Costco Card

[Anonymous]

I buy a lot at Costco. Around $700/month.

My other cards are Amex Gold, Chase Freedom, Discover It, Amex Blue Cash Every Day, NavyFed Green Card.

Credit Score is impecabble. SHould I get the Costco card? Is it a must-have CC?

[Anonymous]

It's a versatile 4-3-2 cashback card but for most with a full or near full deck, it's really just a decent gas card. I use my 2% PenFed PCR at Costco, when Freedom doesn't have warehouse at 5%, so I don't have to wait a year for my rewards vs using Citi Costco. 3% restaurant used to be decent until my Savor got grandfathered into the new 4% Savor. I see that with Gold, you will be in the same situation as I when you eventually add a 2%+ general spending Visa card.

[wasCB14]

For ongoing spend, Costco is a great card in many respects.

- No AF (other than your Costco membership)

- No FTFs, a Visa, and contactless, making it a pretty convenient international travel card (at least for people who don't use a smartphone, or are concerned a phone may have a problem)

- Reasonable rewards

- Great price protection and extended warranty features

One downside is that there is no bonus on the Costco card. What I did, that you might consider, was to get an AA Platinum with a nice bonus. After a year, I converted it to a Costco card. That way I got a big bonus and a card useful in the long term.

Other options might be the US Bank Altitude Reserve, BofA Travel or Premium Rewards (with Platinum Honors), and Chase Freedom Unlimited + Sapphire Preferred or Reserve.

[iheartwings]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

For ongoing spend, Costco is a great card in many respects.

- No AF (other than your Costco membership)

- No FTFs, a Visa, and contactless, making it a pretty convenient international travel card (at least for people who don't use a smartphone, or are concerned a phone may have a problem)

- Reasonable rewards

- Great price protection and extended warranty features

One downside is that there is no bonus on the Costco card. What I did, that you might consider, was to get an AA Platinum with a nice bonus. After a year, I converted it to a Costco card. That way I got a big bonus and a card useful in the long term.

Other options might be the US Bank Altitude Reserve, BofA Travel or Premium Rewards (with Platinum Honors), and Chase Freedom Unlimited + Sapphire Preferred or Reserve.

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As Costco is taking mobile payments (ApplePay, etc.) - you'll be able to earn 3x with the Altitude Reserve versus 2% with Costco - so there's that. 

[staticvoidmain]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I buy a lot at Costco. Around $700/month. 

My other cards are Amex Gold, Chase Freedom, Discover It, Amex Blue Cash Every Day, NavyFed Green Card. 

Credit Score is impecabble. SHould I get the Costco card? Is it a must-have CC?

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YES. Earns 4% back Costco gas, which is the cheapest Top Tier gas you can find, which I already assume you use (btw, it's 4% any gas, not just Costco). At Costco itself, potentially a 4% card, assuming you have executive membership, which you should have if you spend more than $260/month at Costco (Of course you can use your Freedom if the 5% quarter is for wholesale). 

This is also my primary Travel card, 3% back (no FTF ofcourse. it is a Visa as well). Solid 3% dining as well, for when your Amex Gold won't cover it (i.e. outside the US).

You'll only have to carry this one card when you go to Costco. Also awesome if your Costco accepts contactless, as this is a contactless card as well.

[imaximous]

I have both personal and business Costco Visa cards, but I don't use them much at Costco unless there's a promo for paying with them. Example: buy tires and get free installation (save $60 bucks), buy a TV and get 15% back plus additional 2 or so years of extended warranty, etc.

The reason I don't use the cards at Costco is that normally I get more with either the Altitude Reserve and mobile wallet (4.5% when redeemed for travel); or our 2 Chase Freedoms when Chase Pay is a 5% category (3 quarters this year). That is separate from the 2% for having the Executive membership. Chase Freedoms are the first option until I max out the $3k per quarter at 5%. Before Chase Pay, I was only able to take advantage of the 5% when wholesale was a bonus category, which happened maybe once a year. Now it seems I'll be maxing out every quarter thanks to Chase Pay.

[mongstradamus]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

For ongoing spend, Costco is a great card in many respects.

- No AF (other than your Costco membership)

- No FTFs, a Visa, and contactless, making it a pretty convenient international travel card (at least for people who don't use a smartphone, or are concerned a phone may have a problem)

- Reasonable rewards

- Great price protection and extended warranty features

One downside is that there is no bonus on the Costco card. What I did, that you might consider, was to get an AA Platinum with a nice bonus. After a year, I converted it to a Costco card. That way I got a big bonus and a card useful in the long term.

Other options might be the US Bank Altitude Reserve, BofA Travel or Premium Rewards (with Platinum Honors), and Chase Freedom Unlimited + Sapphire Preferred or Reserve.

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The other drawback which is a pretty minor drawback is you can only redeem your cash back once a year. I would say in general its one of the better cash back cards out there. 

[Anonymous]

Another benefit I don't often see mentioned:

If you have a Costco Executive membership you get 2% cashback on travel when booking via Costco Travel on top of the 3% that the Costco card gives you.

[Anonymous]

You should wait for the historical high SUB if you do plan to apply:
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/5svvxm/citi_costco_historical_high_offer/

[staticvoidmain]

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@Anonymous wrote:
You should wait for the historical high SUB if you do plan to apply:
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/5svvxm/citi_costco_historical_high_offer/

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Heh. I'd take that chicken!

On a serious note, I think SUB depends on the Costco warehouse, so definitely apply in the warehouse. For me, I got a $60 Costco cash card, because I applied for executive in the same day (essentially, free execuitve membership for a year, which is 2% cashback potential).