Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card Review [2024]: Build Your Credit While Earning Cash Back

Student credit cards are typically designed to have less strict requirements and fewer benefits than many other types of credit cards — primarily because they’re meant to be starter cards for students building their credit history. But cards such as the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card flip the script by offering a product that provides excellent earning potential and benefits without strict qualification requirements.

In this SavorOne Rewards for Students card review, you’ll learn about this card’s benefits and drawbacks, as well as how to use it to earn and redeem cashback rewards. This will help you decide whether the SavorOne Rewards for Students is the best fit for you.

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Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

5.0

FinanceBuzz writers and editors score cards based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

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Current Offer

Earn a one-time $50 cash bonus after spending $100 in the first 3 months

Annual Fee

$0

Rewards Rate

10% cash back on purchases made through Uber & Uber Eats (through 11/14/2024); 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment; 5% on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 3% on dining, entertainment, streaming services, and grocery stores (excluding superstores such as Walmart® and Target®); and 1% on all other purchases

Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• Welcome bonus: Earn a one-time $50 cash bonus after spending $100 in the first 3 months
• No annual fee
• 3% unlimited cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services, and at grocery stores (excluding superstores such as Walmart® and Target®)
• 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment
• Automatic consideration for a higher credit limit after 6 months
• No foreign transaction fee

Drawbacks

• No early spend bonus

Card Details

• Earn a one-time $50 cash bonus after spending $100 in the first 3 months
• 10% cash back on purchases made through Uber & Uber Eats (through 11/14/2024); 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment; 5% on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 3% on dining, entertainment, streaming services, and grocery stores (excluding superstores such as Walmart® and Target®); and 1% on all other purchases

Who should get the SavorOne Rewards for Students Card?

The SavorOne Rewards for Students card is only for students who are 18 or older. Capital One considers a student, for this card, as anyone who is enrolled or about to be enrolled within three months of applying at an accredited university, college, or another type of higher education institution. Keep in mind, you have to meet the student requirements to qualify for this card, but you won’t necessarily lose access to using the card after graduating or when you’re no longer a student.

This card would likely be a good fit for students who want to build credit and benefit from its earning potential. You typically need good or fair credit to qualify, which fits many students who are just starting their credit-building journey.

In addition, the $0 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees are helpful for keeping costs to a minimum, including if you plan to travel while in college. But credit card beginners should take care with this card’s high APR. This isn’t a card you want to owe money given its high interest rate.

Card basics

SavorOne Rewards for Students Card benefits and perks

• High cashback rate: Cardholders earn 10% cash back on purchases made through Uber & Uber Eats (through 11/14/2024); 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment; 5% on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 3% on dining, entertainment, streaming services, and grocery stores (excluding superstores such as Walmart® and Target®); and 1% on all other purchases. These earning categories can be an ideal match for students because they represent common areas where you might typically spend money.
• No annual fee: The SavorOne Rewards for Students has a $0 annual fee, so you don’t have an additional annual cost to worry about as a college student.
• No foreign transaction fees: You won’t have to pay an added cost on foreign purchases, which could come in handy if you’re studying abroad.
• Automatic review: Capital One will automatically consider you for a credit line increase after six months.
• Extended warranty protection: Eligible purchases have their warranty extended with this benefit.
• Travel accident insurance: Eligible losses are covered when you use your credit card to pay for your fare.
• Concierge service: Receive complimentary concierge service for dining, entertainment, and travel. 
• Capital One Entertainment: Receive special access to sporting, music, and dining events through the Capital One Entertainment portal. You have the option to use your rewards, your card, or a combination of the two to book tickets.
• Important alerts: Receive account alerts from Capital One assistant Eno, including potential duplicate purchase or recurring bill increases. Also, receive alerts about changes to your TransUnion or Experian credit reports and free credit monitoring with CreditWise.

Drawbacks to the SavorOne Rewards for Students Card

• No intro balance transfer or purchase APR: Many credit cards provide a 0% introductory APR offer for the first year or more after account opening, often for purchases or balance transfers, but there’s no such offer with this card. Instead, you'll get the regular APR. For cards with these intro APR offers, check out our list of the best balance transfer cards.
  

Earning and redeeming

Best ways to earn

The best way to earn cash back with the SavorOne Rewards for Students Card is by using it as much as possible, especially in categories where it earns bonus rewards.

For example, the earning rate for dining, entertainment, popular streaming services, and at grocery stores (excluding superstores such as Walmart® and Target®) is 3%, but for all other purchases it’s only 1%. So you can earn three times as much if you use the SavorOne Student on purchases that fall within these bonus categories.

Here’s a breakdown of what counts as an eligible purchases for the bonus categories on the SavorOne Rewards for Students Card:

• What counts as dining? Eligible purchases at restaurants, cafes, bars, fast-food restaurants, bakeries, and lounges.
• What counts as entertainment? Eligible purchases at movie theaters, amusement parks, tourist attractions, aquariums and zoos, record stores, bowling alleys, and more. Golf courses and collegiate sporting events don’t count.
• What counts as streaming? Eligible streaming services include Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and more. Prime Video, AT&T TV, and Verizon Fios On Demand are excluded.
• What counts as a grocery store? Eligible purchases at supermarkets, specialty markets, meat lockers, and dairy product stores. Superstores like Walmart and Target are excluded.

Maximizing your redemptions

The SavorOne Rewards for Students Card offers multiple ways to redeem your cash back, including:

• Statement credits
• Mailed check
• Cover previous purchases
• Gift cards
• Cover PayPal purchases
• Shop with Points at Amazon.com
• Capital One Entertainment

Capital One doesn’t publicly release its reward redemption rates, but most cashback credit cards offer the best rates when you redeem your rewards for the option(s) that most equate to actual cash back — which in this case would be for statement credits or a mailed check. You can use your rewards for gift cards or shopping with PayPal or Amazon, but you run the risk of getting less value for your cash back.

SavorOne Rewards for Students Card FAQs

Other cards to consider

The SavorOne Rewards for Students Credit Card offers helpful benefits and rewards, but it might not be the best credit card for everyone. For other options, consider the Chase Freedom Rise℠ and the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card.

The Chase Freedom Rise has a $0 annual fee and offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases. While it's marketed as a cashback card, it actually earns Chase Ultimate Rewards program points, which are among the most valuable credit card rewards available. With this card, you can also earn $25 statement credit for enrolling in automatic payments within the first three months of account opening. 

The Capital One QuicksilverOne has a $39 annual fee and offers unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase; plus 5% unlimited cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. The annual cost is something to consider, but your potential earnings could offset the fee each year if you earn enough. 

The best part of flat-rate earnings is you don’t have to worry about tracking bonus categories — everything you purchase, other than hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, earns 1.5% cash back. So if your typical spending habits don’t align with the cashback categories on the SavorOne Student Card, the QuicksilverOne might be a better option for you.

For more details, check out our Capital One QuicksilverOne review.

Earn Unlimited Cash Back

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

5.0

FinanceBuzz writers and editors score cards based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

5.0

FinanceBuzz writers and editors score cards based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Why We Like It

Earn a one-time $50 cash bonus after spending $100 in the first 3 months

See how these cards compare:

Chase Freedom Rise℠

• $0 annual fee
• Earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases
• Earn $25 statement credit for enrolling in automatic payments within the first three months of account opening

Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card

• 1.5% unlimited cash back on every purchase, every day
• Plus earn unlimited 5% unlimited cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• Consideration for a higher credit line as quickly as 6 months after account opening
• Unlimited access to CreditWise: a free monitoring tool that won't damage your score