The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the best cash back credit cards, especially for dining and entertainment. But how high of a credit score do you need to get approved?
This article will give you an idea of what you can expect your approval odds to be based on your credit score.
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Capital One Savor Credit score: What’s Needed?
There are reports of being approved for the Capital One Savor card with credit scores in the mid to upper 600s, so you definitely don’t need a perfect credit score to get approved for the Capital One Savor.
But keep in mind that the applicant there was applying for the old Capital One Savor card and the new version is a more premium product which means it will usually require a higher credit score.
The Capital One Savor card is not a card meant to rebuild your credit so if your score is in the low to mid 600s, it is probably not be for you. But if you’re in the high 600s, you might stand a decent chance.
My advice would be to try to get up above 720 or at least 700 to increase your approval odds for the Savor. In addition, I would try to establish at least a year of credit history with some issuer to increase those approval odds.
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Capital One Savor benefits
The original Capital One Savor was released in the fall of 2017 but it was later re-launched in 2018 and it came with an upgraded package. Here’s what the new and improved Capital One Savor offers:
- 4% cash back on dining
- 2% cash back on groceries
- 1% cash back on everything else
- Rewards don’t expire for the life of the account, and you can redeem cash back for any amount
- World Elite MasterCard benefits
- $95 annual fee
- No foreign transaction fees
Bonus spending
- 4% cash back on dining and entertainment
- 2% cash back on groceries
- 1% cash back on everything else
The Capital One Savor is one of the best cards for cash back on dining and entertainment with 4% cash back. You have to factor in the $95 annual fee which will obviously cut into the savings but if you spend a substantial amount of money on dining and entertainment then earning that 4% back can most definitely be worth it.
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 4% earnings on dining abroad with you and not have to worry about any issues if they don’t take Visa but do take MasterCard.
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.
Capital One Savor credit limits
It’s hard to predict what your credit limit will be for the Savor credit card. However, there are reports of others getting credit limits as high as $30,000. More realistically, with an average credit score, you’ll probably get started off with a credit limit of $5,000 to $10,000.
The actual limit you get will depend on your credit score and income but in the past Capital One has always been one of the most generous issuers for me when it comes to credit limits. They also allow you to request credit limit increases, usually after 6 months, so you can always try to work your way up the credit limit ladder with those requests.
Improving your credit score
If you think you’re on the cusp of getting approved then you may just need to work a little bit on your credit score. If you need a quick refresher on how credit scores are determined, click here.
Related: How to Raise Your Credit Score by 200 Points
Your credit score is determined by the following categories:
- Payment History (35%)
- Utilization (30%)
- Credit History (15%)
- New Credit (10%)
- Mixed Credit (10%)
Payment history
Obviously, you want your payment history to be squeaky clean. If you have a late payment within the last couple of months, consider waiting a few more months to apply for another credit card. If you have multiple late payments, you might need to wait 6 to 12 months before applying and possibly even longer.
Utilization
You want to try to keep your utilization around 10% but no higher than 30% for good approval odds. It’s really important to know how to properly pay off your credit card bill to maintain good utilization.
Credit history
As stated, you probably want to apply for this card after you’ve established some credit history for a while. I would shoot for at least a couple of years of solid credit history.
New credit
Capital One can be a little sensitive to new accounts opened up so try to space out your applications so that you’re not applying for a bunch of Capital One cards right after applying for other cards.
Mixed credit
This looks at your mix of revolving credit accounts and installment accounts and is the least important factor for your FICO score. You shouldn’t stress too much over this factor.
Depending on which factor is holding you back, there are different ways to quickly improve your credit score. You can read about these different methods here.
Final word
The Capital One Savor is a great cash back rewards credit card but you’re going to need to have at least a decent credit score to get approved. Capital One advertises this card as needing “Excellent” credit so you know that your score needs to be in decent shape before applying.
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.
