Bring It! This Surging Cash Back Card With $500 Intro Bonus Is Actually Challenging Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Credit Cards

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I love Chase Ultimate Rewards points.  Because of Chase credit cards I’ve been able to experience amazing award travel like Business Class flights to Europe, all-inclusive resorts on the beach, and much more.  But I have to admit, there’s a card from a competing bank that might tempt me away from my full-on rush to swoop up all the Chase Ultimate Rewards points I can.

That card is the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card.

Because of the Chase 5-24 rule (which I’ll explain in a moment), do make sure you first have the Chase credit cards you want before you get the Savor.  It’s seeing which card to use most for your everyday spending is where it gets fun.

Here are the 2 main Chase Ultimate Rewards points credit cards that Savor is up against:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card – everyone on our team including me has either this card or the one listed below
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®

I’ll explain how the Savor credit card’s generous cash back structure makes it a strong contender to stay at the front of your wallet.

The information for the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

First Get the Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Credit Cards You Want – Here’s Why

Even though the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card has fantastic bonuses, I’m saying get your Chase credit cards first so you’re not locked out from them by the Chase 5-24 Rule. 

Chase 5-24 Rule:  Chase won’t approve you for most of their cards if you’ve opened 5 or more credit cards from ANY bank within the past 24 months.  Exception: business credit cards from American Express, Bank of America, Chase, Citi, and Wells Fargo do NOT count towards your 5 credit card total.

So after you have the Chase credit cards you want like 

• Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card – best business credit card
• Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card – I have this no annual fee card and I use it all the time!
• The World Of Hyatt Credit Card

and so on, considering picking up the Savor.  And that’s when it gets interesting.  Where should you put your everyday spending in categories like:

• restaurants and bars
• groceries
• entertainment like movies, concerts, theme parks, tourist attractions, etc.

2X Chase Points Versus 4X Cash Back

Here’s how the Capital One Savor card works: you earn $500 cash back after meeting the minimum spending requirement.  Then you get

• 4% cash back on dining
• 4% cash back on entertainment
• 2% cash back at grocery stores
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

Here’s how the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card works: you earn 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you meet the minimum spend.  Then you earn

• 2X Chase Ultimate Rewards points per $1 on travel and dining
• 1X Chase Ultimate Rewards point per $1 on all other purchases

Both cards have no annual fee in the first year, so either one has no risk to try.  If you keep it, each card is $95 a year.  I’ve happily paid that for my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card year after year because I get so much incredible travel with my Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

But hmm… if I were to get the Savor card (and I’m very tempted) which card would I use at restaurants?

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card each Chase Ultimate Rewards point is worth 1 cent for cash back, 1.25 cents for travel with no blackout dates on the Chase travel site, or potentially much more when you transfer to travel partners.  So if I kept spending with my Chase Sapphire Preferred at restaurants, I’d kinda feel like I must use the points to get more than 4 cents a piece to match what I could’ve earned with Savor.  

• When I booked my Business Class flights with Chase Ultimate Rewards points last summer I got 5.7 cent per point.  That easily beats 4 cents cash back with Savor.
• When I transferred my Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt for a beautiful stay at an all-inclusive resort on the white sandy beaches on Cancun, I got ~2.6 cents per point in value.

So I think my strategy when having both cards would be use Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card for dining, entertainment expenses, and grocery stores.  And use Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card for travel and all other purchases.  

Sometimes 3X Points Is Greater Than 4X Cash Back

What If You Have Chase Sapphire Reserve?

This isn’t a super fair comparison considering the Chase Sapphire Reserve® annual fee is $550.  But folks who travel a lot love this card and find it’s totally worth it because they use the perks.  Keith and Harlan on our team both use their Chase Sapphire Reserve cards all the time.  And they enjoy the benefits that offset the annual fee such as:

• $300 annual credit every cardmember anniversary for travel purchases such as airfare and hotels
• Up to $100 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
• Free Priority Pass Select membership for access to airport lounges

But what about everyday spending with Chase Sapphire Reserve® versus Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card?

Here’s how the Chase Sapphire Reserve® works: earn 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months.  Now with Chase Sapphire Reserve your Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents each for flights, hotels, rental cars, etc., on the Chase travel site.  So the 50,000 points are worth $750 in that way.  And of course you can get the best value by transferring to Chase’s partners like United, Southwest, Marriott, Hyatt, JetBlue, British Airways, etc.

You’ll also get:

• 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on travel (excluding the $300 travel credit) & dining
• 1X Chase Ultimate Rewards point on all other purchases

So if I had the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Capital One Savor I’d probably use the Chase Sapphire Reserve® for spending on travel and restaurants.  Because 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points with Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel are worth more than 4% cash back.

For every $1,000 I spent at restaurants, I’d have a choice to earn $40 with Savor or 3,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.  3,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth $45 in the Chase travel portal.  And it’s not hard to get $60+ worth of value by transferring to the airline and hotel partners.

But I’d use the Savor for 4% cash back on entertainment.  Grocery stores would be kind of a toss-up but I’d lean towards the Chase Sapphire Reserve® because you can often do better than 2 cents per point with Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you transfer to partners.

Bottom Line

I’m accustomed to using my Chase Ultimate Rewards points credit cards for most everyday purchases.  There are a few exceptions that pop up though, including when my American Express credit cards have irresistibly easy discounts that show up in my account.

But if I were to get the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card it would automatically be in my wallet all the time.