Shell Credit Card: Great for Travel, Not so Much for Gas

The Shell credit card doesn’t hold much appeal during the hunker-down-and-drink-cider days of winter, but those months are past. The smell of grilling beef, salty air by the beach…yes, it’s that time of year again. It’s summer driving season, when everyone’s collective efforts to get away for the weekend drive up gas prices. The price per barrel slipped below $100 for the first time in a while, but don’t expect it to last. Still, you can spare yourself some of the petroleum price shell shock (pardon the pun) with the right gas credit card. Now, the Shell credit card isn’t the best for gas-guzzlers. It is, however, a fantastic card for summer travelers.

The Shell Select is great for traveling, but not necessarily for gas

The Shell Select Member card doesn’t give any rewards on gas, but it gives excellent rewards on travel within the U.S. While the best credit cards for international travel tend to feature no foreign transaction fees, miles on a specific airline and amenities like lounge access, the Shell Select offers no-frills cash back and privileges domestic stays. It gives 10% cash back at the Hilton, Ramada, Holiday Inn and other hotels, if you book through the Select Member Reservation Center. You also receive 5% back on any U.S. airline (like American or United) and on all major car rental agencies, as long as you book through Shell. The card also offers hotel discounts – 5,000 hotels half off, and 8,000 at 30% off – though the discounts do not earn cash back. The rewards more than make up for the $25 annual fee: a $250 night at the Hilton and you break even.

In addition, the Shell Select offers flight and other forms of travel insurance, and a travel reservation service that “guarantees the lowest prices.” While the APR is pretty high – 24.99%, higher than the average for bad credit – if you’re not carrying a balance, you could get significant savings.

If you stay at one hotel or fly on one airline frequently, you may be better off going with a branded card that rewards your loyalty. However, the Shell is a good jack-of-all-trades travel card and is good for trips within the U.S.

As far as gas goes, the Drive for Five doesn’t impress

Shell’s pure gas rewards credit card, the Drive for Five, offers pretty minimal rewards. Although it has no annual fee, it shells out (sorry) a meager 5 cents per gallon, and then only if you buy 45 gallons or more from Shell each month. The average American drives 12,000 miles each year, so assuming a car that gets 25 miles per gallon, that’s 40 gallons a month. For a Prius, of course, it’s more like 20, while an SUV might be in the range of 50-60 gallons.

But pumping 45 gallons each month is by no means a certainty, especially if you’re traveling to a place with few Shell stations, or if you see another station whose prices are 10 cents lower, or if you just took fewer long drives that month. Plus, the Shell card doesn’t earn rewards on anything besides gas, so the only way you’ll get value is if you take a ton of weekend trips, commute long distances, or are willing to drive a few laps around town to make the 45-gallon mark. Even if you do earn the 5 cents off, with gas prices around $4.25 a gallon, you’re only getting ~ 1.2% rewards.

Bigger, better gas cards

A number of gas credit cards will not only give more than 2% back on gas, but they’ll give rewards on other purchases too. Among the best gas pump pain relievers:

AAA Visa: The Chase AAA Visa gives 5% rewards on gas, limited to $500 spent on gas per month, which is 118 gallons at $4.25/gal. It also gives 2% on AAA payments, and 1% on everything else, plus a $25 signing bonus. However, the 5% back version is only available to AAA members in Northern California, Nevada and Utah. For the unfortunate rest of the country, the rewards rate got shellacked (okay, I’m done making Shell puns). It’s a flat 1%, with no bonus for gas.

AmEx Blue Cash Preferred: With no spending threshold or rewards cap, the Blue Cash Preferred gives 6% on groceries, 3% on gas and department stores, and 1% on everything else. While it doesn’t give extra rewards on Costco gas, it privileges grocery shopping enough to make it worthwhile.

PenFed Platinum Cashback Rewards: The Pentagon Federal Platinum Cash Back card gives a whopping 5% back on all the gas you by, unlimited, plus 1% everywhere else. There’s also a version of the card for students, who usually don’t see gas rewards this good. PenFed is a credit union, so in order to join, you can either be connected to defense in a variety of ways, or you can make donations to the National Military Families Association ($20), Voices for America’s Troops ($15) or the Red Cross (blood or money). It has a lower interest rate than most cards, and has a 4.99% APR on balance transfers for the life of the balance.