Capital One Savor card review: Earn a $300 bonus and up to 4% cash back in popular categories like dining and entertainment

Review: Is the Capital One Savor the best credit card for you?

If you spend a lot on food and entertainment, getting rewarded for your purchases with a credit card that earns strong rewards in those categories can save you money. The Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card is a great choice because it earns 4% cash back on dining, entertainment, and eligible streaming services, 3% back at grocery stores, and 1% back on everything else.

It's currently offering a solid welcome bonus, too: Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card. The Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card also comes with useful benefits like travel accident insurance and extended warranty, plus no foreign transaction fees — so you can use it overseas without incurring extra charges.

The card has a Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card annual fee, but it can be well worth it if your expenses in the bonus categories are high. If you're not sure you'll spend enough to justify paying the annual fee, there's a no-annual-fee version of the card — the Capital One® SavorOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card— that offers a lower welcome bonus and earns 3% back instead of 4% back on dining, entertainment, and streaming, and the same 3% back on groceries.

Read more: The best cash-back credit cards of 2021

Depending on your spending habits, you'll also want to look at other rewards credit cards to see if they're a better fit. For example, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express earns 6% back on your first $6,000 in U.S. supermarket spending each year (then 1% back), 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming services, 3% back on U.S. gas stations and transit, and 1% back on all other eligible purchases (cash back is earned in the form of Rewards Dollars). 

Be sure to check out our guides to the best credit cards for groceries, dining, and streaming services for more ideas, too.

Comparison: Capital One Savor vs other Capital One cards

Capital One Savor vs other cash-back credit cards

* With the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 spent per year, then 1% back

****eligible 5% cash back categories on the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card are restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment

How to earn cash back with the Capital One Savor card

The Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card is straightforward to use, and you'll earn cash back as follows:

• 4% cash back on dining 
• 4% cash back on entertainment 
• 4% cash back on popular streaming services
• 3% cash back at grocery stores 
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

The dining category includes eat-in and takeout purchases at restaurants, cafes, bars, lounges, fast-food chains, and bakeries. Food delivery services like Seamless and GrubHub should count as well, even though Capital One doesn't explicitly mention them.

Read more: The best credit cards for food delivery

Entertainment is a very broad category and includes movie theaters, sports promoters (professional and semi-professional live events), theatrical promoters, amusement parks, tourist attractions, aquariums, zoos, dance halls, record stores, pool halls, and bowling alleys. 

Eligible streaming includes services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+, although some services — like Prime Video, AT&T TV, and Verizon FIOS On Demand are excluded. Audiobook subscription services and fitness programming don't count, either.

Grocery stores include most supermarkets and smaller grocers, meat locker, freezer, dairy product stores, and specialty markets — but keep in mind, superstores like Walmart and Target, and big-box stores like Costco and Sam's Club, don't qualify.

Read more: The best grocery credit cards

There's also a limited-time promotion through January 31, 2023, to earn 8% cash back on Vivid Seats purchases, like tickets to sporting events, concerts, and theater performances.

How to redeem cash back

The great thing about cash back is that you can use your rewards for anything — there are no award charts or complicated redemptions to navigate. Capital One makes it easy to redeem your cash back in any amount, either in the form of a check or statement credits directly applied to your account. Your rewards never expire as long as your account is open and in good standing.

You can also set up automatic redemptions at a set time each year, or when you reach a certain threshold of cash back in your account ($25, $50, $100, $200, $500, or $1,500). It's also possible to redeem rewards for gift cards or merchandise through Amazon or PayPal, but the redemption rate varies.

Read more: The best Capital One credit cards

There's another redemption option if you also have a Capital One credit card that earns miles, like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. You can transfer rewards from your Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card to your miles-earning account, but the transfers are only allowed one-way (you can't transfer miles to your Savor account).

Benefits and features

Capital One issues different versions of the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card which come with varying benefits. For example, I have the World Elite Mastercard version, which offers a broader range of benefits — but there are some benefits that come with any version of the card.

Extended warranty

Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card cardholders receive extended warranty protection on eligible items purchased with the card.

Travel accident insurance

The Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card comes with travel accident insurance for covered losses when you use your card to purchase the fare for your trip. 

Read more: The best credit cards with travel insurance

24-hour travel assistance service

If your card is lost or stolen while you're on the road, you can get an emergency replacement and a cash advance if needed.

Complimentary concierge service

When you have the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card, you'll get access to a complimentary 24-hour concierge service that can help you with things like dining reservations, hard-to-get event tickets to events, or travel bookings. The service itself is free, but you'll have to pay for any third-party costs.

Event access

The Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card gets you access to VIP experiences, discounts, and on-site perks at sports and concert events, and access to curated dinners and chef collaborations as long as you use the card to pay for your ticket.

Read more: Your credit card number could get you presale ticket access to concerts, sports games, and more — here's how

Account and security alerts

If Capital One detects suspicious activity or unusual charges on your Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card, you'll get an alert via text, email, or phone call. 

$0 fraud liability 

Capital One won't hold you responsible for unauthorized charges made to your account, such as if your card is lost or stolen and someone tries to make purchases with it.

Virtual card numbers

Capital One lets you can generate a virtual card number for more security when you pay for online purchases — that way you don't have to reveal your actual card number.

Card Lock

The Card Lock feature allows you to quickly freeze your card and prevent unauthorized charges if it's lost or stolen, or even if you temporarily misplace it.

Credit report alerts

Capital One cardholders receive alerts when information on their Experian or TransUnion credit report changes — including things like new account inquiries, address changes, or credit score updates. 

Read more: Identity theft is a major problem, but these 5 credit card protection programs can help keep you safe

Fees and costs

The Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card has a Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card annual fee, but you won't pay foreign transaction fees, so it's a good card to use for international purchases.

Be sure to run the numbers on your own spending to find out if paying the annual fee is worth it for you. Again, the no-annual-fee Capital One® SavorOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card might be a better fit if your expenses on dining, groceries, and entertainment aren't that high.

Read more: The best credit cards with no foreign transaction fees

Like most other cards, the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card charges fees for balance transfers, cash advances, and late payments.

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