How do I access my rewards with the Sam’s Club Mastercard?

You can use your rewards at SamsClub.com or on the Sam's Club Scan & Go app. You can also redeem your rewards and check your balance at the register when you make a purchase. You'll see your rewards balance at the checkout screen and can choose to redeem it for cash. You can also check your rewards balance by logging into your account at SamsClub.com/credit or by calling the number on the back of your card.

What happens to my Sam’s Club Mastercard if my Sam’s Club membership expires?

Unfortunately, if your Sam’s Club membership expires, you cannot access your Sam’s Club Mastercard rewards or use your card until you renew your membership. You must pay the $45 minimum annual Sam's Club membership to keep using your card and to redeem your rewards.

What site do I use to pay off my Sam’s Club Mastercard?

To pay off your Sam’s Club Mastercard, visit samsclub.syf.com. This is the issuer – Synchrony Bank's – website, where you can pay your bill or view your account activity.

How do I get the most out of my Sam’s Club Mastercard at Sam’s Club?

To get the most out of your card, use it for all gas and dining purchases unless you have another card that earns more in these categories. Also, consider signing up for a Plus membership if you're a frequent Sam's Club shopper. While standard Sam's Club members earn just 1 percent back on Sam's Club purchases with the Sam's Club Mastercard, Plus members earn 3 percent back on Sam’s Club purchases with the card, as well as another 2 percent back from the Plus membership itself, for a total of up to 5 rewards on eligible purchases. If you spend heavily at Sam's Club, these rewards could go a long way toward offsetting your membership cost.

Can I only use my Sam’s Club Mastercard at Sam’s Club?

No. Unlike the Sam’s Club store credit card, the Sam’s Club Mastercard is accepted anywhere Mastercard credit cards are accepted, including at nearly all grocery stores and gas stations. Considering the card holds a higher cash back rate on gas and dining than at Sam's Club stores, you'll need to use it outside of the wholesale club to maximize your rewards.

What is the difference between Sam's Club credit card and Sam's Club Mastercard?

The Sam’s Club credit card is a closed-loop card, meaning you can only use it at Sam’s Club. The Sam’s Club Mastercard is an open-loop card that allows you to use it for purchases anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Sam’s Club® Mastercard® review: Bulk gas rewards, but basic Sam’s Club cash back

Merely a solid warehouse rewards card, but a top-notch gas rewards credit card.

Written by

Steve Dashiell

Edited by

Tracy Stewart

May 8, 2024 / 11 min

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Snapshot

3.0

Bankrate rating

Our writers, editors and industry experts score credit cards based on a variety of factors including card features, bonus offers and independent research. Credit card issuers have no say or influence on how we rate cards.

Bottom line

The Sam’s Club Mastercard is, strangely, one of the more rewarding gas credit cards on the market if you don’t mind only earning Sam’s Cash. But Sam’s Club members looking for bulk rewards on their wholesale shopping will be disappointed since this card only provides boosted rewards on in-store shopping if you’re a Sam’s Club Plus member — standard members will earn a much lower rate.

Best wholesale club card

Rewards value

Rating: 2.3 stars out of 5

2.3 / 5

APR

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

3 / 5

Rewards flexibility

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

3 / 5

Features

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

2 / 5

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

Recommended Credit

N/A

Intro offer

Intro offer is not available for this Synchrony Bank credit card.

1% - 5%

Rewards rate

5% cash back on gas anywhere (up to $6,000) Plus members earn 3% back on eligible purchases when shopping in-club or digitally through Sam’s Club when they use their Sam’s Club Mastercard and another 2% back from their Plus membership, for a total of up to 5% rewards on eligible purchases. 3% cash back on dining and takeout 1% cash back on all other eligible purchases.

Annual fee

Regular APR

On This Page

Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Overview

Bulk buyers curious about the potential rewards and benefits of the Sam’s Club Mastercard might be disappointed in the card’s requirements for earning maximum value on Sam’s Club purchases: it earns 3 percent back on eligible purchases when you make purchases in-club or digitally through the Sam’s Club website, but only if you’re a Sam’s Club Plus member. Otherwise, the card earns 1 percent back on eligible purchases.

For Plus members, the 3 percent earning rate stacks with the 2 percent rate all Plus members earn for a total of 5 percent back in Sam’s Cash. Plus membership typically runs $110 annually, so you might consider it an annual fee for the card.

Oddly, the card’s gas rewards rate is much more impressive and lenient. It earns 5 percent back (on up to $6,000 spent annually, then 1 percent) on gas at any gas station, not just Sam’s Club gas stations. This rate beats the rival Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi as one of the best credit cards for gas. The dining and takeout reward rate is significant too at 3 percent. However, it’s important to note that the card only earns rewards in the form of Sam’s Cash, and you can only redeem your earnings in-store. If you don’t mind paying for Plus membership and these reward limitations, the Sam’s Club Mastercard is great way to turn gas and dining spending into wholesale grocery purchases.

Rewards
5 percent cash back on gas (up to $6,000 per year, then 1 percent)

3 percent cash back on eligible Sam’s Club purchases for Plus members (or 1 percent if you’re a standard Sam’s Club member)

3 percent cash back on dining and takeout

1 percent cash back on all other eligible purchases ($5,000 cash rewards maximum per year)

Expert Appraisal: Good
See our expert analysis
Welcome offer
$30 statement credit after making $30 in Sam’s Club purchases within the first 30 days

Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
See our expert analysis
Rates and fees
Annual fee: N/A (at least a $45 annual Sam’s Club Membership fee required, $110 annually for Sam’s Club Plus Membership)

Purchase intro APR: N/A

Balance transfer intro APR: N/A

Regular APR: 20.40% or 28.40% variable APR

Expert Appraisal: Good
See our expert analysis
Other cardholder perks
Works as your Sam’s Club Membership Card

Expert Appraisal: Weak
See our expert analysis

Sam’s Club Mastercard pros and cons

Pros

Its excellent 5 percent cash back on gas (on up to $6,000 in yearly purchases, then 1 percent) is one of the best gas rewards rates available
No annual fee or foreign transaction fees, adding to the card’s affordability
Serves as both a credit card and your Sam’s Club membership card

Cons

You must redeem in-store for physical cash back toward non-store purchases – which may make the rewards process too inconvenient for many cardholders
Sam’s Club membership is required (starting at $45 per year), which eats into your rewards
There are spending caps on all of your bonus categories, and your total cash back potential is limited to $5,000 per year

Why you might want the Sam’s Club Mastercard

Rewards rate: One of the strongest gas cards on the market

Though the Sam’s Club Mastercard is designed as a rewards card for Sam’s Club shoppers, its excellent rewards rate on gas purchases steals the show. Its 5 percent back on gas (on up to $6,000 spent, then 1 percent) at any gas station is generous and gives it the lead over the Costco Anywhere Visa card’s 4 percent back on gas. If you max out the spending cap, you’re looking at $300 back in Sam’s Club cash annually from gas alone.

The card’s dining and takeout rate is nothing to sneeze at either: at 3 percent back, it stands alongside other big names in the rewards space, such as the Chase Freedom Unlimited® and Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards.

If you’re a Sam’s Club Plus Member, you’ll earn a total of 5 percent back on eligible Sam’s Club purchases. This is an excellent rate, but the $110 Plus Membership required to earn it eats into your rewards. On the bright side, the card doesn’t have the same bonus category restrictions as the Costco card, such as Costco’s bakery and bed-and-breakfast exclusions for dining. And unlike the Costco card, the Sam’s Club Mastercard doesn’t exclude other store-branded gas stations from its gas rewards category. Plus, some restaurant reward categories exclude caterers, which the Sam’s Club card’s terms specifically state it accepts. This can be especially helpful if you run a small business or use your Sam’s Club membership to prep for events.

Rates and fees: Relatively cheap and works as your membership card

While the Sam’s Club Mastercard doesn’t carry an annual fee, you do need a Sam’s Club membership to apply for the card in the first place. The cheapest Sam’s Club memberships cost $50, so you might think of this membership fee as the annual fee of the card. With that said, $50 is a good price for a card that can earn you 5 percent back on gas, and 3 percent back on several other categories with a $5,000 rewards cap. Once you receive your Sam’s Club Mastercard, it works in place of your membership card, so feel free to free up some wallet space and leave that card at home.

The card also doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees and the ongoing APR doesn’t live up to the notoriously high interest rates retail cards are known for. Your rate may be on par with the current average credit card interest rate, depending on your creditworthiness.

Why you might want a different shopping rewards card

Despite its strengths, the Sam’s Club Mastercard has a few drawbacks that might warrant looking elsewhere.

Weak up-front value: Small welcome offer and no intro APR

Retail credit cards aren’t known for stellar bonuses, and the Sam’s Club credit card is no exception. You’ll receive a $50 statement credit when you open a new account and make $50 in Sam’s Club purchases within the first 30 days. This offer is advertised as a limited-time offer, and the amount tends to fluctuate throughout the year.

Essentially, receiving $50 in free Sam’s Club merchandise isn’t a bad deal, but it isn’t the best we’ve seen among store cards. Its cousin card, the Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard®*, offers 5 percent cash back when using Walmart Pay in-store for the first 12 months. With the Prime Visa card there is a generous bonus offer: Get a $100 Amazon Gift Card instantly upon approval exclusively for Prime members.

The card also lacks an intro APR on purchases and balance transfers. While balance transfer offers are rather rare on store cards, you may find some that offer an intro APR on purchases for a short period, which delivers some nice value if you plan on making a number of large purchases at that store and you want to pay it off interest-free.

Sam’s Club perks: No additional store features

Many store credit cards offer additional store-specific perks on top of an accelerated rewards rate on store purchases. These kind of perks can include free shipping on online orders, early access to sales, or automatic placement in a store’s elite status system. Typically, these benefits are how store cards make up for their lack of overall flexibility: by doubling down their store value.

The Sam’s Club Mastercard is nearly devoid of such perks. The only feature it offers beyond rewards on purchases is the ability to use the card in place of your Sam’s Club Membership card. This doesn’t hurt the card value quite as hard as it might since the Sam’s Club Mastercard possesses several strong reward categories, but whether this is a dealbreaker depends on how often you plan on using your card in its largest earning categories.

How the Sam’s Club Mastercard compares to other cash back cards

Among cash back cards, the Sam’s Club Mastercard offers excellent all-around category coverage and a hard-to-beat rewards rate on gas. Even its most prominent (and most similar) competitor, the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi, can’t match the Sam’s Club card’s gas rewards program. If you’re already a road-bound Sam’s Club member and don’t mind a trip to the store to get your bulk rewards, this card is a no-brainer.

However, if you’re primarily looking for a grocery shopping card with cash back centered around wholesale clubs, the Sam’s Club Mastercard is only a good choice with a Plus membership. Plus members earn 3 percent back on eligible purchases when shopping in-club or digitally through Sam’s Club with their card and another 2 percent back from their Plus membership, for up to 5 percent back on eligible purchases. Regular Sam’s Club members earn just 1 percent back, so a flat-rate cash back card that offers 1.5 percent or 2 percent could be a better choice.

Sam's Club® Mastercard®

Bankrate Score

3.0

Annual fee

No Annual Fee

Intro offer

N/A

Rewards rate

1% - 5%

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)

Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card

Bankrate Score

4.3

Apply now

on Bank of America's secure site

Annual fee

Intro offer

$200

$200 online cash rewards bonus after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.

Rewards rate

1% - 3%

Earn 3% cash back in the category of your choice (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases). Earn automatic 2% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases). Earn unlimited 1% on all other purchases.

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)

Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi

Bankrate Score

2.5

Annual fee

Intro offer

N/A

Rewards rate

1% - 4%

4% cash back on eligible gas and EV charging purchases for the first $7,000 per year and then 1% thereafter 3% cash back on restaurants and eligible travel purchases 2% cash back on all other purchases from Costco and Costco.com 1% cash back on all other purchases

Recommended Credit Score

Excellent (740 – 850)

One of the Costco Anywhere Visa’s big advantages over the Sam’s Club Mastercard is you don’t have to have a higher-tier membership to earn more than 1 percent back on purchases at the wholesale club. All cardholders get 2 percent back at Costco stores and Costco.com. Additionally, you can earn eligible travel rewards (at a rate of 3 percent back) with the Costco card — a category that earns just 1 percent back with the Sam’s Club Mastercard.

On the downside, if you opt for the Costco “Executive” membership, you can boost your rate to just 4 percent back. The Executive membership is more expensive ($120 total per year) than Sam’s Club’s Plus membership ($110 per year) and offers 1 percent less cash back than the Sam’s Club card’s 5 percent back for Plus members. The biggest drawback is that the Costco card still uses the old once-per-year cash back redemption process in February that must be redeemed in-store by Dec. 31 of that year. The Sam’s Club Mastercard’s redemption process is a bit more flexible, and rewards are available after 1 to 2 billing cycles.
If you’re looking for more variety and flexibility with your bonus categories, but don’t want to give up earning bonus rewards at Sam’s Club and other wholesale clubs, the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card is a great alternative. A popular choose-your-own-bonus-category card, the Customized Cash lets you pick one 3 percent cash back category from gas, eligible online shopping (including cable, streaming, internet and phone services), dining, travel, drug stores or home improvements and furnishings while also earning a consistent flat rate of 2 percent back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs and 1 percent back on all other spending.

You can also switch up your choice category once per calendar month to match your spending habits. While there’s a $2,500 combined spending limit for earning the top rate in the card’s 2 percent and 3 percent categories per quarter (after which you’ll earn just 1 percent), this flexible rewards program could help you maximize your earnings based on how your spending habits change.

Best cards to pair with the Sam’s Club Mastercard

The best combinations with the Sam’s Club Mastercard will provide high-yield cash back on categories that the Sam’s Club card doesn’t already cover.

The defacto complement for nearly any category card, the Wells Fargo Active Cash is the leading flat-rate cash back card on the market thanks to its simple and powerful reward rate. You’ll earn 2 percent back on all card purchases, with no need to jump through additional hoops for the full reward rate. This means you can always earn at least 2 percent back on your card purchases no matter where you shop.
While the Sam’s Club Mastercard can help you earn cash back at Sam’s Club warehouses, it’s not the most effective card for earning rewards on groceries. That distinction goes to the Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express. The Blue Cash is a powerhouse when it comes to grocery rewards, earning 6 percent cash back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year, then 1 percent) as well as an unlimited 3 percent on transit and at U.S. gas stations.

You’ll earn less value on gas station purchases with the Blue Cash Preferred, but gain additional power in grocery shopping and more flexibility thanks to the card’s travel rewards category as well. The card also offers great upfront value thanks to a solid welcome offer and intro APR on purchases and balance transfers. And while you’ll need to pay a $95 annual fee to use the card, you can easily recoup this cost with a few months of grocery spending.

Who is the Sam’s Club Mastercard right for?

The Sam’s Club Mastercard could be a solid choice for the following types of people.

While the Sam’s Club Mastercard doesn’t offer many extra Sam’s Club features, it can still help you earn solid cash back on your Sam’s Club purchases, and let you turn dining and gas purchases into future Sam’s Club discounts.
The Sam’s Club Mastercard is the strongest gas card on the market when it comes to raw earning rate. If you don’t mind going into a Sam’s Club to redeem your cash back, the card is an excellent addition to your wallet.

Bankrate’s Take — Is the Sam’s Club Mastercard worth it?

The Sam’s Club Mastercard is an excellent, low-cost engine for cash back on gas with admirable coverage across dining purchases. But if you’re not a Sam’s Club member or you’re looking for hefty rewards on bulk products at Sam’s Club, then this card isn’t a good fit — the in-store rewards payout for non-Sam’s Club cash back and lackluster rewards rate on purchases in its own store make the Sam’s Club Mastercard a difficult sell for anything but its bonus gas category.

*The information about the Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard and Sam's Club® Mastercard® has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.

Frequently asked questions

You can use your rewards at SamsClub.com or on the Sam's Club Scan & Go app. You can also redeem your rewards and check your balance at the register when you make a purchase. You'll see your rewards balance at the checkout screen and can choose to redeem it for cash. You can also check your rewards balance by logging into your account at SamsClub.com/credit or by calling the number on the back of your card.
Unfortunately, if your Sam’s Club membership expires, you cannot access your Sam’s Club Mastercard rewards or use your card until you renew your membership. You must pay the $45 minimum annual Sam's Club membership to keep using your card and to redeem your rewards.
To pay off your Sam’s Club Mastercard, visit samsclub.syf.com. This is the issuer – Synchrony Bank's – website, where you can pay your bill or view your account activity.
To get the most out of your card, use it for all gas and dining purchases unless you have another card that earns more in these categories. Also, consider signing up for a Plus membership if you're a frequent Sam's Club shopper. While standard Sam's Club members earn just 1 percent back on Sam's Club purchases with the Sam's Club Mastercard, Plus members earn 3 percent back on Sam’s Club purchases with the card, as well as another 2 percent back from the Plus membership itself, for a total of up to 5 rewards on eligible purchases. If you spend heavily at Sam's Club, these rewards could go a long way toward offsetting your membership cost.
No. Unlike the Sam’s Club store credit card, the Sam’s Club Mastercard is accepted anywhere Mastercard credit cards are accepted, including at nearly all grocery stores and gas stations. Considering the card holds a higher cash back rate on gas and dining than at Sam's Club stores, you'll need to use it outside of the wholesale club to maximize your rewards.
The Sam’s Club credit card is a closed-loop card, meaning you can only use it at Sam’s Club. The Sam’s Club Mastercard is an open-loop card that allows you to use it for purchases anywhere Mastercard is accepted.