The Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard can be a great option for loyal Walmart customers who shop regularly online and can make the most of this card’s generous cash back rates. This card also has a solid flat rate for Walmart purchases and big-budget staples like gas, restaurants and travel.
Rewards: Great rewards for Walmart regulars
You can outpace the rewards on several other cash back and rewards cards with the Walmart Rewards Mastercard by shopping online with this popular retailer at Walmart.com. However, you might also squeeze more value from this card for restaurant, Walmart gas and travel purchases. The combination of boosted rewards for store loyalty and everyday value for regular purchases sets this card apart from other branded credit cards. If you make most of your purchases online at Walmart and only want to hold one rewards card, you’d be the perfect candidate to make the most of this cash back card.
The only downside is that the card’s highest ongoing cash back rate only applies to online purchases at Walmart.com. A restriction like this won’t be a problem for savvy online shoppers, but in-store shoppers won’t earn as much cash back. However, if you shop in-store, you’ll still benefit from the best available cash back rate for Walmart purchases — 2 percent back. You will have difficulty finding another credit card that rewards more than or equal to this rate at Walmart because many cards with boosted rates specify that Walmart purchases won’t earn bonus points or cash back.
Welcome offer: Unique chance to earn a high cash back bonus
With this card's unique welcome offer, you could earn a substantial amount of cash back in your first year — 5 percent cash back on purchases in Walmart stores for the first 12 months when using your card with Walmart Pay. If you shop online at Walmart.com, this welcome offer can’t do much for you since it matches your ongoing cash back rate for online purchases on the retailer’s website. However, if you prefer to shop in the store, this welcome offer can help you build a large cash back balance before your ongoing cash back rate of 2 percent sets in.
Standard welcome offers on comparable cash back cards hover around $200 and require you to spend anywhere from $500 to $3,000 to earn them. The Walmart Rewards Mastercard has a welcome offer that doesn’t place a ceiling on your cash bonus and doesn’t have a spending requirement. You can spend as little or as much as you please in stores to earn 5 percent back. You can make this offer competitive with other welcome offers by spending at least $4,000 in Walmart stores, earning $200 back. However, you can make this offer much more generous the more you spend, making it a beneficial offer for new cardholders with a substantial amount of in-store spending to do their first year with the card.
For instance, if you make $12,000 of in-store purchases at Walmart in your first 12 months with the card, you’ll earn $600 of cash back. This value is three times as much as the cash value of competing welcome offers on cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card.
Although it requires quite a bit of spending, this welcome offer doesn’t place any limitations on the cash bonus you can earn. If you’re likely to spend quite a bit in-store at Walmart in your first year — whether you’re furnishing a house or making regular trips for groceries and household items — this card may have the best chance at earning a substantial bonus for your first-year spending.
APR: Potentially low ongoing APR without penalty rates
The Walmart Rewards Mastercard has a fairly low regular APR, on the low end. Although its high end aligns with what you should expect on most cash back cards, you can qualify for an APR a few percentage points lower than the current average credit card APR. Your creditworthiness will determine if you qualify for this card’s lowest APR, but it may be inaccessible to anyone with a less-than-ideal credit profile.
Many cash back cards have favorable APRs, but store-branded cards like the Walmart Rewards Mastercard usually have relatively steep APRs that can inflate your credit card balance with interest.
For instance, the Prime Visa card has a regular, variable APR of 19.24 percent to 27.24 percent. This APR range is a few percentage points higher than the Walmart Mastercard’s lowest APR and a few points lower on the high end. Between the two cards, if you have an excellent credit profile, you could qualify for a lower APR with the Walmart card.
On the other hand, a card like the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi card has a regular APR of 20.49 percent (variable) and a penalty APR of up to 29.99 percent. The Costco card has a consistent APR, but it’s higher than the Walmart Rewards Mastercard’s lowest possible APR, and it could charge a high penalty APR if you make a late payment or a payment is returned to you. Fortunately, the Walmart Mastercard doesn’t charge a penalty APR. While you shouldn’t make late payments a habit, you’ll have peace of mind knowing your APR won’t rise substantially for missing your due date.