Journey Student Rewards from Capital One review

With the Journey Student Rewards card, Capital One has designed a program for students geared to reinforce good credit habits, offering tools and incentives unmatched by any other student card. It is one of the best student cards for establishing good credit practices, although it falls short in other areas.

Motivates you to pay on time

Capital One provides some serious incentives for meeting your payment deadline. One of these is the CreditWise, which allows you to follow the progress of your credit score as you make or fail to make payments. After six months of timely payments, you’ll automatically be considered for a credit line increase. And then there’s a 25 percent increase to your cash back rewards every time you make the deadline. Capital One also allows you to set email and text alerts, to ensure that you don’t forget your deadline.

Cash back rewards are OK

On top of this, Capital One offers a cash-back program with a decent, if not stunning, rewards rate. You get 5 percent back on hotel and rental card bookings made through Capital One Travel as well as 1 percent back on all other purchases, a flat base rate you can boost to 1.25 percent if you make your payments on time. Rewards are also very flexible – you can redeem any dollar amount at any time. The overall value of the program is a drawback, however. Capital One falls short of other cash-back cards for students. Several cards offer large sign-up bonuses and a much higher rewards rate, thanks to rotating bonus categories.

The APR is high

The interest rate on this card is its biggest detractor. At 29.99% variable, it’s one of the highest among the student cards we reviewed. While we laud them for offering good credit management tools, we are less enthused about the high interest rate, since first-time cardholders are prone to missing payments and carrying balances. Also, there’s no introductory APR, which means cardholders are beholden to a high rate from the get-go.

This leaves us with mixed feelings about this card. We like that the card provides a strong set of incentives for good credit management, but we think the value of the card could be better. Aside from the high APR, the rewards program leaves something to be desired. We would recommend this card to first-time cardholders who are seeking to learn good credit habits with a card that contains a lot of user-friendly payment features – the value of the cash back program should be a second thought.

Is the Journey Student Rewards card worth it?

Why get the Journey Student Rewards card?

• You’re a frequent traveler who will benefit from the travel perks, including the lack of a foreign transaction fee.
• You want a card with a long list of features and perks.
• You want a card that rewards you for having good spending practices.
• You want a simple, straightforward card that will help you build a strong credit history with responsible use.

How to use the Journey Student Rewards card:

• You can transfer a balance with no fee, but we wouldn’t recommend it due to the high APR ($0 balance transfer fee at the Transfer APR).
• Make your payments on time to earn extra rewards points and increase your credit limit.
• Use the text and email alerts to stay on top of your due dates.

All information about the Journey Student Rewards from Capital One has been collected independently by CreditCards.com and has not been reviewed by the issuer.

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.

Our reviews and best card recommendations are based on an objective rating process and are not driven by advertising dollars. However, we do receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Learn more about our advertising policy