Capital One Savor: A $300 Bonus, 4% Back On Dining, Plus 4 Other Reasons To Get The Card

If you spend a lot on dining and entertainment and are looking to earn cash back rewards, then the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the best cards to consider.

In this review, I wanted to share seven reasons you should consider getting this card, and one reason, in particular, you may want to pick up the Capital One Savor ASAP.

1. A welcome bonus of $300 cash back

The Savor Rewards Card offers a welcome bonus of $300 cash back after spending $3,000 within three months. That’s a very nice incentive to get an all-around very lucrative card.

This is also a card that I know many people haven’t had before, so if you’re someone who has had a lot of the other major credit cards, this is another card to consider.

2. Annual fee waived the first year

The Savor Rewards Card has a $95 annual fee, though it’s waived for the first year.

Long term this card has a reasonable $95 annual fee, though the annual fee is even waived for the first 12 months. I’m a big fan of being able to try a card before I have to “buy it,” so to speak, so I appreciate the waived annual fee combined with the bonus.

The welcome bonus is worth $300, so if you want to look at it differently, the welcome bonus will get you cash back equivalent to the annual fee for the first three years (and then some), not factoring in the rewards you’re earning from spending money on the card.

3. 4% cash back on dining

The Capital One Savor offers a flat 4% cash back on dining globally, with no caps.

This bonus category doesn’t just include sit-down restaurants, but also includes bars and taverns, fast food restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and more. So this is really quite a broad category.

This is an industry leading cash back offering on dining, along with the Uber Visa Card, which also offers 4% back on dining.

Earn 4% cash back on dining globally with the Savor Rewards Card

However, I should also mention that if you want to earn points instead, there are several cards that potentially offer a more valuable return. This includes the:

• Citi Prestige Card ($450 annual fee), which offers 5x ThankYou points on dining globally
• American Express® Gold Card ($250 annual fee) (Rates & Fees), which offers 4x Membership Rewards points at restaurants
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® ($550 annual fee), which offers 3x Ultimate Rewards points on dining globally
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card ($95 annual fee), which offers 3x Ultimate Rewards points on dining globally
• Citi Premier^® Card (review) ($95 annual fee), which offers 3x ThankYou points on dining globally

4. 4% cash back on entertainment

One of the unique bonus categories on the Savor Rewards Card is that it offers 4% cash back on entertainment as well. This includes things like:

• movie theaters
• plays
• concerts
• sporting events
• tourist attractions
• theme parks
• aquariums
• zoos
• dance clubs

And potentially even more. Again, this is a global category, so you’re not just limited to purchases made in the US.

5. No foreign transaction fees

A premium card having no foreign transaction fees isn’t exactly surprising. However, what makes this so useful is that when people travel they often spend quite a bit of money on dining and entertainment.

So it’s not just that you have no foreign transaction fees, but that you’ll be earning 4% back on many of your purchases abroad when you use your Capital One Savor, plus you have the benefit of this being a Mastercard, which I find has the best exchange rates on foreign purchases.

6. Mastercard perks with Postmates, Lyft, and more

Recently Mastercard added some awesome perks for purchases with Postmates, Lyft, and more. The Savor Rewards Card is a Mastercard World Elite, so some of the benefits include:

• $10 credit for every five Lyft rides taken in a calendar month, which will automatically be applied to the next ride (capped at once per month)
• $5 off every Postmates order of $25 or more (no limit to how often you can get this)

There are some more benefits, though those are my two favorites.

How cash back works with the Savor Rewards Card

While we know how the bonus categories on the Savor Rewards Card work, what’s the actual process of earning rewards like?

You can earn your cash back in the form of either a statement credit or check. You can also set up automatic redemption preferences, with the following options:

• Earning rewards at a set time each calendar year
• Earning rewards when a specific threshold ($25, $50, $100, or $200) has been reached
• You can just go to your Capital One sign in at capitalone.com or contact them by phone to request your rewards

Alternatively, you can redeem for credits for previous purchases, gift cards, and more, though none of those will get you more value than just the regular rewards structure.

Savor Card application restrictions

The terms of the Savor Rewards Card application state the following:

Existing or previous Accountholders may not be eligible for this one-time bonus.

So if you currently have this card or have had it in the past, don’t expect you’ll be able to earn the bonus again.

In terms of other general things to be aware of:

• Capital One pulls from three credit bureaus; personally, I don’t find that to be a huge deal one way or another, but it’s worth being aware of
• You typically can’t apply for two cards the same day; the second card (even if different) will automatically be marked as a duplicate
• You can typically be approved for at most one Capital One card every six months, regardless of whether they’re personal or business cards

The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card

This is slightly confusing, given the names, but the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card (Rates & Fees) is an alternative option, for those looking for a no-annual-fee card.

The concept is similar to the Savor Rewards Card, but with slightly less lucrative bonus categories, and fewer perks (which makes sense, given the lack of an annual fee):

• Annual fee: None
• Bonus categories: Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services & at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), and 1% on all other purchases
• Foreign transaction fees: None

For someone who wants a no annual fee card that earns dine rewards, getting 3% cash back for dining and entertainment with the Capital One SavorOne Card is tough to beat; the card even has quite a generous welcome bonus for a no annual fee card.

Long term, which of these cards is better? The difference between the cards is that you get an extra 1% back on dining and entertainment on the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card, so you’d need to spend $9,500 in those categories to breakeven on the $95 annual fee after the first year.

That’s a pretty high threshold, though at the same time the much bigger welcome bonus on the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card can be viewed as offsetting the annual fee.

Bottom line

The Savor Rewards Card is a great option for anyone who wants a big welcome bonus that gets you cash back, and also wants a card that rewards dining and entertainment spend globally. If that sounds like something useful to you, this card is worth considering.

The one thing to keep in mind is that there are also lots of points cards out there that offer big bonuses on dining spend, so if you’re good at redeeming points or want travel rewards, that could be a better option.

All things considered, I think the Savor Card is a great option, especially given the welcome bonus, since it’s a card many people haven’t had before.

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Gold Card (Rates & Fees).