Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card Review 2024

Capital One’s SavorOne Student Cash Rewards card offers students an opportunity to earn rewards in areas where students are likely to spend their money: Earn 10% cash back on purchases made through Uber & Uber Eats through 11/14/2024, 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and grocery stores (which excludes superstores like Walmart® and Target®), 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases, and 1% on all other purchases. The card also carries no annual fee and charges no foreign transaction fees, making it a good choice for study abroad or international students.

The SavorOne Student Cash Rewards card’s benefits, perks and conveniences are impressive even if they were offered on a card not marketed just to students. The unlimited reward earning potential of several broad, often-used categories and the additional protections available through Mastercard makes this a top pick among student credit cards. But a key thing to remember with this card—and any card that earns rewards—is that if you carry a balance, the interest charges will outweigh the value of any rewards earned.

• Earn 10% cash back on purchases made through Uber & Uber Eats through 11/14/2024, 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and grocery stores (which excludes superstores like Walmart® and Target®), 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases, and 1% on all other purchases
• $0 annual fee
• Welcome bonus: Earn $50 after spending $100 in the first three months
• No foreign transaction fees
• Select your own due date
• Fraud coverage for unauthorized charges if your card is ever lost or stolen

Earning Rewards

Rewards with the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card are earned automatically on eligible purchases. Cardholders earn an unlimited 10% cash back on purchases made through Uber & Uber Eats through 11/14/2024, 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and grocery stores (which excludes superstores like Walmart® and Target®), 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases, and 1% on all other purchases. The card also offers a welcome bonus of $50 after spending $100 in the first three months.

Redeeming Rewards

Rewards earned with the SavorOne Student do not expire for the life of the account and can be redeemed in myriad ways: for cash, purchases at Amazon.com, gift cards or PayPal purchases. You can also redeem your rewards for travel through Capital One Travel.

Rewards Potential

In order to determine the rewards potential of the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card, Forbes Advisor used a number of reputable sources to determine what the typical college student spends in a year. The following rewards potential breakdown assumes all travel purchases were made through Capital One Travel, earning 5% cash back.

Terms, conditions and exclusions apply to card benefits. Refer to your Guide to Benefits for more details on coverage availability.

• Extended warranty: Receive additional warranty protection at no charge on eligible items that you purchase with your credit card.
• Fraud coverage: Cardholders have $0 fraud liability for unauthorized charges if their card is ever lost or stolen.
• Capital One Travel benefits: Redeem your rewards for travel via Capital One Travel.

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: 19.99% - 29.99% (Variable)
• Purchase intro APR: N/A
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A

Fees

• Annual fee: $0
• Balance transfer fee: Balance Transfer Fee applies to balances transferred at a promotional rate
• Foreign purchase transaction fee: None

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card vs. Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students

For those jet-setting or border-crossing students, the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students is a great alternative to the SavorOne Student card for its similar lack of foreign transaction fees. Earning a flat-rate 1.5 points per dollar on all purchases everywhere, every time with no expiration on points as long as your account remains open, the Bank of America Travel Rewards card offers elevated rewards in different areas, which means the right pick between the two will depend on your spending patterns.

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card vs. Discover it® Student Cash Back

The Discover it® Student Cash Back offers students a learning experience with capped, quarterly rotating spend categories. The card earns 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations and more, up to the quarterly maximum once activated. Plus, automatically earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases. The card also has a unique welcome offer: Unlimited Cashback Match™ - Discover will match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year. There's no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Consider your personal spending patterns to determine if this earning structure will be more or less beneficial than an unlimited cash-back reward for spending within the SavorOne Student’s specific reward categories.

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card vs. Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

In addition to the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card, the card issuer offers another student card: the Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card (rates & fees). Both of these cards are similar, each charging no annual fee and having a similar regular APR. The Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Card includes a similar welcome bonus: Earn $50 after spending $100 in the first three months.

Where these cards differ is in how they earn rewards. The Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card earns rewards at the following rates: Earn 10% cash back on purchases made with Uber & Uber Eats through 11/14/2024, unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 1.5% unlimited cash back on every purchase.

Whichever card will be most beneficial to you will come down to your spending habits. Those who spend a lot on dining, groceries, entertainment, popular streaming services and groceries will do well with the SavorOne’s 3% earnings in these categories. Those who make large miscellaneous purchases will do better with the Quicksilver’s base 1.5% earnings on all purchases, which is stronger in comparison to the SavorOne’s base 1% on all purchases.

For those with a complete understanding of credit cards, credit and financial responsibility, this card has significant rewards potential. For those who aren’t yet comfortable with credit card spending or who aren’t confident in their ability to responsibly manage on-time payments, we can’t in good faith recommend this card. The APR demands special caution for those new to credit cards and credit card reward-earning. To see other options, check out our list of the best student credit cards.

Forbes Advisor considers a variety of criteria when assigning credit cards a rating. Cards are graded based on numerous factors including:

• Annual fees
• Welcome bonus offers
• Ongoing earning rates
• Value of individual points or miles
• Included travel or merchant credits
• Additional cardholder benefits

Card features we expect cardholders to use the most often are weighted more heavily in our ratings. Altogether, the factors came together to provide a star rating for each individual card.

Read more: How Forbes Advisor Rates Credit Cards

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.