The Capital One SavorOne Rewards Mastercard is a no-fee card which earns unlimited rewards in popular categories. Although it usually isn’t considered the “best” for any single category, few cards have a decent earn rate in 4+ spend categories. This makes the SavorOne worth considering as a general everyday card, especially for grocery spending. Their new Uber partnership is another strong point to consider.
FEATURES AT A GLANCE
- No annual fee
- No foreign transaction fees
- 10% cash back with Uber and Uber Eats (plus free Uber One membership until November 2024)
- 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 3% cash back at grocery stores
- 3% cash back at restaurants
- 3% cash back on streaming services
- 3% cash back on “entertainment” (including movie theaters and zoos) or 8% cash back at Capital One Entertainment
- 1% cash back on everything else
SIGN UP BONUS
The sign-up bonus may vary, so keep an eye out for the best offers. Usually, you can earn $200 by spending $500+ within 90 days. There’s also an introductory 0% APR for the first 12-15 months for purchases and/or balance transfers (transfers have a 3% fee). The $200 welcome bonus is an easy 40% Return on Spend (RoS). Sometimes the minimum spending requirement is $1,000 instead of $500, and sometimes the 0% APR isn’t part of the offer (or as low as 6 months).
OTHER BENEFITS OF THE SAVORONE CARD
- Extended Warranty
- Travel Accident Insurance
- Concierge Service
- Zero Fraud Liability
- Event/Experience Access
- Capital One Offers
RESTRICTIONS AND CREDIT SCORE
Recommended credit score: 670+
Capital One limits people to 1 card every 6 months (the “1/6 rule”) although this limit is an anti-churning measure and doesn’t apply to the average consumer.
“Streaming” purchases include “eligible” services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. Capital One excludes audiobook and fitness subscriptions, Prime Video, AT&T TV, and Verizon FIOS On Demand.
“Entertainment” purchases include “Ticket purchases made at movie theaters, sports promoters (professional and semi-professional live events), theatrical promoters, amusement parks, tourist attractions, aquariums, zoos, dance halls, record stores, pool halls or bowling alleys. This excludes golf courses, collegiate sporting events and non-industry entertainment merchant codes like cable, digital streaming and membership services.”
MAXIMIZING REWARDS WITH THE SAVORONE CARD
The card earns cash back rewards in a simple and straightforward way. There isn’t anything special to do that would maximize rewards, unlike the Capital One Venture cards.
Sometimes you can earn bonus cash back with Capital One cards. (“Capital One Shopping.”) They have affiliate links and offers which vary often. For example, you could temporarily get up to 6% cash back at Macy’s when going through Capital One’s website. It can be good to check the available options before making a purchase somewhere.
Uber One membership is normally $10 per month or $100 per year. It reduces delivery fees to $0 for Uber Eats orders of at least $15-35, and has discounts of “up to” 10%, including a 5% discount on eligible rides. For some people, this is a great perk even when it’s not free through Capital One (plus the 10% cash back to consider). Uber claims that its members save an average of $25-27 monthly.
ALTERNATIVES TO THE SAVORONE
For a $95 annual fee, there’s the upgraded Capital One Savor. Compared to the SavorOne, the Savor card earns an extra 1% cash back on dining, entertainment, and streaming. If you spend a lot on dining or entertainment, this could be worth considering, but overall the Savor is worse than the SavorOne. You’d have to spend at least $10,000 each year to outweigh the annual fee. 4% cash back on $10k = $400 ($305 after the annual fee) vs 3% cash back on $10k = $300. If you’re a big spender, you’re probably better off with the American Express Gold charge card. The Savor also has a worse sign-up bonus than the SavorOne. A $300 bonus after spending $3,000 is only a 10% return, and the bonus becomes $205 after the annual fee, only $5 more than the SavorOne.
The American Express Blue Cash Preferred has the same $95 annual fee as the Savor card, yet earns way more cash back. 6% on groceries and streaming, although cash back isn’t quite unlimited.
Click here to see our list of the best grocery credit cards. The Citi Custom Cash Card (CCCC) will be the best fit for most people (5% back) but this varies due to the card’s spending limits.
Click here to see our list of the best restaurant/dining credit cards. The US Bank Altitude Go earns 4% cash back.
Click here to see our list of the best streaming/entertainment credit cards. The US Bank Altitude Go can be the best option for this category as well, although YMMV.
For a general-use card, any of the best everyday cards will work. You’ll want to earn at least 2% cash back on all purchases. Anyone who travels is likely best off with Capital One’s newer Venture X Visa Infinite. It’s effectively fee-free for anyone who spends at least $300-400 per year on flights/hotels, and earns a lot more points than Savor/SavorOne.
CONCLUSION
The SavorOne Mastercard is a solid no-fee option for grocery and dining purchases. It can be more complicated for streaming or entertainment purchases, but it depends on your personal preferences. Most people will find this to be a strong credit card which doesn’t add complexity to a wallet. There might be better options for some people, but it depends heavily on personal preferences. For people who don’t want to juggle several cards, the SavorOne is a straightforward option.
As of late 2022, the card now has a ton of Uber benefits, easily worth hundreds of dollars. There’s also up to 8% cash back on travel and entertainment. For many people, this is an incredible deal. The Savor card is still mostly useless, but SavorOne remains a great option.
One downside of Capital One is that they pull credit reports from all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). This can hurt your FICO score in the short term, since most card issuers aren’t involved with every bureau. SavorOne is also just “okay” for its cash back rates. A combination of multiple cards will easily out-earn it, unless you’re a very heavy spender on groceries.
We rate the SavorOne card 5 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Note: This review was last updated in July 2023. Details may have changed since then. Please do your own research where applicable, to ensure you’re getting the best deal. Or contact us directly to take advantage of our personalized consulting services!