5.0
If you're a frequent restaurant diner or grocery shopper, it'll be hard to find a better cash-back card for an annual fee of . And it's also a great pick for entertainment spending, whether you're catching a movie in the theater or at home.
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1%-10%
Bonus offer
Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
Intro APR
0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers; balance transfer fee applies
Ongoing APR
APR: 19.99%-29.99% Variable APR
Cash Advance APR: 29.99%, Variable
Balance transfer fee
Balance transfer fee applies
Foreign transaction fee
0%
No annual fee
Intro APR period
Bonus categories
No foreign transaction fees
Requires good/excellent credit
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.
There's also a version of this card designed especially for college students. Learn about it here.
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.
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.)
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.
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."
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).
Whether your taste in food runs from Michelin-starred to Mickey D's to Meijer supermarkets, you can get plenty of value out of the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. It has broad definitions of "dining" and "entertainment." Plus, unlike some of its competitors, it doesn't limit how much spending is eligible for its higher rewards rates, and it doesn't have a minimum amount for redeeming your rewards.
So what counts as a "restaurant" or a "theme park"? It comes down to the merchant classification code assigned to the business where you use your card. If the merchant is using a code that Capital One defines as a dining or entertainment expense, you should get 3% cash back for it.
Most cards that offer bonus rewards for dining are also travel cards with steep annual fees. That’s a pain if you aren't spending thousands of dollars in the card’s bonus categories.
The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card offers more breathing room with its annual fee of $0. There's no need to worry about spending a certain amount before breaking even on rewards (see rates and fees).
As mentioned, if you're spending upward of $9,500 a year on dining, streaming and entertainment, consider the original Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. That card is an especially better deal in the first year, when the bigger sign-up bonus is in play.
If you don't cook much at home, consider instead the U.S. Bank Altitude® Go Visa Signature® Card. It, too, has a $0 annual fee, but it earns a whopping 4X back on dining purchases. Note, however, that this card is not as rewarding on groceries or streaming, and there's no bonus category for "entertainment" spending at all.
Or if drive-thru meals are a major expense for you, look into the no-fee U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card. It earns 5% cash back in two categories of your choice (see the list below), on up to $2,000 spent per quarter on combined purchases. Possible 5% categories include fast food, not to mention TV, internet and streaming services. The card also offers an uncapped 2% back in an everyday category of your choice, including restaurants. All other non-bonus-category purchases earn 1% back.
Fast food.
Home utilities.
TV, internet and streaming.
Department stores.
Cell phone providers.
Electronics stores.
Sporting goods stores.
Movie theaters.
Gyms/fitness centers.
Furniture stores.
Ground transportation.
Select clothing stores.
For a $0, the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card offers very good rewards at grocery stores (see rates and fees). Even still, it's possible to double that rate.
Consider the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, which offers 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in spending each year) and 1% after that. Terms apply (see rates and fees). The card charges a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95. But if you spend around $61 at grocery stores each week, it would be a better deal than the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card.
When talking about no-annual-fee dining credit cards from major issuers, you pretty much have to include Costco's popular co-branded card, the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi. This card offers unlimited 3% cash back at restaurants, in addition to other bonus categories, making it a great option for dining enthusiasts. It's also a better choice if you do most of your shopping at Costco, since it offers an unlimited 2% back on Costco purchases. The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, by contrast, is a Mastercard and isn’t accepted in-store at Costco.
The Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi has an annual fee of $0, but, of course, you must be a Costco member, which has its own fee. If you're going to pay that fee anyway, it's an excellent pick.
You can also visit NerdWallet's best credit cards page to see how these cards compare versus other cash-back alternatives.
Foodies of any stripe may want to clear a space in their wallets for the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. In terms of rewards at both restaurants and grocery stores, it may be the best $0-annual-fee option available (see rates and fees).
But if your spending tends to favor one category over the other, other cards can out-earn this one.
To view rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, see this page.
*Information related to the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.
This card gives you an industry-leading 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 a year in spending (then 1%); 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions; 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on transit (including such things as taxis, rideshares, parking, tolls, trains and buses); and 1% cash back on all other purchases. (Terms apply.) There's a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.