CapitalOne just released its newest member to its family known as the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card (which appears to be a slightly upgraded rebrand of their Premier Dining card released earlier). It’s a cash back card that might be able to compete with many of the other no annual fee cash back cards that are out there. Here’s a look at the card.
Update: Some offers are no longer available — click here for the latest deals!
The offer
- $150 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening
- 3% cash back on dining
- 2% cash back on groceries
- 1% cash back on everything else
- 0% intro APR for 9 months
- Rewards don’t expire for the life of the account, and you can redeem cash back for any amount
- World Elite MasterCard benefits
- No annual fee
- No foreign transaction fees
Sign-up bonus
The $150 sign-up bonus is right on par with other no annual fee cards that this card is competing with like the Chase Freedom cards (though they have authorized user bonuses for $25 more). $150 is a decent bonus for any card with no annual fee and it’s nice that it comes with such a low spending requirement but it’s not so high to be especially noteworthy.
Bonus spending
- 3% cash back on dining
- 2% cash back on groceries
- 1% cash back on everything else
Capital One already has a no annual fee card that competed with the Chase Freedom Unlimited. This is the ultra-popular Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card that earns 1.5% back on all purchases.
So the Savor card is targeted to those people who want to capitalize on the specific categories of dining and groceries. Unlimited 3% pure cash back on dining is very strong and is what will make this card stand out to many. I don’t know many other nationally available credit cards with no annual fees and no foreign transaction fees that offer this.
The 2% back on groceries is okay but definitely nothing special. Other no annual fee cards like the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express earn 3% back at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 per year. More importantly, with the Citi® Double Cash Card you could get 2% back on every purchase.
No foreign transaction fees
CapitalOne cards, like Discover cards, come with no foreign transaction fees. This is great if you don’t have a MasterCard with no foreign transaction fees because you’ll be able to take your 3% earnings on dining abroad with you and not have to worry about any issues if they don’t take Visa but do take MasterCard. MasterCard also might save you more than Visa with their exchange rates. Also, since there’s no annual fee, it won’t cost you to maintain this benefit.
Drawbacks
One of the drawbacks to applying for a Capital One card is that they pull from all 3 credit bureaus. You can have one of your bureaus frozen like Experian to mitigate the damage, however.
Final word
This card could perfectly serve the needs of someone who wants to earn 3% cash back on dining while abroad while incurring no foreign transaction fees and not paying an annual fee. There are better earning no annual fee cards for the other categories, however, so I wouldn’t prioritize getting this card for groceries or non-bonused spend. Instead, this might be a better product change option for many who hold other CapitalOne cards (when product changing becomes an option).
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
