Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card review: The entertainment and foodie fanatics’ partner

The no-annual-fee Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card (See Rates & Fees) earns 3 percent cash back on dining, entertainment, select streaming services 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 Capital One Travel and 8 percent on Capital One Entertainment purchases.

The only benefits to paying Savor’s annual fee are a 1 percent bump towards dining, streaming and entertainment categories and a slightly better welcome offer, although it requires significantly more spending. However, you won’t get SavorOne’s excellent intro APR offer, something sorely lacking on the Savor Cash. The SavorOne is likely more valuable than the Savor unless dining, entertainment and streaming services make up a significant portion of your spending.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is one of the Savor card’s top rivals for the same annual fee. The sign-up bonus is worth more than double the value of the Savor Cash. While the Savor Cash’s bonus categories all earn better rates, the Sapphire Preferred earns bonus rewards on travel purchases. Also, if you redeem for travel through the Chase Travel℠ portal, you'll receive a 25 percent bonus point value from the Sapphire Preferred. While that still doesn’t match Savor’s dining and grocery rates, using the right Chase transfer partner can make up the difference.

The Sapphire Preferred offers better benefits, including some of the best travel insurance at its price point, bonus account anniversary points and up to $50 in yearly hotel stay credits that can offset the annual fee. The Savor falls very short in comparison.

If you plan to redeem for cash back, spend more on entertainment and prefer to do your grocery shopping in a physical store rather than online, then the Savor card will have an edge. However, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers travel rewards categories that the Savor doesn’t have, making it a better all-around card if you take advantage of its travel features.

The Capital One Savor card offers excellent reward rates on entertainment and dining but doesn’t cover travel. If you travel often, pairing it with a travel rewards card like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card makes a lot of sense. When booking through Capital One Travel, you’ll earn a stellar 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights, and unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases. Although the Venture X comes with a high $395 annual fee (See Rates & Fees), it is offset easily using the $300 annual Capital One travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus points (worth $100). 

You’ll also get a full slate of travel benefits, including trip protection and lounge access. You can also convert your Savor cash back into Venture X miles for more value toward travel.

Combining the travel bonus categories of the Venture X with the everyday categories of the Savor Cash makes a powerful combination that can earn significant cash back or miles for travel redemptions.

People who prefer dining out and exploring new restaurants can earn substantial rewards with the Savor Cash. The concierge service can also help book exclusive dining experiences.

If you enjoy various forms of entertainment, the Savor Cash can be a great addition to your wallet. The entertainment category covers a range of popular outings, such as tickets to movie theaters, sporting events (excluding golf courses and collegiate sports) and amusement parks. Not many cards offer bonus points on entertainment expenses, making the high earning rate one of the best features of the card.

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2022 was $72,967 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $5,700
• Dining out: $3,600
• Entertainment: $2,400
• Gas: $3,100
• Apparel and services: $1,900

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 22 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

Like other rewards cards, the merchant category code (MCC) of the retailer or restaurant you spend at determines whether that purchase qualifies for cash back. This credit card network-specific, four-digit classification code appears on your billing statement and categorizes merchants based on their primary product. Capital One states that dining purchases you make at the following locations will earn the full 4 percent cash back:

• Restaurants
• Cafés
• Bars
• Lounges
• Fast-food chains
• Bakeries

With a good to excellent credit score (FICO score of 670 or higher or VantageScore of 661 or higher), you’ll have the best approval odds for the Capital One Savor card.

Unfortunately, this category is a bit more complicated to track. Similar to grocery and dining purchases, the vendor’s MCC determines which entertainment purchases will be covered. Some website-purchased tickets and other entertainment spending may be categorized as merchandise. Here are some activities that qualify as entertainment expenses:

• Movie theaters and theatrical events
• Professional and semi-professional sports events
• Amusement parks
• Tourist attractions
• Aquariums and zoos
• Dance and pool halls
• Record Stores
• Bowling alleys

Capital One excludes:

• Golf courses
• College sporting events
• Non-industry entertainment merchant codes like cable, digital streaming and membership services

Fortunately, the list of eligible streaming services is easier to account for. They include:

• Netflix
• Hulu
• HBO Now
• Disney+
• Peacock
• ESPN+
• Starz Entertainment
• DirecTV
• Sling TV
• Fubo TV

Eligible music streaming services include:

• Spotify
• Apple.com, iTunes and Apple Music
• Sirius XM
• Bandcamp
• Tidal

However, Capital One specifically excludes:

• Amazon Music
• Prime Video
• Audiobook services
• Fitness program subscriptions 
• AT&T TV 
• Verizon FIOS On Demand