The Sam’s Club Mastercard is great for maximum gas cash back but lacks easy access to rewards.
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Bottom line
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. The limited cash back range hobbles the card’s value unless you’re only interested in the gas bonus category. However, it is one of the best gas rewards cards available if you don’t mind the red tape on redemptions.
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Bulk buyers curious about the potential rewards and benefits of the Sam’s Club Mastercard might be disappointed unless filling their gas tanks is a bigger expense than feeding their households.
This card’s main benefit is its 5 percent cash back rate on gas, which beats the rival Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi as one of the best credit cards for gas. The dining cash back is significant too. Sam’s Club Plus members earn 3 percent 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 percent back from their Plus membership, for up to 5 percent rewards on eligible purchases. However, it’s important to note you’ll need to redeem your cash rewards in a physical store if you want to use them outside of Sam’s Club.
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
Your first $30 of Sam’s Club purchases within 30 days are covered with a matching statement credit
Serves as both a credit card and your Sam’s Club membership card
You must redeem in-store for physical cash back toward non-store purchases – which may make the rewards process too inconvenient for many cardholders
No boosted rewards or benefits to shopping at Sam’s Club without a Sam’s Club Plus membership
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
Retail credit cards aren’t known for stellar bonuses, and the Sam’s Club credit card is no exception. You’ll receive a $30 statement credit when you open a new account and make $30 in Sam’s Club purchases within the first 30 days.
Essentially receiving $30 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. Also, the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card instantly gives you a $100 Amazon gift card upon approval.
The Sam’s Club Mastercard cash back categories are flexible, especially compared to the Costco card’s category restrictions. While there’s a strange limit of $5,000 cash back per year, this likely won’t be a problem since you’d need to spend more than $150,000 across your gas and dining categories to accomplish this feat.
Your primary sources of Sam’s Club credit card cash back are the 5 percent cash back on gas (up to $6,000 per year, then 1 percent) and 3 percent back on dining and takeout bonus categories. Sam’s Club Plus members can earn 3 percent 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 percent back from their Plus membership, for a total of up to 5 percent rewards on eligible purchases.
This 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.
Sam’s Club dispenses your cash back one to two billing cycles after you’ve earned it, and it won’t expire for the life of your store membership. The card also automatically loads your rewards to your membership account. This feature gives the card a big leg up and widens its appeal.
Your cash rewards can go toward Sam’s Club purchases online and at the register in-store, membership upgrades or renewals or statement credits on your card. But if you want cold, hard cash, you’ll have to trek to a Sam’s Club location and redeem it in person at a staffed register or the Member Services desk.
The redemption process isn’t nearly as frustrating now as before May 2022, when the cash back issuance was once a year. However, it would help if you still weighed your willingness to fight through red tape carefully before applying. You need to shop at Sam’s Club frequently enough to merit store-based statement credits to avoid having to visit a physical store to get real cash back.
The Sam’s Club credit card earns cash back as a percentage of your spending, not points. For example, 5 percent back on gas purchases will earn you 5 cents back per dollar of your total purchase. But in this case, you have to decide whether the personal value of your rewards is worth the hassle of redeeming them.
The Sam’s Club credit card doesn’t carry any benefits worth writing home about but read below to learn more about a few of them.
Your credit card doubles as your Sam’s Club membership card, which is only noteworthy for its organizational convenience. The card also works at Walmart stores nationwide, expanding your shopping options.
The Mastercard benefits you receive can vary depending on your card’s reward tier, so you should check with your network for the complete list of features. Standard Mastercard credit cards offer basics like $0 liability protection for unauthorized purchases and identity theft protection. Still, World and World Elite Mastercard products provide a range of premium perks like purchase and travel protections, cellphone insurance and complimentary subscription services.
You won’t take on hefty fees with the Sam’s Club Mastercard since there are no annual or foreign transaction fees. The most substantial cost is the $45 minimum yearly cost of the Sam’s Club membership required to apply and hold your card, which should take spending $125 on dining each month or $75 on gas each month to recoup with rewards spending.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any zero-interest offers to keep the 15.65 percent or 23.65 percent variable APR at bay. Luckily, the ongoing APR doesn’t live up to the notoriously high interest rates retail cards are known for. Your rate may be below the current average credit card interest rate, depending on your creditworthiness.
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 your 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.
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While they share some similarities, the Costco Anywhere Visa has some key advantages over the Sam’s Club Mastercard, including the fact that it doesn’t impose nearly as many earning restrictions as the Sam’s Club card. While you’ll still face a cap on eligible gas and EV charging purchases (up to $7,000 in purchases per year, then 1 percent back), there’s no limit to the total amount of rewards you can earn with the Costco card (the Sam’s Club card imposes a $5,000 maximum).
You also 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 ($100 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 much 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, online shopping, 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.
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card last updated 3/1/2023
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.
A flat-rate cash back card like the Citi® Double Cash Card could shore up the Sam’s Club Mastercard’s in-store weaknesses, or a grocery powerhouse could be handy. The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express would rake in 6 percent cash back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year, then 1 percent) and unlimited 3 percent on transit and at U.S. gas stations when your 5 percent category rewards cap out.
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 there’s not one near you) or 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.
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