If your recycling bin runneth over with takeout containers or grocery bags, the $0-annual-fee Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card is an excellent choice (see rates and fees).
It offers an unlimited 3% cash back on dining and at grocery stores, as well as on entertainment and eligible streaming services. You'll get 1% back on everything else.
The potential to earn such a rich rate on both eating out and eating in helps separate this card from much of its competitors, which tend to focus on only one of those categories or the other. It's possible to find similar or higher rates in either of those categories, but rarely on both with the same card unless you're willing to cough up an annual fee.
» MORE: NerdWallet's best credit cards for restaurants
🤓Nerdy Tip
There's also a version of this card designed especially for college students. Learn about it here.
Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card: Basics
Card type: Cash back.
Annual fee: $0.
Sign-up bonus: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
Rewards:
8% back on Capital One Entertainment purchases.
5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
3% back on dining, eligible streaming services, grocery stores and entertainment.
1% cash back on all other purchases.
🤓Nerdy Tip
Through Nov. 14, 2024, you can also earn 10% cash back with this card on Uber and Uber Eats, as well as a complimentary Uber One membership. Terms apply.
Interest rate: 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; 19.99% - 29.99% variable APR after that; balance transfer fee applies.
Foreign transaction fees: None.
Minimum redemption requirement: None.
Credit score requirement: According to Capital One, you'll need excellent credit to qualify for the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. Typically, excellent credit means a credit score of at least 720. (NOTE: Applicants with less-than-excellent credit may be approved for a different version of this card — one that earns the same ongoing rewards, but doesn't offer the upfront incentives of a sign-up bonus or intro APR period.)
How this card defines 'dining and entertainment'
Dining includes purchases at restaurants, fast-food places, coffee shops, cafes, lounges, bakeries, bars and nightclubs, according to the issuer.
Entertainment includes tickets purchased for a movie, play, concert, sporting event, tourist attraction, theme park, aquarium, zoo, dance club, pool hall or bowling alley, as well as purchases at record stores or video rental locations, the issuer confirms. "Entertainment" doesn’t include purchases like cable, digital streaming or subscription services — but again, streaming is its own separate 3% bonus category.
How this card defines eligible streaming services
Unlike American Express, which maintains a comprehensive list of services that qualify for bonus rewards on streaming, Capital One has yet to publish such a list. As of October 2021, its website was describing eligibility this way: "Streaming purchases made from eligible music and video streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu and Disney+. Some services, such as Prime Video, AT&T TV and Verizon FIOS On Demand, are excluded, as well as audiobook subscription services and fitness programming."
» MORE: Capital One credit cards mobile app review
SavorOne vs. the original Savor
The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card isn't the only card under Capital One's Savor brand. The original Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card* pays a higher rewards rate on dining, streaming and entertainment and comes with a bigger sign-up bonus — but it also charges an annual fee. Here's how the cards compare:
Empty Table Header | Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card | Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. |
|---|---|---|
Annual fee | $95. | $0 (see rates and fees) |
Sign-up bonus | Earn a one-time $300 cash bonus once you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. | Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening. |
Cash-back rewards |
|
|
APR | The ongoing APR is 19.99%, 26.24% or 29.99%, Variable APR. | 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; 19.99% - 29.99% variable APR after that; balance transfer fee applies. |
Foreign transaction fee | None | None |
Which card is better for you depends first on your spending and second on your tolerance for annual fees.
The original Savor card's higher maximum cash-back rate and bigger bonus can give it a head start over the no-fee version. But you have to spend much more to snag that bigger bonus — and, of course, sign-up bonuses can vary over time.
The main question to ask is this: Do you spend enough each year on dining, streaming and entertainment to make a $95-annual-fee card worth it?
Hint: Taking into account those fees, you'd have to spend more than $9,500 a year on dining, streaming and entertainment before the regular Savor comes out ahead. (But again, that doesn't take into account the Savor's bigger bonus, assuming you can spend enough to snag it.)
A secondary question to ask is this: Do you want a 0% introductory APR period? Because if so, only the no-fee SavorOne offers that (see rates and fees).
