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If you’re both a foodie and financially conscious, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card should absolutely be on your radar. This is a no-annual-fee credit card for people who want to earn cash back on purchases for food and entertainment.
The Savor card offers unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores, such as Walmart and Target).
You’ll also earn 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases and 5% cash back on Capital One Travel purchases. Those are incredible cashback rates for a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee.
On top of its outstanding cash back rewards, the Savor Rewards Card from Capital One also comes with a suite of other benefits that are standard on Capital One cards.
Pros | Cons |
No annual fee | Other cards may earn more |
Excellent cash back rewards categories | |
No foreign transaction fee |
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card Spending Bonuses
As previously mentioned, the Capital One Savor Card offers some fantastic cashback rewards in certain spending categories. Here are the spending bonuses for the Savor Card:
- 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases
- 5% cash back on Capital One Travel purchases
- 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (except Walmart and Target)
- 1% cash back on everything else
These are pretty incredible spending bonuses for a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee. In fact, when you compare the Savor Card’s cashback rewards to the spending bonuses offered by some premium credit cards that charge hundreds of dollars in annual fees, it’s hard to decide which is better.
First of all, the fact that you can earn 8% cash back through Capital One Entertainment and 5% cash back through Capital One Travel means that living to the fullest has never been more affordable. Through these two portals, you can find exclusive experiences, tickets to sports games and concerts, flights, hotels, rental cars and more. Plus, you’ll be earning cash back while planning your next night out or your next vacation.
Although travel and entertainment aren’t the largest expense categories for most people, earning 3% back at grocery stores and on dining (which are definitely in a lot of people’s top expense categories) can save you money.
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card Benefits
Cashback rewards are the main selling point for the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. However, other benefits come with this card that sweeten the deal, and it’s definitely worth getting familiar with these benefits so that you can take advantage of them to the fullest.
No Annual Fee
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card doesn’t charge an annual fee, which means that there’s very little downside to adding this card to your wallet if you qualify. All cashback rewards that you earned will be no-strings-attached savings.
No Foreign Transaction Fees
No matter what kind of Capital One card you have in your wallet, you’ll never be charged an additional fee for making transactions outside of your home country. Capital One markets their products toward people who like to travel, so you’ll never have to worry about them charging foreign transaction fees (whereas some other banks charge foreign transaction fees as high as 3%).
$0 Fraud Liability
If you have a Capital One credit card (including the Savor Card), you’re 100% covered by $0 fraud liability protection. That means that if your card is lost or stolen, you’ll be reimbursed for any unauthorized charges.
If a suspicious charge appears on your credit card, Capital One will notify you via text, email and phone to confirm whether or not you made the transaction. If you confirm that the transaction was fraudulent, you’ll be reimbursed for the full amount.
Welcome Bonus
It’s rare to see a card without an annual fee offering a welcome bonus, but the Savor Card offers new cardmembers a cash bonus for spending a certain amount of money in a certain time period after opening an account.
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card Drawbacks
There’s not many negative things to be said about the Savor Card from Capital One, particularly because it offers amazing cashback rewards and doesn’t charge an annual fee. The only real drawback to be aware of is that there are some other no-annual-fee cards out there that outcompete the Savor Card in certain bonus categories.
Bigger Spenders Can Earn More Elsewhere
One of the most attractive things about the Capital One Savor card is the ability to earn great cashback rewards without having to pay an annual fee. However, in some cases, upgrading to a card with an annual fee and larger spending bonuses could be a better move.
A good way to determine whether it’s worth it to upgrade to a card that charges an annual fee is to look at your spending from the previous year and calculate how much cash back you would’ve earned with both of your card alternatives.
Other Cards to Consider
In our opinion, the Capital One Savor Card is one of the best no-annual-fee cards on the market and a great addition to most people’s wallets. However, depending on your spending habits, other cards may be better for your lifestyle. So, before you fill out an application, it’s worth considering your other options.
U.S. Bank Altitude® Go Visa Signature® Card
The Savor Card is great for people who want to earn valuable cashback rewards at restaurants and at grocery stores. However, if you tend to eat out far more than you cook at home, then you may want to consider going with the U.S. Bank Altitude® Go Visa Signature® Card, which offers 4X points on dining, including takeout and delivery. Additionally, just like the Savor Card, U.S. Bank Altitude Go Card has no annual fee.
Although the Savor Card beats out the U.S. Bank Altitude Go Card on groceries, the U.S. Bank card still offers a solid 2X points on grocery stores (including grocery delivery), gas stations, EV charging stations and on eligible streaming services. On top of that, this card offers a $15 annual statement credit toward purchases from popular streaming services like Netflix and Spotify.
It’s worth noting that U.S. Bank points are always worth 1 cent no matter how you redeem them (unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards points or American Express Membership Rewards points, which can be redeemed for outsized value in some cases).
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
If your biggest expense category is groceries, then there are better cards for you than the Savor Card. The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express offers a whopping 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year, then 1% cash back after that).
The Blue Cash Preferred Card doesn’t charge an annual fee for your first cardmember year. However, after that, it has an annual fee of $95 (see rates & fees). According to our calculations, if you spend at least $61 per week on groceries, then the Blue Cash Preferred Card would be a better deal than the Savor Card.
On top of earning 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, the Blue Cash Preferred Card also offers 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions and 3% back at U.S. gas stations and on transit. Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout. This card also offers a valuable welcome bonus that significantly sweetens the deal.
In general, if you’re looking for a card that’s going to earn cash back on groceries, it’s hard to beat the Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express. You should be aware, though, that the Blue Cash Preferred card offers unimpressive rewards on dining.
The Bottom Line
The Savor Rewards Card from Capital One is one of the best cards on the market for people who want to earn great cashback rewards both when eating at home and when dining out.
This card offers 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, select streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target). So, whether you’re picking up groceries to cook a meal and stay in for the night or going out on the town for dinner and a movie, you’ll be earning great cashback rewards.
However, before you sign up for the Savor Card, it’s worth looking at your spending categories from the previous year and calculating whether you’d be better off with the Savor Card or a different card.
For example, if you spend a lot of money on groceries each year, you may want to go with the Blue Cash Preferred card from American Express (which has an annual fee of $95, see rates & fees).
Overall, because the Savor Card doesn’t charge an annual fee and offers cashback rewards such as 8% on Capital One Entertainment and 5% on Capital One Travel, this card is guaranteed to be a good fit for your wallet.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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