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The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards really has something for everyone. It earns on a wide variety of activities, from dining to entertainment and grocery shopping, on top of providing an eclectic selection of benefits geared mainly towards travel.
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We give the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card 4 out of 5 Stars because it earns cash back at restaurants at a relatively high rate, and it has a good welcome bonus. But it also comes with an annual fee.
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The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card has been redesigned, and is now more rewarding (and more expensive) than the original version.
This card now offers 5% cash back with Uber Eats (through 1/31/21), 4% cash back for dining and entertainment purchases, and 2% cash back at grocery stores. (It previously offered 3% just for dining.)
You’ll even get 8% cash back at Vivid Seats, an online ticket reseller.
The Savor originally had no annual fee, but the new version has a $95 annual fee.
As Capital One upgraded the Savor card, it also released the new SavorOne card, which is a lot like the original Savor. There are now two cards in the Savor lineup:
Is the Savor right for you? Depending on your shopping habits, the card with the best rewards won’t always be the most valuable. Keep reading to learn more.
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You can earn unlimited cash back, and your rewards never expire.
This card is meant to be your go-to option for food spending. Most cards don’t provide cash back categories for both restaurants and grocery stores, and 4% back for dining is pretty rare.
However, you can find some better offers, overall, with certain other cards. The 2% back for grocery store purchases isn’t really anything special, as some cards provide 2% back for every purchase (like the Citi® Double Cash Card – 18 month BT offer (Review), which provides 1% back for purchases and an additional 1% back for payments as long as you pay at least the minimum due on time). Check out our other alternatives below for more options.
The introductory offer is decent for a card like this, though the return on spend is pretty standard. In most cases, with cards at this level you’ll only see offers for $100 or $150, maybe $200.
There’s a bit of a story behind the Savor card. It originally offered 3% cash back for dining, and had no annual fee. But then Barclays’ Uber Credit Card (Review) came along, offering 4% back at restaurants with no annual fee (now 3%). After that, Capital One redesigned the Savor card to offer 4% back for restaurants and entertainment, but with a $95 annual fee. It also released the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card (Review), which is more like the original Savor card. Try not to get confused!
Capital One’s reward categories include the following types of merchants. Take note that the entertainment category does not include cable, digital streaming, and subscription services.
Dining | ||
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Restaurants | Fast-food Chains | Cafes |
Bars | Bakeries | Lounges |
Entertainment | ||
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Movies | Concerts | Plays |
Sporting Events | Tourist Attractions | Theme Parks |
Aquariums | Zoos | Pool Halls |
Dance Clubs | Bowling Alleys | Record/Video Rental Stores |
Grocery Stores | |||
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Supermarkets | Dairy Product Stores | Specialty Markets | Meat Lockers |
You can redeem your cash back in three different ways:
We recommend that you always redeem your cash back as a statement credit because this is the easiest and most direct method. Physical checks will take several weeks to arrive.
Gift card redemption rates will vary, and you won’t always get the full value of your cash back so we recommend that you avoid this method.
You can set up automatic redemption preferences to make the process easier. You can either set it for certain dates throughout the year or when your cash back hits a specific threshold.
The Savor card comes with a surprisingly wide variety of potentially useful benefits, from both Capital One and Mastercard.
Purchase APR | Balance Transfer APR | Cash Advance APR |
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15.99% - 24.99% Variable | 15.99% - 24.99% Variable | 24.99% Variable |
Annual Fee | Foreign Transaction Fee |
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$95 | None |
Balance Transfer Fee | Cash Advance Fee |
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$0 | 3% of the amount of the cash advance, but not less than $10 |
Penalty APR | Late Fee | Returned Payment Fee |
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None | Up to $39 | See Terms |
This card is a bit unusual, because it comes with no fee for balance transfers at the regular APR. However, if you’re offered a promotional APR at some point, like 0% for 6 months, you’ll need to pay a fee for that transfer.
All Capital One cards have no foreign transaction fees, a nice feature to have in case you plan to travel outside the country.
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is not the worst choice if you want a card for food spending. But you may want to consider some other options too.
It offers rewards for dining and entertainment at a relatively high rate, of 4% cash back. But there’s also the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card (Review), with 3% cash back for dining and no annual fee.
The Savor card’s 8% cash back with Vivid Seats offers a good return on spend, but this highly specific category doesn’t seem likely to be as much of a selling point as its general dining and entertainment rewards.
The Savor has a decent welcome bonus, at $300 cash bonus for spending $3,000 in the first 3 months, though the return on spend isn’t exceptional. It does come with some valuable World Elite Mastercard benefits, however, which are typically only found on the better travel cards.
If you had the original Savor card with no annual fee, you’ll be grandfathered in to the new rewards program but you won’t have to pay the new annual fee. So you’ll be earning 4% back at no cost whatsoever, as long as you avoid interest and fees. That would be a pretty good deal, probably worth hanging on to.
There are some other cards that could be more rewarding for restaurant purchases, especially if you would have to pay the annual fee for the Savor. Check out some of those alternatives below, one of which might be perfect for your shopping habits.
You can apply now securely on Capital One’s website by following the link below. Capital One may check your credit reports from Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and Innovis.
Capital One will often provide an instant decision, but in some cases it may request more information to process the application.
It’s recommended you have good credit in order to qualify for the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card.
For you to have good credit, your credit scores would need to be within the ranges of 670–739 for FICO and 700–749 for VantageScore.
But there are more factors credit card issuers take into account, such as income and monthly mortgage or rent payment. That means even if your scores are a bit lower than what’s recommended there’s a chance you’ll still be approved. However, that could also mean that even if you have high enough scores, you might not be approved.
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It’s a World Elite Mastercard, so you’ll be able to use it everywhere Mastercard credit cards are accepted.
Curious about the difference between Visa and Mastercard? We’ve got you covered.
You’ll get a wide variety of World Elite Mastercard benefits, including discounts and perks with a large swath of hotels and travel services like rental car providers, airlines, chauffeur services, cruise programs, and more.
There’s also a helpful collection of travel protections attached, including travel accident insurance and rental car insurance. Check out all the benefits you might expect with your card.
Tickets purchased at movie theaters, sports events, theater shows, amusement parks, tourist attractions, aquariums, zoos, dance halls, record stores, music events, pool halls, and bowling alleys. So you’ll earn on quite a few activities.
Want to know how you can redeem your cash back?
The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card (Review) is a toned-down version of the Savor card.
This card offers less for the spending rewards and welcome bonus, but also has no annual fee to pay. Other than that these cards are pretty similar. The benefits are identical, but there is a 0% intro APR offer for purchases.
So you’ll have 0% interest for 15 months before the regular 15.49% - 25.49% (Variable) APR kicks in. That could save you some money for a couple large purchases you plan to make, or give you a little more time to pay them off.
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The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Review) is regarded as one of the best credit cards for travel, and it’s a bit different than the others in this post. It earns rewards at a good rate for dining, and has some other attractive features as well.
You’ll earn 5X Ultimate Rewards (UR) points per dollar on Lyft rides and 2X points for dining and travel purchases, but the value you end up getting will depend on how you redeem those points.
The benefits will be pretty similar to the Savor, though you’ll get more travel protections with this card.
Overall, the main difference between these cards is that the Sapphire Preferred is designed for travelers. If you’re able to plan out redemptions, transferring your points for a high value, you’ll get a good return on both your restaurant and travel spending.
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Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed in a number of ways. If you redeem through the Ultimate Rewards portal for travel expenses you’ll get a 25% bonus, which will give you 1.25 cents per point. That comes to a cash back equivalent of 2.5% for dining and travel.
You can also transfer your UR points to a variety of airline and hotel loyalty partners, where you can find a better value. You may find deals that give you 2 cents per point or more, which would provide a cash back equivalent of at least 4%. That would make it equal to the Savor card for dining.
The AARP® Credit Card From Chase is another good option for anyone who likes to go out to eat often (or order in). You don’t need to be a member of the AARP to apply for this card.
The AARP card provides 1% cash back less than the Savor card, and it also doesn’t have the entertainment or grocery store categories. But instead it includes gas stations for 3% back, which is a pretty good rate compared to most cards.
If you’re not interested in the entertainment or grocery store categories of the Savor, but you want a card for dining and gas spending, this one might work well for you.
The welcome bonus isn’t very impressive, but it also won’t be very hard to earn. So that seems like a fair trade-off. The benefits will be determined by the type of card you’re issued: Visa Signature or Visa Platinum. The former will have the better benefits package, but they might not be as good as the Savor’s.
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Your benefits will vary depending on the type of card you’re issued. If your starting credit limit is or exceeds $5,000, you’ll receive the Visa Signature version. Otherwise, you’ll be issued the Visa Platinum card.
How do you like the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards? How do you like to redeem your cash back? Let us know in the comments below!
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Brendan has been writing about personal finance for over eight years, and is now taking on the challenge of bringing high quality credit education to the masses. He makes sure that Credit Card Insider is covering the most important credit topics transparently and precisely, and that we have up-to-date reviews of credit cards so you can find cards that are right for you.
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