Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card review: The entertainment and foodie fanatics’ partner
Excellent value for foodies and entertainment seekers.
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Snapshot
4.5
Bottom line
The legacy Capital One Savor has one of the best reward rates for entertainment available, along with excellent earnings from dining and streaming services. However, the $95 annual fee may not be worth the cost compared to its no-annual-fee counterpart.
Intro offer
$300
Rewards rate
1% - 4%
Annual fee
$95
Regular APR
19.99% - 29.99% Variable
4.4
Cardholder rating
Extra perks
Online tools
Customer service
Intro APR length
4.5
Bankrate score
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The legacy Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is no longer available on Bankrate and the offer details may be outdated. This card is no longer accepting new applications.
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card overview
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card* has a generous welcome offer and impressive rewards rates in multiple everyday categories. This card is among the best cash back cards for people who enjoy dining out and entertainment.
Like other Capital One credit cards, the Savor Cash Rewards Card has no foreign transaction fees, decent shopping and travel protections and simple redemptions, making it a solid standalone option.
However, the annual fee can be hard to justify since there aren’t any credits or perks to help offset it. Also, since the no-annual-fee Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card offers similar value, you may want to compare the two to see which works better.
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Rewards
- Unlimited 4 percent cash back on dining, entertainment and popular streaming services
- Unlimited 3 percent cash back at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®)
- Unlimited 1 percent cash back on all other purchases
Expert Appraisal: Good
See our expert analysis -
Welcome offer
- Earn a one-time $300 cash bonus after spending $3,000 within the first three months
Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
See our expert analysis -
Rates and fees
- Annual fee: $95
- Foreign transaction fee: $0
- Purchase APR: 19.99 percent to 29.99 percent variable APR
- Balance transfer APR: 19.99 percent to 29.99 percent variable APR; no transfer fee with this transfer APR; 4 percent on the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer you
- Cash advance fee: Either $5 or 5 percent, whichever is greater
- Late payment fee: Up to $40
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
Other cardholder perks
- Complimentary concierge services*
- Extended warranty*
- Travel accident insurance*
- Car rental protection*
- Free credit monitoring service*
- Zero fraud liability*
- Capital One Entertainment*
- Capital One dining*
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card pros and cons
Pros
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You’ll earn top rewards in several everyday spending categories.
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You can combine cash back earnings with other Capital One cards for added value.
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This card offers one of the highest rates for entertainment purchases, a rare find on cash back rewards cards
Cons
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The rewards offered may not be strong enough to justify the annual fee.
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With no intro APR offers, the card lacks immediate value that you can take advantage of.
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There are no additional credits or incentives to offset the annual fee.
Why you might want the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card offers excellent rates on popular everyday categories. You can also enjoy a decent welcome offer and Capital One’s standard perks, making this card a solid choice.
Rewards: Excellent everyday categories
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card earns a generous 4 percent cash back on entertainment, popular streaming services and dining with no limit, which ranks it among the best credit cards for restaurants on the market. You’ll also earn a solid 3 percent cash back on grocery spending. With this card, you can cover a significant amount of your everyday expenses while earning substantial cash back.
Rewards don’t expire as long as you have an active account and can be redeemed for cash back as a check or statement credit. If you prefer simpler reward redemptions, you can automatically redeem your rewards for a statement credit or check on a certain date or once your rewards balance reaches a selected threshold (from $25 to $1,500).
Additionally, you can choose a gift card or use your cash back to cover past purchases. You can redeem rewards via Amazon.com or PayPal, but you will often get less value.
If you have a Capital One card that earns Capital One miles, you can convert your cash back to miles at a 1:1 ratio, which allows you to boost your rewards value further. According to Bankrate's valuations, Capital One miles have a 1.7 cent per point value with the right travel partner.
Perks: Standard but solid benefits
The Capital One Savor Cash offers a terrific portfolio of travel, shopping and account protections. However, the card lacks any credits of monetary value, like a complimentary subscription, that could help offset its annual fee — a perk other cards in its class may offer.
Foodies and entertainment lovers will enjoy the 24-hour complimentary concierge service that provides personalized assistance for dining, entertainment and travel issues. It can help when trying to book exclusive reservations and experiences., such as early access to presale concert tickets, reservations at top restaurants and exclusive culinary events.
You’ll also get standard safety features to protect your card, including fraud alerts, virtual card numbers and zero fraud liability. Virtual card numbers protect your account online by generating and tracking a specific virtual card number through the Eno assistant tool rather than sending your actual card details. This extra layer of security is a nice touch if you frequently shop online.
Capital One has two online shopping tools, Paribus and Capital One Shopping, that can help you save money. Paribus monitors your recent purchases for price changes, alerts you if the price drops and helps you get a refund of the difference. Capital One Shopping is a browser extension that compares prices at major retailers, automatically applies coupons at checkout and allows you to earn rewards for your purchases.
The Capital One Savor card also offers standard travel perks, such as no foreign transaction fees, travel accident insurance and travel assistance services. While these are in line with other cards, having these features on one of your cards can save you when travel issues arise.
Why you might want a different rewards card
You might consider other options if you want a better return on the welcome offer. Also, though the rates and fees are typical, the annual fee can be challenging to justify.
Rates and fees: Nothing to move the needle
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card has no intro APR rate, so you’ll pay the regular APR on purchases, ranging from 19.99 percent to 29.99 percent variable. Considering the current average interest rate, the Savor card’s APR could range from slightly below average to significantly higher.
The card charges a $95 annual fee, which can be difficult to offset since the card lacks monetary perks or credits, and you can get a similar value from the no-fee version of this card.
You won’t be charged foreign transaction or balance transfer fees when transferring at the regular transfer APR. The waived foreign transaction fees can be helpful for dining abroad, and the waived balance transfer fee is relatively unique to Capital One cards. However, we don’t recommend transferring your balance to this card since there’s no intro APR to give you additional breathing room.
Welcome offer: Low rate of return
The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card offers a $300 cash bonus after spending $3,000 on purchases within your first three months, which amounts to just a 10 percent return on your spending.
Although this is a decent welcome offer, it doesn’t stand out from cards in the mid-tier annual fee range. While it earns more than the no-annual-fee SavorOne card’s $200 cash bonus in terms of cash value, you only need to spend $500 in the first three months on the SavorOne, giving a much better return for a significantly smaller amount of spending.
Also, there’s no intro APR on purchases or balance transfers to add extra value upon approval. Many other cards with lower annual fees carry intro APR offers to make up for a modest sign-up bonus. This mediocre offer is one of the many reasons why the Savor Cash could benefit from an upgrade.
First-year value vs. ongoing value
The Capital One Savor offers typical first-year value compared to rival rewards cards. However, several credit cards with a similar annual fee or lower only require you to spend anywhere from $500 to $1,000 to earn around a $200 bonus.
There aren’t any intro APR offers or annual credits to help offset the annual fee which can decrease the card’s value.
To offset the annual fee through rewards spending, you’ll need to spend about $198 per month ($2,376 annually) across your 4 percent bonus categories. Before deducting the annual fee, we’ve calculated that the Savor card’s average annual rewards average around $553 based on a $22,500 annual spend and our formula for calculating a card's average rewards rate.
| Benefits and Costs | First-year value | Ongoing value (no welcome offers) |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly rewards | +$553 | +$553 |
| Welcome offers | +$300 (after spending $3,000 within three months) | — |
| Perks (of monetary value) | — | — |
| Annual fee | -$95 | -$95 |
| Total value | $758 | $458 |
We tried it: Here’s what our experts say
While the Savor Cash Rewards bonus categories make it a simple option for earning cash back on everyday spending, the no-annual-fee SavorOne Cash Rewards does it a bit better, according to Liza Carrasquillo, a credit cards editor for Bankrate:
“I chose to open the Capital One SavorOne because I wanted a card that would reward me for everyday spending — particularly on groceries — but would also give me a chance to earn cash back when I was having fun, too. I love dining out and going to the movies, but both of those activities are so expensive these days that I rarely do them. But when I do venture out, using my SavorOne makes me feel just a little less guilty for splurging.”
— Liza Carrasquillo, Editor, Bankrate
Best cards to pair with the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
The best option is to pair the Savor Cash with a card that earns Capital One miles, since you can pool your miles with your cash back earnings. This gives your rewards greater flexibility and added value.
Who is the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card right for?
This card offers excellent value to people who enjoy dining out frequently as well as people who prefer going out for entertainment, like sports fans or moviegoers.
Bankrate’s Take — Is the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card worth it?
If you enjoy dining out and entertainment, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card may be a solid choice, earning solid rates in those categories. However, there aren’t any features that add value to help offset the annual fee, so you’ll need to spend enough in the bonus categories to justify the cost.
The slight increase from the no-annual-fee Capital One SavorOne may not justify the annual fee for many cardholders. The Savor Cash is one of the better cards for foodies on the market — and perhaps the best for entertainment available — but likely isn’t a better choice if you don’t spend a significant amount on those categories.
*All information about the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by Bankrate and has not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
How we rated this card
We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.
Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).
We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:
Frequently asked questions
What cardholders think
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are based on individual cardholder’s product details, and therefore cannot be verified for accuracy. Users received an incentive for their feedback. User ratings are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers, nor do these ratings reflect Bankrate’s own reviews of these cards.
Community Reviews
* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.
