The Shell Gas Card is a good credit card for people with
fair credit or better (
640+ credit score recommended) who spend a lot of money on gas and can fill up at Shell stations without going out of their way. You should also have another credit card for everyday expenses because this Shell credit card only works at Shell. If you want a card that you can use anywhere, consider the
Shell Credit Card instead.
The Shell Gas Card has a
$0 annual fee and offers rebates of 10 cents to 30 cents per gallon when you get gas at Shell stations. It also gets you a 10% rebate on the first $1,200 you spend on things other than fuel each year at Shell. If your spending habits match up well, those reward rates could end up saving you a nice chunk of change.
5 Key Things to Know About the Shell Gas Card
Extra savings promotion.
For a limited time, newly approved cardholders will earn a rebate of 30 cents per gallon, on up to 35 gallons, for each of the first five Shell fill-ups paid for with the Shell Gas Card. This is an excellent earning rate. It equates to roughly 9.5% back. Too bad it doesn’t last longer.
10 cents off every gallon.
The Shell Gas Card’s standard rebate is 10 cents per gallon, up to 20 gallons per fill-up. That’s about 3.3% cash back when gas costs $3.02 per gallon.
For context, the market’s
best gas rewards cards offer 5% back on gas purchased at any station. And some of the best general-purpose rewards cards for people with fair credit offer up to 2% back on all purchases.
No annual fee.
Gas station-affiliated credit cards usually don’t charge annual fees, so you shouldn’t overstate the importance of this particular feature. With that being said, the Shell Card’s lack of an annual fee does make it about
$26.75 per year cheaper than the average credit card, market-wide.
Very high APR.
The average credit card offer for someone with fair credit has a
27.48% regular APR, according to
WalletHub research, while the average credit card offer overall charges about
22.76%.
This paints the Shell Card’s APR in a decidedly negative light, illustrating why carrying a balance from month to month would be a big mistake. You can avoid interest if you pay the bill in full monthly.
Requires fair credit or better.
This is the standard credit requirement for store credit cards. It also means the Shell Gas Card is easier to get than the
Shell Credit Card, which requires
good credit or better. You can
check your credit score for free here on WalletHub to see which offer you’re likely to get approved for.
Finally, it’s important to remember that there are plenty of ways to save money on gas that don’t involve a Shell rewards card. For starters, most other gas station chains have their own rewards cards, which are at least worth considering if you aren’t totally committed to Shell. You should also check out
cards offering gas rewards at any station as well as those with
especially lucrative rewards on other everyday expenses. After all, your total savings are what really matter, not how much you save on gas in particular.
Note: This review is not provided, commissioned or endorsed by any issuer. Opinions and ratings are our own.
