restaurants
for me the best bang for my buck is if i redeem my scene points for a 3d movie ticket which gives me
a staggering 5.6 cashback there's no credit card in canada that can beat 5.6 cashback which is why
i still carry this credit card with me and to this day i use it every time i go to the movies let's
go through the math to see how i got this 5.6 percent so to redeem a 3d movie ticket i need 1
250 scene points i get 5 scene points for every dollar spent at cineplex so i need to spend 250
dollars that's enough to redeem a free 3d movie ticket and at my movie theater a 3d ticket
costs 14 so i spent 250 dollars to get 14 of value that is a cashback rate of 5.6 percent different
theaters will have different ticket prices and so the cashback rates will vary but you can expect
between four and five percent in cashback when you go to the movies of course this 5.6 cashback
rate only applies when i spend money at cineplex movie theaters spending money anywhere else only
gives me one scene point per dollar so instead of getting 5.6 cashback i get a fifth of that so 1.12
but that's still pretty good there are very few cards in canada that can beat 1.2 cashback on
all purchases and those cards come with an annual fee or have high income requirements but if you
don't go to the movies or you don't like any of those restaurants then this card isn't for you
to make this card even better there's a sign up bonus scotiabank will give you 1250 scene points
when you sign up and make your first purchase with this card that's enough for a free movie
this scene visa is actually the second credit card i ever got back when i was in university
when i graduated it was converted into a regular scene visa and 10 years later i'm still using it
but now it looks like this if you want to see the other credit cards that i personally use every day
check out this video here and if you're not a student and you want to sign up for the regular
scene visa click my referral link in the box below and you'll get 5 000 bonus scene points when you
sign up and spend at least 750 in the first three months that's enough for four free movies and it's
equivalent to a 7.5 bonus cash back offer that's absolutely amazing especially for a no fee credit
card so those are the best student credit cards in canada let's do a quick summary of each of their
benefits and figure out which one is best for you starting with the BMO cashback mastercard
this card gives us three percent cashback on groceries one percent on monthly bills and 0.5
percent on everything else so this card is best if groceries are your biggest expense
next we have the cibc dividend visa card this card gives us two percent cashback at groceries
one percent on monthly bills and one percent on gasoline transit and restaurants and then
0.5 percent everywhere else so this card is best if you spend a lot of money on gasoline
public transit and restaurants and finally we have the scene visa card this card gives us about five
percent cashback at movies and about one percent cashback everywhere else and this card is best if
you love going to the movies at cineplex so there you have it those are the best student credit
cards in canada for 2022 i've included a link in the box below for each credit card if you'd like
to apply for them these cards are perfect for students to start building their credit score
and earn some cash back along the way just make sure you always control your spending and pay
off your statement balance in full every single month be sure to check out my canadian credit card
playlist to learn more about the best credit cards out there especially once you graduate and grow
your income thanks for watching guys and be sure to like comment and subscribe if you found this
video helpful every thumbs up and comment really does help me build this channel on youtube and hit
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thanks everyone and i'll see you guys on the next episode of the canadian in a t-shirt bye guys