Capital One SavorOne Credit Card review

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If you are looking for a credit card that’s both versatile and flexible, the Capital One® SavorOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card will give you both, and more, with no annual fee.

Most luxury credit cards lure you in with enticing perks and a large annual fee, but there is no catch with the Capital One SavorOne card. In addition to earning 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, 2% back at grocery stores and 1% back on all other purchases, you will also receive a $150 bonus after meeting minimum spending requirements.

Another advantage of the Capital One SavorOne is no foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside of thce U.S., which isn’t exactly common for cards with no annual fee.

Here’s our full Capital One SavorOne Credit Card review.

Capital One SavorOne credit card review

Current bonus

Few no annual fee credit cards provide a good cash sign-up bonus, but the Capital One SavorOne makes its fair intro offer easy to earn. You’ll earn a $150 cash bonus when you spend $500 on purchases within the first three months of opening your account.

Essentially, by spending the minimum, you will effectively get 30% back—a sum larger than most average cash-back credit cards with an initial cash bonus offer. The $150 bonus will appear as a statement credit within two months of meeting the spending requirement.

Benefits and perks

Earning rates

With the Capital One SavorOne, you’ll earn:

• 3% cash back on dining (like restaurants, cafes, bars, lounges, fast-food chains and bakeries) and entertainment (including movie theaters, sports promoters (professional and semi-professional live events), theatrical promoters, amusement parks, tourist attractions, aquariums, zoos, dance halls, record stores, pool halls or bowling alleys)
• 2% cash back at grocery stores (supermarkets, meat lockers, freezers, dairy product stores and specialty markets; superstores like Walmart and Target are excluded)
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

These rates are higher than your average cash-back card, so it’s hard to beat the Capital One SavorOne card, especially when you factor in that it has no annual fee. Another perk to the cash back benefits is that you do not have to choose a category to earn your savings in.

Extended warranty

If you pay for an eligible item with your Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, you can receive extended warranty protection which can extend the time frame of the original manufacturer’s warranty. This allows you to avoid paying for a separate third party warranty.

No foreign transaction fees

Many credit cards charge a foreign transaction fee as much as 3%. Over time, that can add up to a pretty significant amount of money.

Fortunately, the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card charges no foreign transaction fees, so you can safely use your card overseas without incurring any additional fees.

Travel accident insurance 

When you use your Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card to purchase your fare, you’ll receive travel accident insurance for eligible covered losses, such as loss of life, limb, sight, speech, or hearing while riding as a passenger in, entering or exiting any licensed common carrier. 

Zero fraud liability

Identity theft is a very big concern nowadays, with big data breaches in the headlines seemingly every day. But with the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, you’re covered with zero fraud liability protection.

If your card is used on a purchase without your knowledge or authorization, you won’t be held liable for any of those charges.

Credit Wise

Being a victim of fraud can be a very trying time emotionally and financially. As a cardholder of the Capital One SavorOne, you’ll have access to Credit Wise, a free tool that monitors the dark web for signs that your personal information may have been stolen.

You can also stay on top of your credit report with free access to your credit score. And with the ability to opt into email alerts whenever certain changes are detected on your Transunion credit report (such as new credit inquiries), it’s another tool you can use to identify any potential signs of identity theft as early as possible.

Special access to experiences and events

Capital One offers opportunities to get special access to unique events and experiences that you can’t get anywhere else. This is a great compliment to a card that already offers you 3% cash back for entertainment purchases.

This includes premier culinary experiences, big-time sports events and must-see music events. You can see all of the upcoming Capital One events online.

You can purchase discounted tickets, on-site perks, VIP experiences, and get access to cardholder lounges with your Capital One SavorOne card.

Tech savvy benefits

For those of you who love fresh new technology and want to have a card that offers the most tech-savvy features, then the SavorOne is sure to deliver. Capital One offers lots of really cool features including:

• Instant Purchase Notification: Get a push notification to your phone each time a new purchase is approved. You will immediately know if your card is being used fraudulently
• Instant Card Lock: Suspect that your card might be lost or stolen? Instantly lock it from the app until you find it.
• Virtual Card Numbers from Eno®: If you are making online purchases, you can choose to generate unique virtual card numbers for every website that you visit. If that site is compromised, your real card information is still safe
• Account Alerts from Eno®: The Eno virtual assitant uses machine learning and AI to determine if it suspects suspicious activity on your card and will send you messages via the Capital One app. You can chat with the assistant like a real human to resolve the issue.
• Manage Recurring Merchants: The Capital One app and website will automatically track recurring payments where your card is stored online. This makes it easy to manage ongoing subscriptions.

Capital One puts a lot of effort into their mobile app and it shows. They have one of the best mobile apps in the industry. This offers a lot of convenience and protection while using your SavorOne card.

How to redeem rewards

When it comes time to use your rewards, you can redeem cash back (as a statement credit or check) for any amount you choose, at any time. There’s no minimum redemption amount like some other cards. Or you can set up an automatic redemption when your cash back reaches a certain threshold, for example, $25.

The cash back you earn never expires as long as you are an active cardholder.

Is the annual fee worth it?

We look at dozens and dozens of credit cards to compare features and benefits and bring the best cards to your attention. Through this searching, many cards start to look alike. Cards without annual fees are nice to have, but they tend to be stripped down in benefits compared to many of the annual-fee versions within the same card family.

The Capital One SavorOne bucks this trend. It offers perks and rewards that even beat out many cards that carry annual fees. This is a perfect card for city dwellers who eat out and enjoy shows or entertainment often. You’ll even get bonus points for takeout/delivery and groceries, all of which are exceptionally important during this coronavirus quarantine situation!

One of the things I love about credit cards with no annual fees is the fact that they cost you nothing to apply for and keep in your wallet. And with many credit cards offering a welcome bonus as an incentive, you’ll instantly come out ahead as a winner from the very first day. The Capital One SavorOne is no exception, and beyond a valuable welcome bonus, you’ll also get a ton of benefits like extended warranty and travel accident insurance that could potentially save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in the long run.

Who is the Capital One SavorOne for?

Data points suggest that Capital One will only approve one new credit card application every six months (personal or business). As with many banks, Capital One is known to be strict if you’ve opened a lot of credit cards (from any issuer) recently.

Also, to be approved for this card, Capital One suggests you only apply if you have “excellent credit.” Capital One describes excellent credit to be anyone who has:

• Never declared bankruptcy or defaulted on a loan
• Has not been more than 60 days late on a loan in the past year
• Has had a loan or credit card for three years or more with a credit limit of $5,000+

Similar cards to the Capital One SavorOne

The Capital One SavorOne card has a big brother – the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. It comes with a $300 cash bonus after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening, and has a $95 annual fee. This card makes our list of the best cash back credit cards in 2020. You’ll also earn an improved 4% cash back on dining and entertainment, plus the same 2% cash back on groceries and 1% cash back on everything else. Here’s our review of the Capital One Savor to help you decide which version of the card is best for you.

Another great card option is the Chase Freedom® (card no longer available). This card offers a $150 bonus (15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. With the Chase Freedom, you’ll earn 5% cash back (5 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in categories which rotate each quarter when you activate the bonus, and 1% cash back (1x Chase Ultimate Rewards point per dollar on everything else). Here’s our Chase Freedom review to learn more.

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

Bottom line

Between 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, 2% back at grocery stores and a $150 bonus with a low minimum spending requirement, the benefits of holding a Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card are tangible. And because it has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees, it’s a no-brainer to keep forever and use when you travel abroad.

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