THE 3.9 GPA PLAN

The mtvU Platinum Select Visa offers the chance to earn “Thank You Points” — a reward system tailored for young people that goes toward movie tickets, home appliances and even student loans rebates or tickets to the MTV Music Awards. These points are awarded for making purchases, paying bills on time and earning a good GPA. You can earn up to 2,000 points per semester for your pristine report card, 25 points for every timely payment and between 1 and 5 points per $1 spent in everyday purchases. The upside this program is that the “Thank You Network” offers a wide variety of earnable rewards and isn’t just limited to “young people” products. The downside is it might take some time to earn the 10,000 points to earn a $100 rebate toward your student loans.

FINE PRINT

Positives
+
No annual fee
No interest charge for six months
Not unreasonable 12.24 percent interest rate

Negatives
–
Short payment period of 20 days
Interest rate subject to rise

THE FACEBOOKER CARD

Only available to people with Facebook accounts, Chase bank offers Chase + 1, which comes equipped with a detailed Facebook fan page and a catalog of rewards that can be bought with Karma Points. Does paying your credit card off on time mean good karma? Evidently. Does Chase know how to market to the Facebook generation? Obviously. Chase + 1 is excessively marketed to young people. To satisfy our need for immediate gratification, Chase + 1 rewards 20 Karma Points — enough for a Cat Power CD. You can get another five points for passing a credit education quiz, two points for every timely payment and eight points for a six-month spree of good behavior. Chase + 1 on Facebook offers advice on spending with credit as well as the opportunity to donate points to charity as dollars or share points with your friend who says he needs that “Flight of the Concords” season DVD immediately.

FINE PRINT:

Positives
+
No annual fee
No interest charge for three months

Negatives
–
13.24 or 18.24 percent variable interest rate
Interest rate subject to rise

ACTUAL CASH BACK

The Discover Student Card has one of the few rewards programs in the reach of credit novices that offers actual money as an incentive. With Discover’s Cashback Bonus, you can earn back up to 1 percent on general purchases and up to 5 percent on purchases made in specific categories like gas stations, restaurants and travel that change four times a year. Getting cash just for spending sounds like a great deal, but for general purchases you’d have to spend at least $3,000 to reach the 1 percent threshold — that’s right, $30. And for the novice cardholder, this credit plan contains several snares that could cost you more than $30 pretty fast. Discover calculates the annual percentage rate using the “two cycles average daily balance,” rather than the standard one cycle method. This means that an outstanding balance from one month will come back to haunt you the next — even if you paid it off, the interest rate that resulted from that balance will be figured into the calculation of your interest charge for the second month.

FINE PRINT:

Positives
+
No annual fee
25 days to make payments

Negatives
–
Two cycle average daily balance
14.99 percent annual percentage rate