Discover® Student Open Road® Card Review

Discover® Student Open Road® Card Online Application

0% Interest on Purchases for 6 months.
No Annual Fee.
Build Your Credit History.
Full 5% Cashback Bonus on gas and auto maintenance purchases.
Up to 1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on all other purchases.

Intro APR	Intro APR Period	Regular APR	Annual Fee	Balance Transfers	Credit Needed
0%*	6 months*	14.99%*	None.*	NA*	fair*

For students there are often few choices when it comes to getting a credit card - for most of them it is their first time opening a credit account and due to a lack of credit history and income over $15000 per year, the introductory cards are all they can get their hands on. With the Discover Open Road Card, however, students can not only open their own credit card account but they can receive various rewards relating to their travel expenses and vehicle maintenance.

While using the Discover Card to make payments on vehicle repair and gas purchases, the cardholder can redeem 5% cashback on the first $1200 spent on gas and car repairs and also 1% on all other purchases after the spending amount exceeds $3000. Students will often make road trips back and forth between home and school for holidays and family get togethers; because of this the Discover Open Road Card is extremely useful because it allows the cardholder to benefit from the expenses related to vehicle ownership and frequent trips on the road. The card is a way for students to build up their credit, enjoy a relatively low APR at 16.99% and not feel so guilty about spending so much money on the car and gas. All rewards can be redeemed $20 at a time.

As with all Discover cards, the Open Road Card APR is subject to change if the account is not paid regularly and the balance is carried forward too often. If this is the case the APR will change to the default rate, anywhere up to 30.99% depending on your credit and payment history. It costs 3% for each cash advance with a $5 minimum and no maximum. Annually this fee is 23.99%, standard with any Discover account. Late fees work out to $15 for any amount up to $500 and $39 on any amount over this; after December first of 2007, however, this rate changes to $19 on any amount up to $250 and $39 for any amount thereafter.

The overlimit fee works the same way as the introductory late fees. If you make payments on the account each month to clear your debt, you retain the 25 days grace period before your purchases will be subject to APR. If not, the interest will be calculated more quickly on the account and you will end up paying more on purchases than need be.