Chase Freedom® Student credit card review
For students looking for easy rewards earning and a chance to dip their toe in the world of Ultimate Rewards points, this card is a great starting point. Information related to the Chase Freedom® Student credit card has been collected independently by CardRatings and was neither reviewed nor provided by the card issuer.
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Key Features
descriptionEditor Analysis:
- Get to know the Chase Ultimate Rewards® points universe with an easy-to-understand card.
- Earn a $50 bonus after making your first purchase within the first three months.
- Enjoy a $20 rewards bonus (2,000 points) each account anniversary year your account remains in good standing (for up to five years).
- Many students like to travel or study abroad and this card charges foreign transaction fees. This isn't a good card for taking on a trip overseas.
The CardName is a great way for students to save money thanks to its 1% cash back on all purchases – which could add up quickly when it’s time to buy textbooks every semester – and $50 bonus if you make your first purchase within the first three months of having the card. In addition, this card encourages students to learn how to use a credit card responsibly since it provides bonus rewards for being in good standing, as well as an opportunity for an automatic increase in your credit line after meeting certain criteria.
Although students don’t need to have an established credit history in order to be approved for this card, you do need to provide proof that you’re currently a student and must be at least 18 years old to qualify (some states/territories have higher age requirements).
➤ LEARN MORE:How to get a student credit card
Chase Freedom® Student credit card benefits
CardName cardholders get the following benefits:
- 1% cash back on all purchases
- RegAPR APR – While this isn’t low, per se, it’s on the lower end for a card available to students, so we consider this a benefit
- No annual fee
- A $20 Good Standing reward each account anniversary – "Good standing" means that your account is open and not in default (this perk is available for the first five years after opening the account)
- Earn a $50 bonus after making your first purchase within the first three months of opening the account
- Earn a credit increase after making five on-time payments within the first 10 months of opening the account and meeting credit criteria
- Access your credit score for free at any time
- Fraud protection that includes real-time fraud monitoring
- Ability to instantly lock account to prevent new purchases, balance transfers, and cash advances easily using the Chase Mobile app
- Zero liability protection to prevent cardholders from being held responsible for unauthorized charges made on the account
- Purchases protected for 120 days against theft or damage up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per cardholder
- Extended warranty protection for an additional year
- Trip cancellation/interruption insurance for up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip
- Tap to Pay Contactless purchase ability
Chase Freedom® Student credit card cash back
With the CardName, you get 1% cash back on all of your purchases. There is no minimum amount needed in order to redeem rewards and points do not expire. You can also choose the way you receive your rewards, which can be applied to your account balance or deposited into your checking or savings account. Also, you can use your rewards for purchases on Amazon.com, travel, or gift cards for dining, entertainment, or shopping.
Officially, your cash back accumulates as Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, a valuable and popular travel rewards currency. For reference, each point each one cent; therefore, the $50 bonus will hit your rewards account as 5,000 bonus points, which can be redeemed for $50 cash back (or any number of other ways).
Chase Freedom® Student credit card APR
Ideally, if you’re opening a credit card, you need to have a plan in mind to pay off your balance each billing cycle so that the APR doesn’t ever affect you. If the APR does affect you, it means you’re carrying a balance and racking up interest charges, and that is no way to start your credit card journey. If you’re using the card, stick to a budget and pay it off every month.
That said, things happen and should you need to carry a balance, it’s good to know that the CardName offers a relatively low APR for a student credit card – RegAPR. There is also a RegAPR APR for balance transfers and a cash_apr APR for cash advances.
Notice that cash advance APR is higher. That’s important to keep in mind and to understand what a cash advance is. A cash advance is when you use your credit card to take money out of an ATM or otherwise make a withdrawl in cash. It’s almost never a smart idea. That’s because, as you can see, the APR on cash advances is higher for this card and basically any other credit card out there; additionally, interest on cash advances begins accuring immediately rather than ofter a grace period as is typical for interest on purchases. That means that you’ll start paying interest on that cash advance right away and there’s essientially no way to avoid it.
We’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: Do everything you can to avoid owing interest charges on your credit cards. In this case, that means stay away from cash advances.
Potential downsides of the Chase Freedom® Student credit card
Unfortunately, this isn’t the card to take along for your semester abroad, nor is it the one you want to use if you’re buying something online in a foreign currency. That’s because the Chase Freedom® Student credit card charges foreign transaction fees – specifically, foreign_fee. There are student card options that don’t change this fee, so if you’re headed abroad or even shopping abroad from the comfort of your own sofa, you may want to consider a different card (we give a couple options below.)
Lastly, and this isn’t a huge deal, but if you’re already thinking about travel rewards cards and rewards, be aware that the Chase Ultimate Rewards® points earned with this card aren’t transferrable to travel partners. You can redeem them through the Ultimate Rewards® portal for travel, but the best value for Ultiate Rewards® points often comes by transferring the rewards to a travel partner and that’s not an option here. That said, use this card responsibly during your student years, build a solid credit score and relationship with Chase and you could very well qualify for one of those premium cards, such as the card_name, down the road. At that point, any Ultimate Rewards® points you earned with your student card could then be rolled under the Sapphire Preferred® card.
How do cardholders rate the Chase Freedom® Student credit card?
CardRatings conducts a survey annually to learn what actual cardholders think of their cards. Here are the results for the Chase Freedom® Student credit card:
| Current Scores | Past Scores | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 76.8 | 80.1 |
| Features Satisfaction | 6.7 | 8 |
| Customer Service | 8.1 | 8.2 |
| Website/App Usability | 8 | 8.2 |
| Likelihood of Continuing to Use | 8.7 | 8.1 |
| Recommend to a Friend/Colleague | 8.6 | 7.6 |
How does the Chase Freedom® Student credit card compare to other student cards?
Chase Freedom® Student vs. CardName
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While both the Chase Freedom® Student credit card and CardName provide cash back rewards, the CardName card has higher potential cash back, offering 5% cash back when you activate on up to $1,500 spent in categories that rotate quarterly, as well as 1% on all other purchases. Also, the Discover card matches all cash back rewards earned, dollar-for-dollar, for new cardmembers; making the potential for high rewards even more attractive.
Additionally, with the CardName, cardholders can earn statement credit when they refer a friend and that friend is approved for the card.
If you travel a lot, you can benefit from the fact that the CardName card does not have charges for foreign transactions; however, the places that accept Discover internationally may be limited compared to those that accept a Visa or Mastercard.
Chase Freedom® Student vs. CardName
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The CardName is similar to the Chase card in that it offers cash back on all purchases, however, the earn rate is a bit more with the Capital One card. Cardholders can earn a flat 1.5% cash back on all purchases. The welcome bonus is similar, too. New CardName cardholders can earn an early spend bonus of $50 once spending $100 in the first three months. With the Chase card you just need to make a purchase, versus meeting a spend threshold to earn the bonus. That said, the spend threshold required to earn the bonus with the Capital One card is still very manageable.
The Capital One card doesn’t charge an annual fee or foreign transaction fees, so it’s a good option for studying or traveling abroad.
Is the Chase Freedom® Student credit card a good card?
The CardName is a good starter card for students who are beginning to establish their credit history, particularly if they have an interest in developing a relationship with Chase and a starter bank of Ultimate Rewards® points. Though some of the rewards are not as high as other cards, the rewards offered can still lead to significant savings and, more importantly, help students develop good habits when it comes to credit card use.
Our Methodology
Survey methodology: CardRatings commissioned Op4G in September 2023 to conduct surveys among 1,869 cardholders nationwide. CardRatings website analytics from Jan. 1, 2023-Aug. 31, 2023 were used to determine a selection of the most popular cards and additional cards were included to add survey breadth. Responses to each of nine questions were given on a scale of 1-10 and respondents’ scores were then averaged under broad topics. To determine the overall score, responses from questions 1-8 were summed and the answer to "How likely are you to recommend this card to a friend, coworker or family member?" was double weighted. Current Scores reflect scores from the most recent survey (2023); “Past Scores” reflect scores from the 2022 survey.
Disclaimer:The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.
This content is not provided by any company mentioned in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed here are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any such company. CardRatings.com does not review every company or every offer available on the market.
