Is The Capital One Savor Worth It?

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is a great rewards card to have in your wallet if you’re all about food, travel and entertainment.

But is it the best fit for you overall, or could one of the other top cash back credit cards suit your needs better?

Here’s a look at when this card could be worth it — and when another card might be a better fit.

​When is the Capital One Savor worth it?

If you want a great everyday rewards rate, but no annual fee

If you spend a lot on groceries, dining, travel and entertainment, the Savor may seem like a can’t-miss rewards card. However, its rewards rate is in these categories is not the highest out there.

Alternatives like the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card offer better rates on groceries and dining, respectively: The Blue Cash Preferred earns 6 percent back on your first $6,000 in annual spending at U.S. supermarkets (then 1 percent) and the Amex Gold earns 4X points on restaurant purchases worldwide (on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points). The Amex Gold also earns Membership Rewards, which Bankrate estimates hold a higher average redemption value than you’d get on a cash back card like the Savor.

The catch? Those cards both carry annual fees: $95 per year with the Blue Cash Preferred ($0 intro annual fee for the first year) and $325 per year with the Amex Gold.

While many cardholders find these fees more than worth it given those cards’ high rewards rates and valuable perks, you may not want to have an annual fee hanging over your head, regardless of value potential.

In that case, the Savor is a great option, as it carries a still-solid rewards rate in key everyday categories while charging no annual fee (see rates and fees for more detail).

With this card, you’ll get 3 percent cash back on dining, general entertainment, popular streaming services (like Netflix, Hulu and more) and grocery store purchases (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target). You’ll also get 5 percent cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through the Capital One Travel portal, 8 percent cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases, and 1 percent cash back on all other purchases.

There’s also no cap on your rewards rate, which isn’t always the case with other cards. For example, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express only lets you earn 3 percent cash back on the first $6,000 spent at U.S. supermarkets per year. After that limit is met, you’ll only earn 1 percent cash back on grocery store purchases.

If you want a no-annual-fee card with solid perks

Along with its ongoing rewards, the Capital One Savor offers a welcome bonus of $200 after you spend $500 within three months of account opening.

That’s a solid value and a lower spending requirement than you’ll face with many other rewards card bonuses. Indeed, several comparable cards carry bonuses that require twice or even three times as much spending to enjoy the same value.

But the bonus is just one of many Savor card benefits. Other perks include:

• No foreign transaction fees, making this a handy card for world travelers (see rates and fees for more detail)
• Travel benefits like travel accident insurance, access to the Capital One Travel portal and 24-hour travel assistance services
• Shopping protections like extended warranty coverage and complimentary concierge services
• Security protections like $0 fraud liability, virtual card numbers (from Eno), CreditWise credit monitoring and security alerts
• Access to exclusive experiences via Capital One Dining and Capital One Entertainment

If you want a rewards card with an intro APR offer

The Capital One Savor card also boasts a solid 0 percent intro APR offer on purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 months (with a variable APR of 19.24 percent to 29.24 percent after that).

While the best balance transfer cards can offer even longer intro APR periods (up to 21 months on purchases and balance transfers on a few top cards), this is a lengthy intro APR period for a rewards card, and it should be a big help if you need to consolidate and pay off debt over time while minimizing interest charges.

Plus, the Savor card should offer better long-term value than most of those 21-month-intro-APR cards thanks to its impressive everyday rewards rate (few dedicated balance transfer cards offer even 1 percent cash back on purchases).

You can not only chip away at debt with the Savor card’s intro APR and save on interest, but also get a ton of value out of the card’s rewards program long after your intro APR period ends.

In fact, if you only need a 15-month intro APR to pay off your debt, the Savor will likely be a better choice in both the short and long term compared to a dedicated balance transfer card with no rewards program.

That’s because most of those cards charge a 5 percent balance transfer fee, while the Savor only charges a 3 percent fee for balance transfers for the first 15 months (or at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer you at any other time; note that there is no fee for amounts transferred at the Transfer APR).

You could easily save more from a low balance transfer fee than you would from a few extra months with a 0 percent APR.

All that said, you should still do your best to pay off your balance in full before the intro APR period ends. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay interest on any remaining balance — and those charges could quickly add up, especially if you’re assigned the Savor card’s high-end ongoing APR.

If you have a Capital One travel card

Since it’s known mostly as a cash back card, many people forget that the Savor can pair well with Capital One’s popular travel cards.

Capital One allows you to convert the cash back you’ve earned with the Savor into Capital One miles, as long as you have a dedicated travel card from the issuer. Those include the following:

By combining one of the Venture cards’ flat rewards rates with the Savor card’s great rate in key everyday spending categories, you can earn free travel much faster.

Plus, you can transfer Capital One miles to partner airlines and hotels, sometimes for a higher redemption value.

According to Bankrate’s valuations, Capital One miles are worth about 1.7 cents per mile on average when you transfer them to the issuer’s top partners. That means $200 in cash back can potentially turn into $340 worth of travel.

When is the Capital One Savor not worth it?

If you want to carry a balance

Reward credit cards tend to have higher APRs in general, and the Capital One Savor is no exception.

As a new cardholder, your regular variable APR will land between 19.99 percent and 29.99 percent. While the low end of this range is close to the average credit card APR, the high end is very high indeed, and if you have a middling credit score, you may end up with an APR on the higher end of the spectrum — potentially rivaling the rate you’d find on store cards and cards designed for people with bad credit.

Of course, even if you have excellent credit and qualify for the low-end APR, the interest charges you incur from carrying a balance will likely negate whatever cash back you earn.

So if you intend to carry a credit card balance long term after the intro APR offer ends, you’ll be better off with a dedicated low-interest card, which could save you more money, even if it doesn’t feature any rewards (although some low-interest cards still do).

​If 3% cash back isn’t enough

It may seem counterintuitive, but the Savor card might not be the best fit if you spend heavily in its bonus categories, especially dining and groceries.

While the Savor card offers a solid rewards rate in these categories, a few competitors offer even higher rates — so much higher, in fact, that they may net more value overall, despite carrying annual fees.

For example, if you spent $6,000 per year at U.S. supermarkets with the Amex Blue Cash Preferred, you’d earn $360 cash back (that’s 6 percent back on your first $6,000 in spending, then 1 percent back). If you subtract the ongoing annual fee from your total earnings, you net a total of $265 in value. That same spend with the Savor card would only net $180, despite the card carrying no annual fee.

Depending on how you redeem points, the same could also hold true for the Amex Gold. A $6,000 annual dining spend with that card would earn 24,000 Membership Rewards. Based on Bankrate’s latest point valuations, which give Membership Rewards a value of around 2 cents per point, those points could be worth around $480 in travel. Subtract the annual fee ($325) and you’d net $155 in total value.

While that’s lower than the $180 you’d earn with the Savor, it doesn’t take into account any of the Amex Gold’s valuable perks, like the up to $120 in annual Uber Cash credits you can earn if you have the card set as your payment method in your Uber account ($10 in automatic monthly Uber Cash, which you can use to cover Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S).

While the Savor is a great pick for foodies looking to minimize fees, it may fall short of competitors in terms of total value potential, even with high annual fees in the mix.

Should you get the Capital One Savor?

If you’re looking to earn rewards on dining, groceries, streaming services and entertainment, but don’t want to worry about offsetting an annual fee, you’ll probably love the Capital One Savor.

Just keep in mind that you could enjoy even more value with a card that carries an annual fee. And if you value simplicity above all else, consider a flat-rate card that allows you to earn 2 percent cash back on all purchases.

​The bottom line

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card is one of the best no-annual-fee rewards cards for consumers who spend a lot on food and entertainment.

Earning cash back on purchases is very easy, and you won’t have to remember to activate quarterly bonus categories or worry about spending limits.

To maximize its value, remember to carry the card in your wallet and use it for all bonus category purchases.