Chase Freedom Student Credit Card Review

Full Review of Chase Freedom Student Credit Card

Pros Explained

• Good Standing Rewards: For every year that your account is in good standing, meaning it is not delinquent or in default, you’ll receive 2,000 points, which can be redeemed for $20 or in rewards. You can receive this benefit for up to five years, so you can potentially earn $100 just for making your payments on time. 
• Automatic Credit Line Increase: If you make five monthly payments on time within 10 months after opening an account, Chase will automatically consider you for a credit increase. If you qualify for a credit increase, you’ll not only get more spending power, but you could see a boost in your credit score since you’ll have more available credit overall. However, any late payments within the first 10 months will disqualify you from getting approved for a credit limit increase. 
• Simple Rewards Program: With the Chase Freedom Student card, you'll earn 1% cash back on every purchase you make. There's no need to remember spending categories or to activate bonus categories; you just use your card and automatically earn cash back rewards. 

Cons Explained

• No Introductory APR: While it offers a $50 bonus for your first purchase, the Chase Freedom Student card doesn’t have an introductory 0% APR offer for purchases or balance transfers. If you have a big-ticket item to buy, such as a couch or a laptop, that’s a significant drawback. 
• 3% Foreign Transaction Fee: If you travel outside of the United States, pay attention to foreign transaction fees. The Chase Freedom Student card charges 3% on every purchase you make outside of the country. Over time, those fees can add up, potentially costing you hundreds of dollars—especially if you’re doing a summer internship or a study-abroad program. If you plan on traveling outside the country, consider applying for a credit card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee. For example, the Journey Student credit card from Capital One has no annual fee and doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees.

Who This Card Is Best For

The Chase Freedom Student card is best for college students who want a simple card to earn rewards, without having to worry about activating or keeping track of spending categories. You’ll earn 1% cash back on every purchase you make, period. Your rewards never expire, and there is no minimum amount you have to redeem to get the cash back.

Chase Freedom Student Card Bonus

While most credit cards require you to spend a certain amount to qualify for a bonus, the Chase Freedom Student card is different. You’ll get a $50 bonus when you make your first purchase if you do it within three months of opening your account.  

You can earn the reward for making any purchase, no matter how small. So something as modest as groceries or sheets can earn you an extra $50. 

Rewards Earning Details

The Chase Freedom Student card has a flat rewards structure: You'll earn 1% cash back on every purchase. If you spent $1,000 on purchases, that means you’d get $10 in cash back rewards. 

However, you should know that not all transactions qualify for 1% cash back. The exceptions are balance transfers, cash advances, and other cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind. 

Rewards Redemption Details

You can redeem your rewards for cash, gift cards, travel, and even pay for transactions with your balance at select retailers. 

Rewards points are worth one cent each.

Transferring Points

The Chase Freedom Student card allows you to transfer your points to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards, as long as that account belongs to you.

This can be a valuable benefit. While this card doesn't allow you to transfer points to hotel and airline partners, if you have another card that does, you could first transfer points from this card to that one.

How to Maximize Your Rewards

To get the most value from your card, make sure you use your Chase Freedom Student card to make a purchase within the first three months of opening an account to qualify for the $50 bonus. After that, use it to pay for all of your routine expenses, such as gas, groceries, utility bills, and textbooks, to earn 1% cash back. 

To put those numbers in perspective, consider that The College Board reported that a student at a public four-year university spends $1,298 per year on books and other supplies.

If you used your Chase Freedom Student card to pay for those $1,298 worth of transactions, you'd earn $12.98 in rewards at the 1% cash back rate. Plus, you’d earn another $50 as a bonus after your first purchase, giving you a total of $62.98. If you kept your account in good standing and made all of your payments on time, you'd also qualify for the $20 Good Standing Reward, giving you a total of $82.98 in rewards.

To ensure that the rewards you earn go directly into your wallet, make sure you pay off your statement balance in full each month. Otherwise, you’ll be subject to costly interest, which can offset your rewards and cause you to owe more than you originally charged.

Standard Benefits

The Chase Freedom Student card offers the following perks, which are fairly standard for a student credit card: 

• Purchase protection: Your new purchases are covered for 120 days against damage or theft, up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account. 
• Extended warranty protection: The warranty on eligible purchases will be extended by an additional year. 
• Free credit score: You get unlimited access to check it, via Chase's Credit Journey

Cardholder Experience

When it comes to customer satisfaction, Chase has a pretty good reputation. In the 2021 J.D. Power U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, Chase was ranked fourth out of 11 card issuers and scored just two points below average. 

You can contact customer service through the mobile app, through a secure messaging center when you log into your account, or by calling 1-800-432-3117. 

Security Features

The Chase Freedom Student card has some basic security features that are standard for most card issuers:

• Zero liability protection: You aren't responsible for unauthorized charges made to your account. 
• Fraud protection: Chase monitors your account for suspicious activity and alerts you if there are unusual transactions. 
• Lock/Unlock: You can lock or unlock your credit card account from Chase.com or the Chase mobile app to prevent unauthorized transactions. 

Our Verdict

As a college student, you likely want a simple, inexpensive card that offers an easy-to-understand rewards system. With its flat cash back rate, the Chase Freedom Student card is a solid choice. It has no annual fee, and you'll earn 1% cash back on every purchase you make, with no limit on how much you can earn, and no points expiration date to keep track of. Also, it offers incentives for keeping your account in good standing—those annual $20 rewards and automatic review of your credit limit. The quoted 19.99% APR isn’t bad either—although higher than the national average of 17.13% on cards that accessed interest.

The Chase Freedom Student card doesn't have an introductory 0% APR offer and it charges foreign transaction fees. If you're looking to finance a big purchase or plan on traveling abroad, there are other student cards, such as the Discover it Chrome for Students card, that offer 0% APR for up to six months on purchases. That benefit gives you half a year to pay for big purchases without paying interest fees. On the plus side, even though there is no introductory interest offer on this card from Chase, you do at least get the $50 welcome bonus.

And the 1% back is pretty much the minimum nowadays; plenty of cards offer more, even student cards. The aforementioned Discover it Chrome for Students card earns 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants, on up to $1,000 spent in combined purchases each quarter. Another Discover card, the Discover it Student Cash Back card, allows you to earn 5% cash back in rotating spending categories, up to a quarterly maximum. You do have to manually activate each category each category to earn that rate, however; otherwise, you’ll only earn the card's standard 1% cash back.