What is eligible travel for Costco Visa?

There are many Costco Visa travel benefits, even though it’s marketed more as an everyday cash back credit card than as a travel card. In addition to 3% cash back rewards on travel purchases, you’ll also get travel insurance, roadside assistance and various other perks. Together, these factors make the Costco Anywhere Visa a solid choice for travel, especially domestically.… read full answer

Here are the Costco Visa travel benefits:

• 3% to 4% cash back in key spending categories. You’ll get 3% cash back at restaurants and on other eligible travel expenses (airfare, hotels, cruises, etc.). You’ll also earn 4% cash back on the first $7,000 you spend on eligible gas every year. So both big and small travel costs get great earning rates. All other purchases earn just 1% back (or 2% at Costco itself).
• Trip Cancellation Insurance. When you have to cancel a trip or stop it early because of situations out of your control (e.g. injury, sickness, severe weather), you may be compensated. You need to pay for your trip with your Costco card.
• Travel accident insurance. This covers you for death or dismemberment (fun stuff to think about, right?). You need to charge the cost of your fare to your Costco card.
• Auto rental insurance. You are protected against having to pay for damage resulting from theft or collision when you rent certain types of cars, pay with your Costco Visa and don’t buy insurance through the rental agency.
• Travel Notification. Tells you about any suspicious activity on your account while you’re gone.
• Citi Concierge. Acts like a personal assistant to help you plan your trip (e.g. will book restaurants for you).
• 24/7 roadside assistance. If your car breaks down, you can call Citi for help.
• International card replacement. If you lose your card while you’re abroad (or it’s stolen), you can call 1-800-950-5114 to get a new one.
• Great exchange rates. Since this card is a Visa, you can use it anywhere in the world that credit cards are accepted. And you’ll get some of the best exchange rates too.

At the end of the day, the Costco Visa has a lot of travel appeal, from its great rewards to its secondary benefits. But it’s not the right choice if you’re planning to travel abroad or buy things from international sellers, thanks to a 3% foreign transaction fee. Fortunately, there are lots of cards with no foreign fee to choose from.

Citi Costco Anywhere Visa trip cancellation & interruption insurance was discontinued on September 22, 2019. Citibank dropped the travel benefits from all of its credit cards then, not just the Costco Visa card’s trip cancellation/interruption benefit.

There are credit cards that still come with trip cancellation and interruption insurance, though not from Citibank. One such card with this benefit is the Chase Freedom card. It offers up to $1,500 in coverage per person and up to $6,000 per trip for you and your immediate family members. It kicks in when your fully-paid, nonrefundable passenger fare is cancelled or interrupted due to covered situations like illness or injury.… read full answer