The Journey Student Credit Card from Capital One offers worthwhile benefits, adequate cashback rewards, and the potential for credit line increases. It’s a great card for students building credit, including for those studying or traveling abroad.
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Quick Review
Like most student credit cards, the Journey Student Credit Card has no annual fee and doesn’t require good or established credit.
Although it’s an accessible credit card, it isn’t for everyone. The Capital One website suggests you may be rejected if you’ve defaulted on multiple loans in the last 5 years or if you’ve been declined for a credit card in the last 3 months.
But for those who qualify, the card has a lot to offer, including low fees, the chance to earn free credit toward streaming subscriptions, and a straightforward cashback rewards program.
Capital One Journey Student Credit Card Important Details
Basic Card Details
- Credit card issuer: Capital One
- Annual fee: $0
- Regular APR: 28.49% (variable)
- Rewards rate: 1%–1.25%
- Grace period: 25 days
Additional Information
- Rewards rate increases to 1.25% for every month you pay your bills on time.
- Introductory offer of $5 credit per month (for 12 months) for use with select streaming subscriptions when you pay your bills on time.
- No security deposit, annual fee, monthly fees, or account-opening fees.
- Cash advances and balance transfers are available.
- Authorized users are allowed.
- Credit reporting to all three major credit bureaus.
- Possibility of a credit limit increase after 6 months.
- Choose your own due dates for paying your monthly bills.
- iPhone and Android apps for account management.
- $0 fraud liability if anyone uses your card without your authorization.
- Emergency card replacement and account-locking facility if your card is lost or stolen.
- Tools to help you manage your credit and finances (e.g., a virtual assistant for managing your account and free credit score monitoring with CreditWise, which helps you understand how your credit history impacts your credit score).
Journey Student Credit Card Feature Breakdown
In this section, we’ll look at some of the most important features of the Journey Student Credit Card.
Fees
- Late payment fee: Up to $40
- Cash advance fee: $10 or 3% of the transaction amount (whichever is greater)
Other than the two above, the Journey Student Credit Card is impressive for its lack of fees. It has no:
- Annual fees
- Foreign transaction fees
- Monthly maintenance fees
- Account-opening fees
- Balance transfer fees (unless you’re offered a promotional balance transfer APR)
Interest Rates
- Regular APR: 28.49% (variable)
- Cash advance APR: 28.49% (variable)
- Balance transfer APR: 28.49% (variable)
If you don’t pay off the statement balance on your Journey Student Credit Card in full each month, you’ll need to pay interest. The interest you’ll pay on your credit card each year is called the APR (“annual percentage rate”), which can be divided by 12 to estimate your monthly interest rate.
Grace Period
The Journey Student Credit Card from Capital One gives you a 25-day grace period (beginning on the first day of the new billing cycle). The grace period allows you time to pay your bills in full without racking up any interest charges.
If you pay your bills in full by the due date, your purchases during the grace period won’t accumulate interest. However, if you carry a balance from previous billing cycles, you’ll have to pay interest on any charges you make to your card in the grace period.
Rewards
The Journey Student Credit Card gives you a 1% cashback rate for all of your purchases. This rate increases to 1.25% for each month you pay your bill on time.
The rewards never expire, they’re not capped (so you get a consistent rate for unlimited amounts of spending), and there are no rotating categories you need to remember or sign up for.
Redemption
Once you’ve accumulated cashback rewards on your Journey Student Credit Card, you can redeem them in different ways.
For example, you can redeem cashback rewards as:
- Checks
- Statement credit (i.e., a credit to your account that gets deducted from your card balance)
- Gift cards
- PayPal credit
- Amazon.com credit
- Payment for recent purchases
Benefits
Capital One offers one perk that might be enticing for users of Netflix, Hulu, and the like. If you pay your Student Journey Credit Card bill on time, you’ll earn $5 in credit toward streaming service subscriptions. You can do this every month for 12 months, earning up to $60 in streaming credit.
You can then use your credit to pay for more than 25 eligible media streaming subscription services.
Cash Advances
A cash advance is when you use your credit card to withdraw money from an ATM. Cash advances are allowed on the Journey Student Credit Card from Capital One.
The fee for a cash advance is either $10 or 3% of the amount you withdraw—whichever is greater.
Balance Transfers
A balance transfer is when you move debt from one credit card to another (which is a common form of debt consolidation).
The Journey Student Credit Card allows balance transfers. Its balance transfer APR is 28.49% (variable). If you perform a balance transfer subject to this rate, your balance transfer fee will be waived.
On the other hand, if Capital One offers a promotional balance transfer APR and you accept, you’ll have to pay a balance transfer fee. Your balance transfer fee will be 3% of the amount you transfer.
Credit Limit
You probably won’t get a large initial credit limit on the Journey Student Credit Card, as student credit cards usually have lower credit limits than regular credit cards.
Furthermore, your initial credit limit will likely be determined by your creditworthiness. If you qualify for a Journey Student Credit Card, your credit limit should be included in your card offer.
Credit Limit Increases
Capital One automatically considers some cardholders for credit limit increases. However, Capital One doesn’t specify whether this happens for Journey Student Credit Cards.
If you need more credit, you can actively request a credit limit increase from Capital One. You’ll need to give them the following information:
- Your total annual income.
- Your employment status.
- Information about your monthly mortgage or rent payments.
You can then fill out their online request form. Capital One will take your information and other factors into account to decide whether to approve your request.
Credit Reporting
Credit reporting is an important part of building credit, as your credit report is based on the information your lenders send to the credit bureaus.
Lenders aren’t legally required to report your credit history; many lenders report to one or two of the major credit bureaus, if any. Fortunately, Capital One reports to all three credit bureaus.
Credit Building
Because Capital One reports to all three credit bureaus, its cards are great for credit building. However, you need to keep up with your monthly payments to benefit your credit score; your score will suffer if your payments are late.
Higher credit scores open doors for better credit cards and loans in the future. To further help with credit-building, Capital One provides these handy tools:
- CreditWise: This tool scans the dark web for misuse of your social security number, monitors your TransUnion or Experian credit reports for signs of fraud, and lets you check your TransUnion VantageScore 3.0 credit score and credit report for free and without hurting your score. You can also use CreditWise to understand how VantageScore calculates your credit score and how you can improve your credit.
- A virtual assistant: Eno, the Capital One virtual assistant, keeps an eye on your accounts 24/7 and sends alerts when something isn’t right. Additionally, Eno can answer your questions and chat about your account anytime over text.
Credit Score Requirements
Capital One says that you need at least “fair credit” to qualify for its Journey Student Credit Card. They describe fair credit as meaning either of the following:
- You’ve had your own credit card—or other types of credit—for less than 3 years.
- You’ve established a credit history but defaulted on a loan in the past 5 years. However, you’ve not done this more than once.
Application and Approval
You can apply online for a Journey Student Credit Card.
Capital One says you’ll need to provide the following personal information to apply:
- Your full name
- Your Social Security number (or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number—which is a number that the tax authorities issue to non-residents of the US for tax purposes—may also be acceptable)
- Your date of birth
- Your address (no PO boxes)
- Your estimated gross annual income
- Information about your checking and/or savings account
You can prequalify online to find out whether your application is likely to be approved or denied. This will help you to decide whether it’s worth getting a hard inquiry on your credit report when Capital One processes your credit card application (which will knock a few points off your credit score).
Capital One says that, if you apply by phone or online, they’ll often give you an answer in 60 seconds. However, they sometimes want to gather additional information before they decide whether to accept your application. If this happens, they’ll write to you to confirm their decision within 7 to 10 days.
Application Status
If you’re still waiting to find out whether your Capital One credit card application was successful, you can check the status of your application by calling (800) 903-9177.
Managing Your Account
You can manage your Journey Student Credit Card by logging into your account online or by using Capital One’s app.
You can also make payments online or send a check by mail to:
Capital One
Attn: Payment Processing
PO Box 71083
Charlotte, NC 28272-1083
Due Dates
Capital One lets you change the due dates for your credit card bills, which makes it easier to manage your finances.
You can find your payment due date by going to your Capital One account online and clicking Pay Bill. Next, select Choose Date. On the following page you’ll see your payment due date and cutoff time. To change your due date to a more convenient time of the month, simply follow the instructions.
Customer Service
Capital One offers customer service to existing cardholders online, over the phone, and by mail. The phone number for customer service is (800) 227-4825.
For mail correspondence, you can write to:
Capital One
Attn: General Correspondence
P.O. Box 30285
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0287
Lost or Stolen Cards
You can report your Capital One credit card lost or stolen online or on the Capital One app.
- To report a lost or stolen card on the web: Choose “Account Services and Settings.” Under “Manage Debit Card,” choose “Replace Lost Card,” and then follow the steps.
- To report a lost or stolen card on the app: Select “View All” from the “I Want To…” menu. Scroll until you see “Replace Missing Card,” and then follow the steps.
Capital One will deactivate your old card and ask you about any purchases on your card that you didn’t make. If you can’t complete this process online, call (800) 955-7070 instead.
If your card is lost or stolen:
- You won’t be held responsible for any unauthorized charges.
- You can lock your account.
- You can get emergency card replacement.
Authorized Users
An authorized user is a person you can add to your credit card account if you’re a primary cardholder. Capital One allows you to add authorized users to your Capital One credit cards.
Anyone can be an authorized user, as long as they’re old enough; for instance, you may add your partner or a family member, and they’ll have access to your card and its benefits.
Should You Get the Journey Student Credit Card?
FinanceJar verdict
The Journey Student Credit Card from Capital One is a good pick for students with stable finances. The rewards are straightforward, the benefits are worthwhile, and the fees are reasonable. However, be warned that the APR is high, your credit limit will likely be on the low end, and not everyone will be able to qualify.
Who is this card for?
- US students traveling abroad: The Journey Student Credit Card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees and will work in most places that accept credit cards. This makes it a good card for students going abroad for studies or travel.
- Responsible students: Capital One makes a point to reward responsible student borrowers. If you pay your Journey Student Credit Card bills on time, you’ll get credit for streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, plus a higher cashback rewards rate.
Comparable Cards
To decide whether the Capital One Journey Student Credit Card is right for you, take a look at how it measures up against other credit cards on the market.
Journey Student Credit Card vs. Deserve® EDU Mastercard®
The Deserve® EDU credit card and the Journey Student Credit Card share the following features:
- A standard rate of 1% cash back on most purchases (although Capital One will boost this to 1.25% for every month you pay your bills on time).
- No annual fees.
- No foreign transaction fees and good coverage abroad.
Both credit cards offer similarly appealing welcome bonuses. Whereas Deserve gives you a free Amazon Prime Student membership worth $69, Capital One gives you up to $60 in credit toward streaming service subscriptions when you pay your bills on time in the first year.
However, one advantage of the Deserve® EDU credit card is the much lower APR of 22.49% (variable). So if you’re likely to carry a balance from month to month, the Deserve® EDU may be a more cost-effective choice.
Journey Student Credit Card vs. Discover It® Student Cash Back Card
The Discover It® Student Cash Back card and the Journey Student Credit Card from Capital One share the following features:
- A standard rate of 1% cash back on most purchases (although Capital One will boost this to 1.25% for every month you pay on time)
- No annual fees or foreign transaction fees
- Fraud protection tools
- Emergency replacement card services
However, the Discover It® Student Cash Back card has several major advantages:
- A much lower APR of 15.99%–24.99% (variable)
- 0% introductory APR for the first 6 months
- 5% cashback rotating bonus categories in addition to the standard cashback rate of 1%
- No late fee on your first late payment
If you’re a US student going abroad, it’s worth noting that the Discover network has limited coverage, whereas you can use the Journey Student Credit Card almost anywhere outside the US. However, if you’re studying in the US, the Discover It® Student Cash Back card is a better deal, especially when it comes to earning rewards.
Journey Student Credit Card vs. Petal® 1 Visa®
The Petal® 1 Visa® credit card and the Capital One Journey Student credit card have many features in common:
- No deposit required
- No annual fees
- Cashback rewards
- No foreign transaction fees and good coverage abroad
- Credit reporting to all three bureaus
If you’re a student with a regular income, you may be eligible for both cards. If so, the Journey Student Credit Card has a more extensive cashback rewards program—whereas the Petal® 1 Visa® rewards program covers only a limited number of businesses—and more benefits for paying your bills on time.
As such, the Capital One credit card is the better option. However, those who aren’t likely to qualify for the Journey Student Credit Card are more likely to be approved for a Petal® 1 Visa®.
