Note that the Business version of this card earns 4% on gas up to $6,000 per year.
Sam
Hi Nerdwallet!
Just found your site and love it! One thing I believe is wrong though- The Costco American Express gives you 3% back for gas at ANY gas station. Also note, the Costco Gift certificate provided annually can be redeemed for cash at a Costco location.
Thanks!
http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet
Hi Sam, you are right. Our point was more that the 3% cash back bonus is even more powerful when used to buy discount Costco gas. We didn’t mean to imply that this card can only be used at Costco.
In fact, I use mine at every gas station I can!
Peter
Question: Does anyone know more detail about the 3% cashback on Restaurants? Does that include fastfood? Takeout? Or just full sit-down restaurants? Right now I have the PNC Everday Rewards card (just stopped being offered) and it gives 2% cashback on anything food – grocery stores, restaurants, fast food, etc. up to $750 a month. More details on this rewards category on this Costco card would be appreciated!
http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet
Peter, the 3% applies to any merchant that designates itself as a “restaurant” when sending transactions along to the credit card networks. This includes sit-down restaurants, fast food, takeout, coffee shops, and even many bars. It would not apply for grocery stores.
Unfortunately the only way to ever know for sure whether a certain merchant qualifies for 3% cash back is to look at your statement after the fact. It’s not really the credit card company that decides, the merchant has to configure their credit card transactions appropriately.
Caris
Regarding the 3% on restaurants, it is quite disappointing to be just days away from receiving the rebate voucher, and to realize that they have not given me 3% back on many restaurant charges. I just checked my year-end analysis which shows you how charges are categorized, and a significant amount of restaurant charges were randomly listed as furnishings (1% rebate), groceries (1%), business (1%), and even travel (1%). I tried taking this up with American Express, but have not gotten very far.
http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet
Yeah Caris, the credit card companies generally refuse to help with these sorts of things (and it’s extremely frustrating).
You should try calling the merchants themselves and asking what’s up. If a restaurateur is mis-billing his credit card transactions as “furnishings,” then you’re not the only one getting ripped off. If you get in touch with anyone, could you report back and let us know how it goes??
M
On the gas rewards, my fine print says “excluding superstores, supermarkets, convenience stores and warehouse clubs other than Costco.” I understand that they don’t want to support sales with their competitors (Sam’s club, Giant Eagle, etc.), but what do they define as a convenience store? Is this considered places like Sheetz and 7-11? I feel like this label could include any stand alone gas station that happens to sell even the smallest amount of merchandise. Just wondering if you have any thoughts on their definitions of these terms.
http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet
To be honest with you M, I think they’re just trying to cover their asses with that language. I don’t think it means gas stations that happen to have convenience stores, I believe it’s meant primarily to exclude other warehouse stores and department store chains (like Sam’s Club, as you mention).
And what I mean by covering their asses is that rewards are determined based on how the merchant inputs the transaction, and what sort of processing code they use. It’s really not up to the credit card issuer to figure that out. So if a 7-11 uses a “convenience store” code instead of a “gas station” code, Amex and Costco don’t want to be held liable.
I can say from my own experience that I’ve been using this card for all of my gas purchases for a year now and haven’t seen anything fishy in the way the rewards were calculated (yet).
http://twitter.com/CallahanKyle Kyle Callahan
The type of merchant code is a very important point. Its time for me to renew my Costco membership and I have been considering this card for a while. Even with modest spending, it should be easy to accumulate enough cash-back rewards to offset the basic $50 annual membership. I was questioning the language regarding convenience stores since I’ve never seen a stand-alone gas station that didn’t sell bottled drinks and snack foods. Glad to know most locations (minus grocers stations) will qualify for 3% back.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=205295 Tim Chen
You get your rewards redemption once a year in either your Feb or Mar statement. You can use the redemption coupon at a Costco store for either merchandise or cash back, but be careful – it expires Aug 31 the same year.
Fill ‘er up
I have the True Earnings Costco Card from American Express and have been very disappointed. Although it is not mentioned in your card summary, the 3% cash back on gasoline only applies to gasoline from Costco and “free standing gas stations”. A free standing gas station is one without a convenience store. Thus far, I have not received the 3% cash back for the purchase gas at a non Costco gas station because virtually every gas station has some sort of convenience store associated with it. I think the 3% cash back description is very misleading. The last time that I was at Costco, they had a salesperson touting the 3% cash back benefit for all gas purchases which is clearly misleading. I will likely cancel the card and seek out alternative cards.
Wrabble
You are mistaken in your interpretation about which gas stations are eligible for the 3% cash back.
I routinely buy gas at a couple of stations (BP & Shell) which have convenience stores and I get the 3% rate on gas purchases there. I have gotten the 3% rate at a lot of other stations with convenience stores, like big truck stops out on interstate highways. I get 1% for purchases at gas stations that are part of grocery stores.
