Capital One Savor Review: Foodie-Focused Rewards, for No Fee
The Bottom Line
5.0
If you're a frequent restaurant diner or grocery shopper, it'll be hard to find a better cash-back card for no annual fee. And it's also a great pick for entertainment spending, whether you're catching a movie in the theater or at home.
Rates, fees and offers
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1%-8%
Bonus offer
For a limited time, earn a $250 cash bonus once 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: 19.74%-29.74% Variable APR
Cash Advance APR: 29.74%, Variable
Balance transfer fee
Balance transfer fee applies
Foreign transaction fee
0%
More details from Capital One
- For a limited time, earn a $250 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- Earn unlimited 3% cash back at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), on dining, entertainment and popular streaming services, plus 1% on all other purchases
- Earn 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases
- Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options. Terms apply
- No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus cash back won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how much you can earn
- 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; 19.74% - 29.74% variable APR after that; balance transfer fee applies
- No foreign transaction fee
- No annual fee
Pros and Cons
Pros
No annual fee
Intro APR period
Bonus categories
No foreign transaction fees
Cons
Requires good/excellent credit
Detailed Review
If your recycling bin runneth over with takeout containers or grocery bags, the $0-annual-fee Capital One Savor 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.
Prior to Oct. 22, 2024, the $0-annual-fee Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card, discussed here, was known as the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. Capital One previously offered two Savor-branded cards — the "Savor," which had an annual fee, and the "SavorOne," which did not. Capital One stopped taking applications for the annual-fee version in July 2024. Then in October, the former SavorOne card took on the Savor name.
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card: Basics
Card type: Cash back.
Annual fee: $0.
Sign-up bonus: For a limited time, earn a $250 cash bonus once 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.
Interest rate: 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; 19.74%-29.74% 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 Savor 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.)
How this card defines 'dining and entertainment'
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.
How this card defines eligible streaming services
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 2024, 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."
Other Savor cards
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card isn't the only card under Capital One's Savor brand. There's also a version for college students. And at one time, there was a Savor-branded card that offered higher rewards rates but also charged an annual fee. Capital One stopped accepting applications for the annual-fee card in 2024.
Compare to Other Cards
Benefits and Perks
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 Savor 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.
No annual fee
A lot of 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 Savor 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).
Ability to combine rewards with other Capital One cards
Foodies who prefers to keep one card in their wallet could get significant value out of the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. But it's an equally excellent choice for travelers who hold the $395-annual-fee Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (or one of its lower-annual-fee siblings) and wish to get as much value as possible out of their credit card rewards (see rates and fees).
You can move rewards you earn on the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card to any of the Venture cards at a rate of one Capital One mile per cent. From there, you can transfer your rewards to Capital One's airline and hotel partners. According to NerdWallet valuations, this could increase the value of your rewards from from 1 cent to 1.2 cents.
It's important to note though that you can only transfer rewards from the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card to one of the Venture cards, not the other way around.
MORE NERDY PERSPECTIVE
 | This card’s elevated rewards on dining and entertainment make it an easy one-and-done card for a night out with friends. And the grocery rewards are an added bonus. It has long been a staple in my wallet. But now that I can transfer my rewards to my Venture card, it’s even more valuable. Caitlin Mims, content management specialist, credit cards and travel rewards |
Drawbacks and Considerations
If dining out is your biggest line item, you can do better
If you don't cook much at home, consider instead the U.S. Bank Altitude® Go Visa Signature® Card. It, too, has no 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.
Full list of 5% categories on the U.S. Bank Cash+
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.
If groceries are your biggest line item, you can do much better — for a fee
For a $0, the Capital One Savor 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 Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card.
Costco shoppers can do better
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 Savor 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.
How To Decide If It's Right For You
Foodies of any stripe may want to clear a space in their wallets for the Capital One Savor 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.
*Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.
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.
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Methodology
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