[PROMOTION] Best Student Credit Card Offer
UPDATE- Credit card has been discontinued.
UPDATE- The $48 annual fee and $6 monthly maintenance fee (first year maintenance fee waived for new cardholders who are full time students enrolled in Canadian Universities and Colleges) was set to expire April 30, 2022, but now ended on April 6, 2022.
Is it not often that I promote secured credit cards, as they usually do not offer any significant rewards to talk about. However, Plastk changed the game with its Plastk Secured Visa Credit Card.
They currently have a decent offer for Canadian post secondary students looking to work on increasing their credit score. Let’s start with the highlights of the card.
Highlights
Plastk Secured Visa Credit Card
- $48 annual fee
(first year annual fee waived for new cardholders who are full time students enrolled in Canadian Universities and Colleges) (apply before April 30, 2022)(UPDATE ended April 6, 2022) - No Credit History Required
- $6 monthly maintenance fee (first year maintenance fee waived for new cardholders who are full time students enrolled in Canadian Universities and Colleges)
(apply before April 30, 2022)(UPDATE ended April 6, 2022) - Receive 5,000 sign up bonus points (limited time unspecified)
- $300 minimum security deposit required to set credit limit
- Earn 1 point for every $1 spent
- Receive free monthly credit score updates, powered by Equifax
Rewards
As a base, every 250 points is worth $1 in cash back, which is the equivalent of 0.004 cents per point. That means the cardholder gets 0.4% return for every $1 spent on the card. Therefore, the 5,000 sign up bonus is worth $20 (5000 x $0.004).
Alternately, points can be used to redeem for merchandise. But be sure to get at least 0.4% return when doing the calculations to come out equal or ahead.
Annual Fee / Maintenance Fee
The annual fee plus monthly maintenance fee comes out to $120 annually, which is fairly steep for a secured card. However, they offset it by offering some rewards.
If you contrast to the Capital One offers of $59 and $79 annual fee cards with no rewards options, the Plastk may still come out ahead depending on how much spending is being done. For example, if someone spent $10,000 per year, that would net them 10,000 points. The 10,000 points is worth $40 (10,000 x $0.004), which essentially reduces the annual fee from $120 to $80. If you double the spending to $20,000 a year, that brings home 20,000 points for $80 in value.
This is not counting the 5,000 sign up bonus and the possibility of the first year fee waived offer.
No Credit History Required
This is what makes this card an easy choice. To get into the miles and points game, it is important to have a strong consistent credit score. For that to happen, we need to be given the opportunity to do so.
A neat feature they have is to be able to watch your credit score go up once a year by receiving a free monthly credit score update through Equifax.
Plastk also offers Plastk Sentinel which is a credit reporting product allowing you to monitor, track, and review your full credit report. It is a subscription service providing customers with tools like Credit View, Credit Watch, and Credit Education to monitor and improve their credit score. You can sign up here: Plastk Sentinel.
Thoughts
The annual fee and maintenance fee waiver promotion for Canadian post secondary students makes this card a no brainer for students looking to build credit. For everyone else, best to calculate how much spending you plan to do to see if this card is worthwhile to help you build your credit.
The current first year fee waived expires April 30, 2022, so go for it while you can!