Is the Capital One Savor Card a great beginner card?

Folks that are curious and interested in the credit card space should 100% consider getting the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card as their first credit card. It has some pretty solid earn rates for a no annual fee card along with a nice little bonus for the welcome offer. And the cash back that you earn on this card can be eventually converted to travel partners on a card like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

What’s the welcome offer on the Capital One Savor card?

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card comes with an introductory offer where you can get $200 in cash back after spending $500 in the first three months from the account opening. You will also get $100 of credit for travel booked through Capital One Travel in the first year of having the card.

The $200 in cash back is on track with some other popular beginner cards like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the Chase Freedom Flex®. However, both of those cards

What are the earning categories like?

The Capital One Savor card offers solid and simple earning rates for a no annual fee card:

• 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment
• 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked on Capital One Travel
• 3% cash back on entertainment, dining, grocery stores and select streaming services (most all streaming services are included except Prime Video, AT&T TV and Verizon FIOS On Demand)
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

The 3% cash back on entertainment, dining, grocery stores and select streaming services is particularly noteworthy as a lot of beginner cards don’t offer 3% cash back across all of these categories and year round. The Discover it Cash Back offers 5% cash back for rotating categories (of Discover’s choosing) while the Chase Freedom Flex® does a similar thing.

Does the Capital One Savor card have an annual fee?

Nope. The Capital One Savor card doesn’t have an annual fee so you can have this card as long as you’d like.

Does this card have foreign transaction fees?

Most beginner credit cards have foreign transaction fees but a nice little benefit of the Capital One Savor card is that it has no foreign transaction fees. You can use this card as you travel the world.

What’s a good alternative to the Capital One Savor for people in college or high school?

Capital One has a similar beginner card for folks that are still in school—Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card. If you don’t have much of a credit history or any credit history at all and you are a student it might be worth looking into the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card.

With the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card, all you have to do is spend $100 in the first three months from the account opening and you’ll receive a $50 cash bonus. And this card has the same categories for 3% cash back— grocery stores, dining, entertainment and popular streaming services.

My girlfriend has the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card and she’s been accumulating cash back to eventually convert to travel partners on a card like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card in the future. For each cent of cash back, it’s equivalent to one Capital One Mile (that can be transferred to Capital One’s numerous airline & hotel partners).

Let’s say you accumulate $300 in cash back. That can be converted to 30,000 Capital One Miles!

How does the Capital One Savor card compare to the Discover it Cash Back card?

The Discover it Cash Back is an intriguing alternative to the Capital One Savor card. While it does not boast those impressive 3% cash back reward categories, it does have 5% cash back for some categories. The way it works is that Discover has different categories where you can earn 5% cash back on every quarter. For instance right now from October through December, you can earn 5% back on Amazon.com and purchases at drugstores. And from January through March 2026, you will earn 5% cash back on grocery stores, wholesale clubs and select streaming services.

I still own a Discover cash back card where I earned 5% cash back on other categories as well like gas and dining. It was a great card for me to build credit and learn how credit card rewards worked at the most basic level with cash back. This card allowed me to eventually move to cards like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® and Chase Freedom Flex®.

Although there isn’t a traditional welcome offer on the Discover it Cash back card, you will receive a cash back match after the first year of using the card. So that means if you earned $500 in cash back in the first year, Discover will match this and give you another $500!

The Discover it Cash Back card is for folks that wouldn’t mind doing some extra work to maximize their cash back earning. The 5% cash back categories require you activating them and paying attention to what they are every quarter. The Capital One Savor card is much simpler. You know you are getting 3% cash back on certain categories along with $200 in cash back (with the welcome offer) and $100 in Capital One Travel credit. And you don’t have to keep track of rotating categories. Also, in deciding which card to get it’s important to note that the cash back earned on the Capital One Savor card can be converted to Capital One Miles (once you get a card like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

How do I know what should be my first credit card?

Here at NextCard, we know how important each credit card decision is, especially the first one. That’s why we built a tool to give you personalized recommendations regarding your first (or next) credit card. After you tell us a bit about your habits and what perks you might care most about, we can give you credit card recommendations tailored to your lifestyle.

What are other benefits of the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card?

Notably, you can get 50% off drinks at Capital One Cafes when paying with the likes of the Savor card. This is a very useful benefit to have, especially if you're a student looking to save money & get decent quality drinks.

Final Remarks

The Capital One Savor card is an excellent beginner card for those looking to get into the travel rewards & credit card space. It’s got one of the best welcome offers out there for a no annual fee card. And unlike some beginner cards, the cash back you earn can eventually be converted to miles (Capital One Miles) on a more premium card. Which can then be transferred to Capital One’s airline & hotel partners. It’s a great strategy for those starting their journey. It’s a way to get into the Capital One ecosystem and build up your rewards.

What beginner credit card are you looking to strike on?