Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card: One of the best student credit cards

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

Bankrate Score

Rating: 4.6 stars out of 5

4.6

See Rates & Fees , Terms Apply

Apply now

on Capital One's secure site

Annual fee

$0

Intro offer

$50

Early Spend Bonus: Earn $50 when you spend $100 in the first three months

Rewards rate

1% - 8%

8% Cash Back on Capital One Entertainment purchases. 5% Cash Back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel (terms apply). 3% Cash Back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®). 1% Cash Back on all other purchases.

Recommended Credit Score

Fair to Good (580 – 740)

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

Bankrate Score

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

4.0

See Rates & Fees , Terms Apply

Apply now

on Capital One's secure site

Annual fee

$0

Intro offer

$50

Early Spend Bonus: Earn $50 when you spend $100 in the first three months

Rewards rate

1.5% - 10%

Earn 10% cash back on purchases made through Uber & Uber Eats, plus complimentary Uber One membership statement credits through 11/14/2024. Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day.

Recommended Credit Score

Fair to Good (580 – 740)

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

Discover it® Student Cash Back

Bankrate Score

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

5.0

See Rates & Fees , Terms Apply

Apply now

on Discover's secure site

Annual fee

$0

Intro offer

Cashback Match

Intro Offer: Unlimited Cashback Match for all new cardmembers – only from Discover. Discover will automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! So you could turn $50 cash back into $100. Or turn $100 cash back into $200. There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a dollar-for-dollar match.

Rewards rate

1% - 5%

Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases - automatically.

Recommended Credit Score

No Credit History

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

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

  The Capital One SavorOne Student card and the Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card have similar features and welcome bonuses. So, the deciding factor between these two cards is your individual spending needs. 

  If you spend more in SavorOne’s bonus categories, it will be a more rewarding choice. While the Quicksilver earns a higher rate on non-bonus categories, the SavorOne’s bonus categories will likely provide more value overall. Using our yearly rewards formula based on the average $22,500 annual spend determined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average consumer with the SavorOne Student card can earn almost $600 per year, while they would earn only about $338 annually with the Quicksilver Student card at its 1.5 percent flat cash back rate.

  However, the Quicksilver earns on all eligible purchases and elevated rewards on hotels and rental cars as well as Uber & Uber Eats (through Nov. 14, 2024). If you spend a decent amount outside the SavorOne's bonus categories and on Uber, the Quicksilver may be a better fit.
  
  

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

  While the rewards structures are equally beneficial in different ways, the protections for students may sway you towards the Discover it® Student Cash Back card. The Discover it® Student Cash Back has better reward potential than the SavorOne Student if you maximize the spending limit for its rotating quarterly bonus categories, which might be difficult on a student's budget. The SavorOne Student card’s unlimited rewards structure makes managing it much easier since you don’t need to activate categories or change bonus categories.

  But the SavorOne Student card isn’t ideal if you need to carry a balance or miss a payment. The Discover it® Student Cash Back waives your first late payment fee and won’t raise your APR for missing a payment. You’ll also get a modest intro APR period and lower interest rates. The SavorOne Student doesn’t offer any of these features, which doesn’t benefit students new to the world of credit cards.

   

• College students

  Since it’s a student card, the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card is only available to college students whether enrolled in a four-year or two-year institution. Because of this, it caters well to the needs of a typical college student. By earning elevated rates in categories like dining, grocery stores, entertainment and streaming, college students can earn excellent rewards on purchases they’d typically make. A robust reward balance can motivate them to use credit cards responsibly.

• Responsible spenders

  Students with the discipline and ability to pay their balance in full can greatly benefit from this card. Since there is no intro APR offer and potentially high interest rates, avoiding a balance should be the goal with this card. Spending responsibly within your means to maximize your rewards can be very beneficial with this card.

• Cost and APR

  A student or credit-building card’s cost has a large influence on its overall score. 

  Students already face a ton of expenses, so extra card costs are best avoided if possible, and people with limited or damaged credit tend often find the cards they can qualify for are much pricier than traditional credit cards designed for people with a good or better credit score. 

  We compare a card’s total cost, including any annual fees, account activation fees, monthly fees and more against the total cost of other cards in this category and assign each card a score based on its affordability. We also factor rewards-earning potential into our assessment of a credit-building card’s total cost, subtracting a card’s expected earnings from the sum of its fees. 

  To get a sense of a card’s rewards-earning potential, we estimate its average annual rewards rate and average annual earnings based on the most popular spending categories (as covered in the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer spending report). 

  However, we use a slightly lower spending assumption ($300 per month or $3,600 per year) to estimate average earnings, assuming students and credit-builders will start out with a lower credit limit, will want to keep credit utilization low and will focus primarily on small purchases they can easily pay off.

  Given the many costs students face — from textbooks to laptops — the presence of an introductory APR on purchases or balance transfers also plays a role in a student card’s score.

  A card’s APR is also a major factor in its credit-building score. Each card’s average APR is compared against the average APR of other cards in the category, and the cards with lower-than-average APRs receive a higher rating. 

  Though high APRs are hard to avoid when you’re just starting out or working on your score, credit-builders should strive for as low an APR as possible since they’re likely to either be new to managing cards or trying to establish better financial habits and avoid falling into debt.

• Credit-building features

  Along with a credit-building card’s cost, our rating system takes into account how easy the card makes it to build credit. To assess this, we evaluate its credit limit potential and minimum deposit requirement.

  Unsecured cards with a high starting credit limit and secured cards that let you put down a large deposit and get a matching high credit limit will score the highest according to our “Ease of building credit” rubric and are more likely to appear on our list. 

  This is because a high credit limit can make it much easier to keep your credit utilization low, a primary credit-building factor that makes up 30 percent of your FICO credit score. 

  Secured cards have a slight advantage in this category since the maximum credit limit on a secured card tends to be much higher than the typical starting credit limit on an unsecured card that’s available with a bad or fair credit score. However, unsecured credit-building cards have the upper hand in another key aspect of building credit: accessibility. 

  Cards that carry no or a low deposit requirement can also receive a high score according to our “Ease of building credit” rubric since these cards offer a lower barrier to entry than secured cards that require you to put up hundreds of dollars in an upfront deposit. 

  Indeed, some users may prefer to pay a non-refundable $50 annual fee while they work on their credit score than tie up hundreds in a refundable security deposit.

• Perks

  We also evaluate each card’s benefits based on how useful they are for students or someone looking to build a positive credit history and save money on everyday spending. 

  We consider the inclusion of a rewards program, student-centric perks and access to your credit score or a credit monitoring service of prime importance, along with the ability to prequalify for the card with only a soft credit pull and a clear path to increase your credit limit or graduate to an unsecured or full-fledged rewards card.

  Cards that include these benefits are likely to score higher according to our credit-building card scoring rubric.

• What credit score do you need to apply for the Capital One SavorOne Student?

  It’s recommended to have a fair-to-good credit score, which is anywhere between 580 and 739 on the FICO scale, to apply for the SavorOne Student card. You may also be approved with a limited credit history. Capital One lets you check if you’re prequalified on its website before committing to a hard credit pull.

• How old do you need to be to apply for the Capital One SavorOne Student?

  You must be at least 18 years old to get a credit card. However, if you’re under the age of 21, you may be required to show proof of income or have a co-signer.

• What happens to my student card once I graduate?

  According to Capital One’s site, you can still use your card's benefits and rewards once you graduate. You can also contact the issuer to explore upgrade options.

What cardholders think

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

4.2

32 ratings

In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers.

91% of customers recommend this card

Score breakdown

5 stars

25%

4 stars

66%

3 stars

9%

2 stars

0%

1 star

0%

Score by category

Overall 4.2 / 5

Extra perks 3.7 / 5

Meets financial needs 4.0 / 5

Privacy and security 4.3 / 5

Customer service 3.7 / 5

Online portal or mobile app 4.1 / 5

In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are based on individual cardholder’s product details, and therefore cannot be verified for accuracy. User ratings are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers, nor do these ratings reflect Bankrate’s own reviews of these cards.