Good Visa/MC credit card for restaurants

[Isacking97]

I have a BCP for transport/Gas and Groceries, Everyday Card for any other category not coverd by the BCP and my discover I only use it for the balance transfers (You can requested at any time, like a shot term loan and it gets deposited to your checking account).

Any good restaurant credit card? 

Costco Credit Card is a good option?

[kdm31091]

There are plenty of dining cards out there. Costco is a good choice, although it has some pitfalls (membership required, and can only redeem your rewards once a year). If you don't otherwise shop there, it's not likely worth paying an effective $60 annual fee just for the dining rewards.

Uber Visa is another option with no fee or membership required, 4% on dining. It's unclear how much longer that card will last in its current form since Barclay seems to be burying the application link which isn't a good sign.

How much do you spend on dining per month? You may find that a dedicated dining card isn't necessary and is just going to dilute your rewards.  It really depends on your spend level. If it's $100 a month, for example, not worth a dedicated card IMO.

[Isacking97]

---

@kdm31091 wrote:

There are plenty of dining cards out there. Costco is a good choice, although it has some pitfalls (membership required, and can only redeem your rewards once a year). If you don't otherwise shop there, it's not likely worth paying an effective $60 annual fee just for the dining rewards.

Uber Visa is another option with no fee or membership required, 4% on dining. It's unclear how much longer that card will last in its current form since Barclay seems to be burying the application link which isn't a good sign.

How much do you spend on dining per month? You may find that a dedicated dining card isn't necessary and is just going to dilute your rewards.  It really depends on your spend level. If it's $100 a month, for example, not worth a dedicated card IMO.

---

In restaurants around $270/month

[CreditCuriosity]

Uber or Marvel CC imo.. Uber is slightly better, but dealing with barclay's, Marvel is 1% less, but at that amount of spend you won't be missing much rewards.  Marvel IMO ..  Although their are many other 3%+ dining cards with and without AF's, just keeping to the VERY basics

[wasCB14]

Depending on how much you spend on non-gas transportation, you might look at CSR.

[Hex]

Savor gives 4% but it has a $95 annual fee.
Savor One gives 3% but has no annual fee.
Both Savor’s also give the same percentages for entertainment.
If you qualify for Navy there’s the GoRewards for 3% on restaurants.

[wasCB14]

$270 * 12 = $3,240 in annual dining spend

Option 1: Savor for a year, then downgrade to Savor One.

Option 2: Uber (which now requires being targeted to apply).

1: $300 bonus + $129.60 regular rewards (4% of $3,240) in the first year

2: $100 bonus + $129.60 regular rewards in the first year

Savor wins in the first year by $200. Then downgrade Savor to Savor One and earn 3% instead of 4%.

How long does it take Uber to catch up? At $32.40 per year (4%-3% of $3,240), Uber needs about 74 months to beat Savor/One.

A lot of people get excited about 3% or 4% categories, but the truth is that unless you're putting tens of thousands of dollars into a category, the winning solution is often to just go for a nice big bonus.

If you do get and use the Uber streaming credit, that does shorten the length of time.

[kdm31091]

---

@wasCB14 wrote:

A lot of people get excited about 3% or 4% categories, but the truth is that unless you're putting tens of thousands of dollars into a category, the winning solution is often to just go for a nice big bonus.

---

Very good point. 3-4% sounds appealing and of course, it can be appealing, but you have to keep your expectations in check. At $270 a month in dining spend OP should probably not worry about a dedicated dining card. An extra 1-2% on that spend is between $2.70 and $5.40 a month, not exactly going to make or break anything.

IMO if it's not going to get me an extra $100 a year or so in value, it's probably not worth a dedicated card.

[Loquat]

If you travel and don't mind paying an annual fee you can take a look at the Citi Prestige.  Earns 5x TYPs on dining and airfare.  The annual fee is steep but you can offset some if not all of it if you travel at least a few times a year.  All of the other benefits are going away after Sept. 22nd if that means anything to you.  (i.e. trip delay/cancellation, price rewind, etc).

[KLEXH25]

If it’s strictly for restaurants, then I think Savor is a good option, or Uber. However if you’re already a Costco member like I am, there is a lot of value in that card since you get 2% off Costco purchases, 4% off gas, and 3% travel with not FTF (in addition to 3% off dining). If it were only for one type of spend it’s probably not worth it, but it’s certainly a very good all-in-one type of card, and since it’s a Visa, it’s accepted everywhere.