For many years, the Discover it® Student Chrome was chief among rewarding credit card options for students. The card hasn’t lost a step; but it has gotten outpaced by the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card, which launched mid-2021 and offers superior rewards for many college students.
Compared to Discover it® Student Chrome, the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card may be more difficult to get due to its FICO score requirement. However, for most students who can qualify for it, the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card is the best choice.
Here’s how to decide which card is right for you.
At a glance
| Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card | Discover it® Student Chrome | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $0. | $0. |
| New cardholder offer | For a limited-time, earn $100 when you spend $300 in the first three months. | 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! There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. You could turn $50 cash back into $100. Or turn $100 cash back into $200. |
| Rewards |
|
|
| Required credit score | 630-689 (average). | None. |
| Student status required | Applicants must be an admitted or enrolled full- or part-time student at an accredited university or community college. | Proof of school enrollment required. |
| Foreign transaction fee | None. | None. |
Why the Savor Student is better for most students
Rewards
The rewards rates and categories help the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card stake its claim as best student credit card. Cardholders get an unlimited 3% back on dining, purchases at grocery stores, entertainment and streaming services — four categories sure to find favor with college students. (Note that Walmart and Target are excluded from Capital One’s definition of grocery stores.) The Discover it® Student Chrome only earns 2% at gas stations and restaurants, and that rate is capped at $1,000 in combined quarterly spending. Everything else earns an unlimited 1%.
The breadth of the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card’s bonus categories is another plus. Coffee shops, fast food chains and restaurants qualify as dining; entertainment includes movies, bowling alleys, zoos, amusement parks and more. All purchases outside of the four bonus categories earn 1% cash back.
Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card also earns 8% back on purchases made through the Capital One Entertainment ticketing platform and on Vivid Seats tickets, and 5% back on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, two stellar rates in exchange for shopping through Capital One’s portals.
Staying power
Students can retain their Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card card and all of its benefits after they graduate or leave school for any reason. That means that the rewards you’ve accrued on the card and the credit history you’ve built up since opening the account go with you into adulthood. A good credit history can ease the transition into the real world by helping you secure an apartment and even a job, for example.
The rewards categories of the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card will still be useful post-school, and its rewards rates are competitive with many non-student cards. For example, its cash-back rate on purchases at grocery stores is the same as the highly rated Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, which earns 3% cash back* at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 spent per year. (*Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.)
It also earns 3% back on dining like another well-respected card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. The Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card is a student card, but it’ll serve you well as you pay for your grown-up expenses.
Faster sign-up bonus
The Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card doesn’t always offer a sign-up bonus, but when it does, there’s an opportunity to make some quick cash. The card’s current offer is this: For a limited-time, earn $100 when you spend $300 in the first three months. The spending threshold should be fairly attainable for many students when the cost of one brand new textbook is enough to score the bonus. If you meet the spending requirements and get the bonus, it will be credited to your account within two billing cycles whereas the welcome offer for the Discover it® Student Chrome comes a full year after account opening.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
Rewards earned with both cards may be redeemed for any amount at any time. Who might want the Discover it® Student Chrome
Accessibility
For some students, the Discover it® Student Chrome will be an easier card to get than the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card. Applicants do not need a FICO credit score to qualify for the Discover it® Student Chrome. Plenty of college students have limited credit histories, if any at all, so for them, the Discover it® Student Chrome may be a more realistic option to build credit.
Unlimited cashback match
The welcome offer for the Discover it® Student Chrome has the potential to outearn the bonus offer from the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card. Discover puts it like this: 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! There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. You could turn $50 cash back into $100. Or turn $100 cash back into $200.
The more you spend with the Discover it® Student Chrome, the bigger your cashback match will be. Maxing out the card’s two bonus categories, gas and restaurants, will produce an even bigger year-end reward. If you spend $1,000 per quarter on gas and restaurants, you’ll have $80 in rewards by your one-year anniversary. After Discover matches the annual rewards total, you’ll come away with an extra $80. For those students who plan to bring a car to campus, or who commute to school, the Discover it® Student Chrome is an excellent choice.
Brief break from interest and late fees
The Discover it® Student Chrome offers a 0% introductory APR, a relatively rare find among student credit cards. Specifically, you get 0% intro APR on Purchases for 6 months and 10.99% intro APR on Balance Transfers for 6 months, and then the ongoing APR of 16.49%-25.49% Variable APR.
If you need to finance the purchase of school supplies for the semester, for example, it can be a relief knowing that you won’t be charged interest on the balance for 6 months. The Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card doesn’t have a 0% intro APR period.
The Discover it® Student Chrome also waives the late fee on your first late payment, another potential money-saving perk for student cardholders who may be new to managing a credit card.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
Interest charges can always be avoided by paying your credit card balance in full every month. Which card should you get?
If you count yourself among the many students who already spend money on dining, groceries, streaming and entertainment, no other card will reward you as handsomely as the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card. The limited-time offer through Nov. 14, 2024, with Uber and Uber Eats is an added bonus, but one that has real value to plenty of college students. An excellent choice for the freshman in college, it makes sense for the recent grad, too.
