Analysis

How the Costco Credit Card Could Save You $879 per Year

If you do most of your shopping at Costco, you could save big with a Costco credit card. For consumers, there’s the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi, an advertising partner with The Ascent. It has no annual fee and high cash back rates, especially on eligible gas and EV charging.

Reading about a credit card’s perks gives you an idea of what it offers. But what helps even more is seeing the actual numbers on how much money the best credit cards could save you. Based on reasonable spending estimates, it’s possible to save $879 per year by using a Costco credit card.

The exact amount will depend on how much you spend. To help you decide if you should get a Costco credit card, here’s a breakdown of its cash back rates and earning potential.

4% cash back on gas and EV charging: $125 to $280

The Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi isn’t just good for earning bonus cash back at Costco. It’s one of the top gas credit cards. It earns 4% back on eligible gas and EV charging purchases, up to a spending cap of $7,000 per year. If you have a long commute, then this card will be a great fit.

American households spent an average of $3,120 on gas and oil in 2022, according to household spending data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On that much gas spending, this card would earn $125 in cash back.

>> Apply now for the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi. <<

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If you’re able to max this out by spending the full $7,000 per year, then you’d earn $280. That’s quite a bit of driving, as it comes out to about $583 in monthly gas and EV charging spending.

3% cash back on restaurant and travel spending: $259

The Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi earns 3% back at restaurants and on travel purchases, including Costco Travel purchases. American households spent an average of $3,639 on food away from home in 2022, according to the household spending data used earlier.

Travel spending is harder to pin down and varies substantially from person to person. Some spend under $1,000 per year on travel, whereas others have travel budgets of $10,000 or more. Since Costco caters to families, and traveling as a family can be expensive, let’s go with $5,000 in annual travel spending.

>> Apply now for the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi. <<

That adds up to $8,639 across restaurant and travel spending. At 3% back, you’d earn $259.

2% cash back at Costco and on Costco.com: $140

Every time you use a Costco credit card at Costco or on Costco.com, you’ll earn 2% back. That adds up if you do most of your shopping there.

The average Costco shopper spends $150 on each trip. Many shoppers go there on a weekly basis. For this estimate, let’s assume you visit Costco three or four times per month, and 40 times total per year. That’s $6,000 in Costco spending. As a Costco member, you may also want to take advantage of those online deals, so we’ll add $1,000 of yearly Costco.com spending. That’s $7,000 total and $140 in cash back.

>> Apply now for the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi. <<

1% cash back on other purchases: $200

Like many cash back credit cards, the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi earns 1% on non-bonus purchases. Most consumers have plenty of spending that fits into this category. If you spend $20,000 per year outside of bonus categories, that’s another $200 in cash back.

>> Apply now for the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi. <<

In total, you’d earn between $724 and $879 cash back with a Costco credit card, depending on how much you spend on gas and EV charging. If you want to get a more accurate estimate based on your own spending habits, it’s easy to do. Go over your monthly spending to figure out how much you typically spend on:

  • Gas and EV charging
  • Restaurants
  • Travel
  • Costco and Costco.com
  • Everything else

Then, multiply those numbers by 12 to get your annual spending in each category. After that, you can run the numbers on how much cash back you’d earn per year in all those categories, and add them up to find out your total savings.

Alert: highest cash back card we’ve seen now has 0% intro APR until 2025

If you’re using the wrong credit or debit card, it could be costing you serious money. Our experts love this top pick, which features a 0% intro APR for 15 months, an insane cash back rate of up to 5%, and all somehow for no annual fee. 

In fact, this card is so good that our experts even use it personally. Click here to read our full review for free and apply in just 2 minutes. 

Read our free review

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