Pros
- High rewards rate
- $300 initial rewards bonus
- No foreign fee
Cons
- Membership fees
- No intro APR on purchases
- No intro APR on balance transfers
- Requires good/excellent credit
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
Earn a one-time $300 cash bonus after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
Rewards Details
- Earn a one-time $300 cash bonus after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- Earn unlimited 4% cash back on dining, entertainment, and popular streaming services, 3% at grocery stores and 1% on all other purchases
- Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
- Earn 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases.
- Earn 10% cash back on purchases made through Uber & Uber Eats, plus complimentary Uber One membership statement credits through 11/14/2024
- No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus cash back won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how much you can earn.
Additional Info
- No foreign transaction fees
- Capital One cardholders get access to premium experiences in dining, entertainment and more
- Info about the card has been collected by WalletHub to help consumers better compare cards. The financial institution did not provide the details.
- More Details & Reviews About Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
Is the Capital One Savor Card Worth It?
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is a good card that's worth applying for if you have good credit and your top spending categories include dining and entertainment. The Savor Card gives 4% cash back in those categories, along with 4% back on streaming services, 3% back at grocery stores and 1% back on everything else. It also offers an initial bonus of $300 to new cardholders who spend at least $3,000 within 3 months of opening an account. That’s enough to cover the cost of the card’s annual fee ($95) for several years.
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards was built for rewards, as its name suggests, so it’s best when cardholders pay their bill in full by every due date. The Savor Card also is best for relatively high spenders. People who don’t expect to spend enough to take full advantage may instead want to consider its sister card, the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card.
Capital One Savor Review Highlights
$300 Sign-up Bonus
Spending $3,000 in the first three months you have the Capital One Savor Card will earn you its $300 initial bonus (provided that you haven’t earned it before). The bonus will be credited to your account within two billing cycles of when you meet the initial spending requirement.
This is a good deal to go after if you’re planning to spend enough to qualify, anyway. The Savor Card’s initial bonus is higher than the average among cash rewards credit cards and one of the biggest cash bonuses available from any credit card right now.
4% Cash Back on Dining, Entertainment & Streaming Services
Capital One Savor is the best credit card for dining and entertainment because it offers unlimited 4% cash back on qualifying purchases. The list is not limiting, either. Places known primarily as dining establishments qualify for the Savor Card’s 4% rewards rate. Other qualifying purchases include tickets to plays, concerts, professional sporting events, and movies at the theater. Paying to enter tourist attractions, amusement parks, zoos and aquariums counts, too. Same goes for bowling alleys, dance halls and pool halls. Also eligible are purchases made at record stores and video rental stores (wherever you can find them!). Streaming services such as Netflix®, Hulu® and Disney+ also qualify for this earning rate.
Solid Secondary Rewards
In addition to bonus rewards on dining and entertainment purchases, the Savor Card gives 3% cash back at grocery stores (not including super stores or warehouse clubs). All other purchases – those in non-bonus spending categories – produce 1% cash back. For context, the average cash rewards card offers about 1.14% back on all purchases.
$0 Foreign Transaction Fees
If life takes you abroad, whether for an international culinary adventure or any other reason, the Capital One Savor Card won’t penalize you with a foreign surcharge for spending money along the way. The average credit card, on the other hand, charges a fee equal to roughly 1.53% of each purchase processed outside the U.S. The fact that Savor is a Mastercard also means you’ll be able to use it anywhere in the world that accepts credit cards.
Easy Rewards Redemption
You can redeem the cash back rewards that you accrue with this card via statement credit or check. Plus, you’re able to redeem on demand or automatically once your earnings reach a certain threshold or a certain date rolls around. Gift cards are another redemption option for Savor cardholders, but cash is a lot more valuable.
Capital One Savor Review Lowlights
$95 Annual Fee
The Capital One Savor Card will cost about 4 times more per year than the average credit card just to own for 12 months. That alone could scare away some prospective applicants, but you have to consider the value of all the rewards and benefits that fee unlocks. And in terms of total net return, Capital One Savor definitely is in the top tier.
High Regular APR
The Capital One Savor Card’s APR ranges from 20.74% to 28.74% (V). That doesn’t compare too favorably to applicable market averages. The average credit card for good credit has a 23.24% APR, according to WalletHub’s research, while the average card for excellent credit charges 17.23%. So, plan to pay your bill in full every month.
Average Base Rewards Rate
Purchases that don’t qualify for Capital One Savor’s bonus rewards rates yield just 1% cash back. That’s everything except dining, entertainment purchases, streaming services and purchases made at grocery stores. And that’s important for a few reasons: The average cash rewards card offers 1.14% back on all purchases; several credit cards for people with good credit offer 1.5% cash back on all purchases; and others give higher returns in popular purchase categories besides dining, entertainment and grocery stores. So if you want to be really strategic, consider using Capital One Savor as part of a multi-card approach.
What Else Should You Know Before Applying for Capital One Savor?
Tap to Pay
The Savor Card’s contactless feature allows cardholders to complete some purchases by hovering the card near a payment terminal. The terminal has to be properly equipped, though.
Good Credit or Better Required
You need a credit score of 700 or higher, along with enough income to afford monthly bill payments, to have good odds of being approved for the Capital One Savor Card. You can check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub.
Bonus Rewards Depend on Merchant Categorization
Whether or not a particular purchase qualifies for one of the Capital One Savor Card’s bonus rewards rates ultimately depends on its merchant category code. That’s standard, and it shouldn’t lead to purchases that deserve to be eligible not getting credit. There isn’t really anything you can do about it, either. But it’s good to know that Capital One doesn’t have some long list of specific stores and other retailers that do and don’t make the cut for customers to consult.
Capital One Savor vs. The Competition
Capital One Savor isn’t the only credit card with great rewards. There are lots of attractive options right now. To help you make the right decision for your wallet, we’ll compare Capital One Savor to three of the most popular alternatives.
Info | Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card | Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card | Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card | Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card |
---|---|---|---|---|
Annual Fee | $95 | $0 | $0 | $95 |
Bonus Offer | $300 | $200 | $200 | 60,000 points |
Rewards Rate | 1 - 5% Cash Back | 1 - 5% Cash Back | 1.5 - 5% Cash Back | 1 - 5 points / $1 |
Purchase Intro APR | N/A | 0% for 15 months | 0% for 15 months | N/A |
Transfer Intro APR | N/A | 0% for 15 months Transfer Fee: 3% | 0% for 15 months Transfer Fee: 3% | N/A |
Regular APR | 20.74% - 28.74% (V) | 19.74% - 29.74% (V) | 19.74% - 29.74% (V) | 21.24% - 28.24% (V) |
Editors' Rating | 5 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 5 |
Details, Rates & Fees | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card Review Methodology
This Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card review is based on WalletHub’s proprietary 100-point credit card rating system. By using a consistent methodology to evaluate the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card and all other cards, WalletHub’s credit card experts make it easy for people to compare their options and find the best credit cards for their needs.
The WalletHub rating system uses 16 key metrics grouped into seven categories: Fees, Rewards, Two-year Cost, Interest Rates, Approval Requirements, Special Features, and Reviews. Each metric has a maximum number of points allocated to it, based on the metric’s importance as determined by our editors. The points are added up to create an overall rating for the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card out of a maximum of 100 points, which is then converted to a 5-point scale.
Ratings for each category reflect how close Capital One Savor is to WalletHub’s definition of a 5-star credit card, which is based on market conditions and what we believe are reasonable terms. We compare Capital One Savor to that standard to give a numerical approximation of how reasonable and competitive its terms are compared to other cards.
To learn more about how WalletHub rates credit card offers, check out our full credit card review methodology.
Ask the Experts
To help people learn more about Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card Review, WalletHub's editors posed the following questions to a panel of experts. You can meet our panelists and read their responses below.
1. Why do you think bonus credit card rewards for dining and entertainment are becoming increasingly popular?
2. Do you think people generally assume the best (a broad definition) or the worst (strict limitations) when faced with vague rewards categories such as “dining” and “entertainment”?
3. How should people choose between two versions of a credit card offer, when one has better rewards but charges an annual fee?
Ask the Experts
Marketing and Business Professor, College of Business, Eastern Oregon University
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Wolfe Family Presidential Endowed Chair in Life Sciences, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, Professor of Marketing, University of California, San Diego – Rady School of Management
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Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
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Associate Dean, Driehaus College of Business, DePaul University
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Instructor of Marketing and Management, College of Business and Professional Studies, Mississippi University for Women
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Professor Emeritus of Accounting, College of Business & Economics, West Virginia University
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