Maria Adams, Credit Cards Moderator
@m_adams
You can’t use your Mastercard credit card at Costco, because Costco has a contract with Visa and it only accepts credit cards on this network for their warehouse locations. You can, however, use your Mastercard credit card for purchases made at Costco.com and through the Costco app.
So, if you only have a Mastercard and want to shop at Costco, you have a couple choices. For starters, you can still pay for Costco items with cash or a check. But if you don’t really want to carry all that cash, take the time to write out a check, or miss out on a lot of rewards, your best bet is to simply get a Visa credit card. The best option would be the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi, as it offers 5% cash back rewards on gas at Costco and 4% cash back on other eligible gas and electric vehicle (EV) charging purchases for the first $7,000 combined spend per year, and then 1% thereafter, 3% back on restaurant and eligible travel purchases, 2% back on all other Costco and Costco.com purchases, and 1% back on all other purchases.
Popular Credit Cards from Our Partners
GARY PAQUETTE, Member
@flyboy91901
MasterCard is only accepted in Canada at all Costco’s.
They do not take Visa and your US debit card will most likely not work as it’s seen as a credit card by their system.
People also ask
Is the Costco Credit Card a Visa or Mastercard?
Costco Credit Card is a Visa, not a Mastercard. You can use your Costco Credit Card at nearly 11 million merchants that accept Visa nationwide , and you can use it abroad in more than 200 countries and territories.
There are a few relatively differences between Visa and Mastercard credit cards, such as the network-level benefits they offer.. But the two card networks have a lot in common, including extensive worldwide acceptance. Because the features the networks offer are so...
read full answer by Maria Adams, Credit Cards ModeratorWhere is Mastercard not accepted?
Mastercard is not accepted at certain stores and merchants that only take cash, such as vendors at a local fair. Mastercard is also not accepted at retail chains that have an exclusive agreement with another card network. For example, Costco accepts Mastercard only for online purchases. There are also some websites that only take electronic currency though outlets like PayPal, Venmo, or Bitcoin. Additionally, Mastercard credit cards can’t be used to pay a credit card...
read full answer by WalletHub, Financial CompanyDoes Costco accept Visa credit cards?
Costco accepts all Visa credit cards, Visa debit cards and Visa gift cards. In fact, Costco has a contract with Visa and only takes Visa cards, which means you can't use cards on other networks like Mastercard or American Express at Costco. This has been the case since June 2016, when Costco switched from only accepting American Express cards.
Paying at Costco: Visa and Other Options
- Costco takes all Visa credit cards, debit cards,...
Did we answer your question?
Important Disclosures
Ad Disclosure: Certain offers that appear on this site originate from paying advertisers. For full transparency, here is a list of our current advertisers.
Advertising impacts how and where offers appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear and their prevalence). At WalletHub we try to present a wide array of offers, but our offers do not represent all financial services companies or products.
Advertising enables WalletHub to provide you proprietary tools, services, and content at no charge. Advertising does not impact WalletHub's editorial content including our best picks, reviews, ratings and opinions. Those are completely independent and not provided, commissioned, or endorsed by any company, as our editors follow a strict editorial policy.
I read a lot of the comments on the Costco website about the Costco cash card. As best I could tell, it’s a physical card that can be purchased online using a Mastercard. But sometimes the wait to receive the card in the mail can be up to a couple of weeks, and then the only way to reload the card is in-store. That means you can’t use a Mastercard to reload and will have to buy a new one and again go through the hokey-pokey of waiting for the card to arrive in the mail. I have an airline Mastercard and I’m trying to gather enough frequent flyer miles for a trip next year, and I just figured out another work-around. Costco accepts ANY VISA card in-store. So I stopped at Walgreens on the way to Costco and bought a “Vanilla” prepaid VISA gift card. Using my airline Mastercard, I funded the card to its limit ($500) and paid a $5.95 service charge. And then I went shopping at Costco. The new gift card worked perfectly in the store. It will also work at Costco gas stations. This card is NOT reloadable, so once I’ve spent the $500 I put on it, I’ll have to go buy another one, again with the service charge. I figure a few service charges are a small price to pay when we’re talking about plane tickets that would cost several hundred dollars if they weren’t purchased with frequent flyer miles.