Capital One Journey Student Rewards Credit Card Review

The Capital One Journey Student Rewards card isn’t a trip worth taking. It earns an unlimited 1% cash back on all purchases. On time payments boost cash back to a total of 1.25% for that month. Earn 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. It offers decent rewards, but students take a risk with the sky-high interest rate charged by this card. Mistakes happen, especially when just starting out with adult responsibilities, so finding a more forgiving card may be a smarter choice.

With big-bank convenience but none of the real perks, the card offers a mobile app and online banking, Eno the personal assistant and identity and credit monitoring among other extras. The Journey Student Rewards card’s benefits package offers a watered-down likeness of those that come with Capital One’s better cards. Sure, no credit history might justify not-as-good perks, but to sum up the collective emotional response of an entire college-bound generation: “sigh.”

For the record: We never recommend allowing a credit card to accrue interest. Credit cards have incredibly high interest rates overall and whenever possible consumers should never allow a balance to accrue interest. That being said, sometimes circumstances aren’t ideal.

• No annual fee
• No foreign transaction fees
• 29.99% variable APR on purchases and balance transfers

Earning Rewards

The card earns cash-back rewards of an unlimited 1% cash back on all purchases. On time payments boost cash back to a total of 1.25% for that month. Earn 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and credited within two billing cycles. Rewards expire with account closure, but otherwise have no expiration date.

Redeeming Rewards

Reward redemptions with the Capital One Journey require meeting a minimum rewards redemption threshold. Redemptions can also be automatically at a set time each year. Rewards may be redeemed as statement credits or checks. Redemptions can be automated at a specific threshold starting at $25 or on an annual schedule. You can also redeem your rewards for travel through CapitalOneTravel.com.

Rewards Potential

In order to determine the rewards potential of the Capital One Journey Credit Card, Forbes Advisor used a number of government and other reputable sources to determine what the typical college student spends in a year.

The Capital One Journey offers an effective 1.25% cash back rate if you make on time payments each month—which everyone (students and non-students alike) should strive for. At a rate of 1.25% on typical annual expenses of $13,640, the average college student could expect to earn $170.50 cash back with the Capital One Journey Credit Card. If a payment is missed and only 1% cash back is earned, annual rewards earned will be only $136.40.

• Fraud Coverage – You’re covered by $0 Fraud Liability if your card is ever lost or stolen.
• Emergency Card Services – If your credit card is lost or stolen, you can get an emergency card replacement and a cash advance, subject to available credit.
• CreditWise® – Monitor your credit profile with the CreditWise® app, free for everyone.

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: 29.99% (Variable)
• Purchase Intro APR: N/A
• Balance Transfer Intro APR: N/A

Fees

• Annual Fee: $0
• Balance Transfer Fee: $0 at this Transfer APR
• Cash Advance: 3% of the amount of the cash advance, but not less than $3
• Foreign Purchase Transaction Fee: None

Journey Student Rewards from Capital One* vs. Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students

With an introductory APR offer and an unlimited 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 credit card for Students can teach the Capital One Journey Student a lesson or two. Neither card has an annual fee or foreign transaction fees.

The Bank of America Travel Rewards for Students offers students a decent card all around, even being so thoughtful as to throw in a welcome bonus: 25,000 online bonus points after spending $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening. The only condition with the Bank of America Travel Rewards for Students card requires redemptions on travel-related expenses in order to get the best value for your points, while the Capital One Journey Student card doesn’t require cash-back redemptions to be made toward travel purchases. Even so, the travel category is fairly broad and shouldn’t be too onerous if you go home a couple of times a year.

Journey Student Rewards from Capital One* vs. Discover it® Student Cash Back

Not only does the Discover it® Student Cash Back meet the Capital One Journey Student’s base rewards rate, it also offers 5% cash back on rotating quarterly categories up to $1,500 each quarter when activated. To match the 5% annual maximum with its bonus 1.25% cash back for on-time payments scheme, the Capital One Journey would require close to $24,000 in spending, assuming that the student is able to max out the 5% categories with the Discover it® Student Cash Back. All other eligible purchases earn 1% cash back.

The Discover it® Student Cash Back might not be the best student credit card, but it’s a lot better than the Capital One Journey Student.

No. If the Capital One Journey Student Rewards is the only student-branded card option for anyone, for whatever reason, we recommend checking out secured cards as a means of building credit history. Some secured cards even offer rewards of similar caliber.

Capital One’s Journey Student Rewards card presents the sort of offering that makes people afraid of credit cards. Students are trying to build better credit while they spend every penny they have to educate themselves in an ever-more-expensive and ever-more-demanding academic world. Banks do not serve students well, charging them sky-high interest rates. Capital One should learn from its competitors and offer less onerous terms for students.