Capital One Savor Cards
$95
$300
Signup Bonus Chart4% Restaurants (4 - ≈6%)
4% Entertainment (4 - ≈6%)
2% Grocery (2 - ≈3%)
1x Everywhere Else (1 - ≈1.5%)
No Foreign Transaction Fee
If you are collecting Capital One "Miles", the Savor cards can help you boost your balance with their signup bonuses and bonus category rewards on restaurant and entertainment. The points you earn from these cards can be transferred to your Venture or Spark Card and then onto one of Capital One's frequent flyer or hotel loyalty partners.
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Savor Card Options
There are two different versions of the Savor Card:
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Savor. The $95 annual fee version of the card earns 4% back on restaurants and entertainment. This is a great rate, especially if you can take advantage of a conversion to Capital One miles. But probably not enough better than other dining category options to justify the extra annual fee. With straight cashback, you need to spend more than $10,000/yr on restaurants and entertainment for this card to be a better option than the SavorOne. |
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SavorOne. The no-annual-fee version of the card earns 3% back, rather than 4%, and typically has a lower signup bonus. This is one of the better no-annual-fee dining options, but if you aren't collecting Capital One miles, we prefer the U.S. Bank Altitude Go Card. Official Webpage. Signup Bonus Chart. |
Introduction to Capital One Points
Some Capital One cards, like the Venture Card, earn "miles". Other cards, like the Savor cards, earn "cash back". Capital One "miles" can be used at 1 cent each to erase travel purchases you make one of the miles-earning cards, but they can also be transferred to a over a dozen frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs. You can then use the miles to book award tickets, hotel nights, or vacation rentals. The value of these awards varies, but in many cases, you can receive considerably more than 1 cent per point in value. Capital One Miles Guide.
The points you earn from the Savor cards can be transferred to your other Capital One cards. So if you have one of the mile-earning cards, you can choose to earn 3-4 miles per dollar with the Savor cards, rather than 3-4 cents per mile. If you don't find good opportunities to use your points.
Collecting the Signup Bonus
- Unless you are collecting Capital One "miles", it usually isn't that worthwhile to signup for one of these cards just for the signup bonus. Typical bonuses are $300 (with a $95 fee) or $200. That's better than nothing, but there are lots of cards with better bonuses. However, higher-than-normal offers are sometimes available and can be more attractive.
- Capital One limits you to only two personal cards at a time (co-branded cards don't count against these limits). This limits the speed at which you can earn signup bonuses.
- It can be hard to get approved for Capital One cards. So think twice before cancelling a card that you really want to keep, in order to earn reapply (or apply for a different Capital One Card) just to earn a new signup bonus.
Notable Benefits
- Access to special Capital One events. These are available to all cardholders. Current list of events.
- Elite car rental status. As with all World Elite MasterCards, you get free National Emerald Club Executive and Sixt Platinum status. Instant Car Rental Elite Status.
- Access to Mastercard's luxury hotel program. Another benefit of high-end MasterCards is access to MasterCard's luxury hotel program. When you use the program to book one of the participating hotels, you'll get a number of valuable benefits, like free breakfast, a $100 hotel credit, a room upgrade, and late checkout.Take Advantage of Luxury Hotel Programs for Valuable Extra Perks.
- Free ShopRunner membership. Like all World Elite MasterCards, your card entitles you to a complimentary ShopRunner membership, which provides free two-day and return shipping from around 150 of the largest online retailers. ShopRunner.
- DoorDash and Hello Fresh discounts. Cardmembers who have a DoorDash membership get $5 off their first two orders each month when paid for by their Mastercard. If you don't have a free membership from Chase, you can get your first three months membership for free through Mastercard. You also get a 5% credit back on each HelloFresh purchase.
- Some additional discounts. If you pay for at least 3 Lyft rides each calendar month with your Mastercard, you'll receive a $5 Lyft credit good for the following month (once you enroll in the Lyft app). You also receive double Fandango points, a 5% reward rebate at Boxed, and $5 off every Postmates order of $25 or more.
Bonus Categories
- The Business Gold Rewards card can earn bonus rewards on six different "business related" categories: Advertising (in selected media), shipping, airfare, gas, restaurants, and computer-related purchases.
- You'll earn 4x Membership Rewards points on whatever two categories you spend the most on (during each billing cycle). For example, if during the last statement, you spent the most on computers and advertising, you'll receive the bonus on those categories. Then in the next statement, when your computer expenses drop, you might earn the bonus for restaurants and advertising. Bonus points are limited to the first $150,000 of spending per year (in the bonus categories).
- This is the highest reward rate available on several business categories, including online advertising, shipping, and computer purchases. If you spend a lot in these categories (and many businesses do), you can easily justify the $295 annual fee.
- There are probably better options for earning points on your restaurant spending. 4x Membership Rewards points is very good, but you can get the same reward rate from the personal version of the card. Furthermore, the Citi Prestige Card provides 5x points on dining purchases and without worrying about whether the restaurant takes American Express.
- It is probably better if you plan to use the card for specific categories. If you spread your spending across more than two categories in any billing cycle, you'll wind up only earning 1x points in the categories where you spend the least.
- You don't want to use this card for your everyday spending. You'll earn higher rewards from a good general-purpose reward card. Get a Great General Purpose Reward Card and Use It for All of Your Spending.
However, if you don't want to mess around with frequent flyer tickets, earning 3x Ultimate Rewards points with the Ink Preferred card might be a better option.
Getting Rid of the Card
- You need to be careful or you could lose your Membership Rewards points when you cancel your card. To keep your points, you need to hold onto at least one card that earns Membership Rewards points. If you don't have one, you either need to hold onto the card, downgrade it to the Business Green Card, open up a new Membership Rewards card (like the no-annual-fee Business Blue Plus Card), or transfer all your points to your favorite airline program. Before cancelling, make sure to check that the card you're cancelling is linked to the same Membership Rewards account as your other cards (as it should be).
- We usually recommend cancelling your card, rather than doing a product change. If you change to a card that you haven't had before, you won't be able to earn the signup bonus for that card in the future. In addition, signing up directly for the new card would earn a referral bonus for your Amex referral partner. And it usually isn't hard to get approved for a new Amex card when you need it.
- You can wait to cancel the card until after the annual fee shows up on your statement. As long as you cancel within 30 days of the statement closing date, Amex will refund the fee. After 30 days, you can receive a pro-rated refund by downgrading to the lower-priced Business Green Card.
- You might be able to receive a retention offer to keep your card. It could be enough to make it worthwhile to keep the card.
You can product change between the business Platinum ($595), Business Gold ($295), Business Green ($95), and Plum ($250) cards.