Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi Review

Written by Dayana Yochim
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Andrea Coombes

August 22, 2023

The Costco Anywhere Visa is definitely not your average store credit card. It offers competitive reward rates on practically everything on your shopping list — gas, restaurants, travel — and, of course, a deal (2% cash back) on your Costco/Costco.com purchases.

Finally, a card that actually rewards your spending at a warehouse store. (It’s a Costco Visa, so duh.) More notable is how well its menu of other rewards categories stacks up against non-store cashback cards. The redemption rules, however … woof.

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

Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi pros and cons

Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi cashback rewards spending categories

The following table shows the cashback rewards rate per $1 spent in the six most common spending categories. The “Bonus Rate” refers to the amount you can earn in excess of the card’s standard rewards rate.

Some cashback cards limit the spending amount eligible for the bonus rate (a.k.a. the “Spend Cap”). Once you hit that cap (e.g. $1,500 spending in a particular category during a defined time period), the rewards rate on future purchases in that category reverts to the lower “Default Rate.”

Note: In addition to the rewards structure outlined above, the Costco Anywhere Visa offers 2% cashback on Costco and Costco.com purchases.

What we like

Attention Costco shoppers: Take an extra 2% off that industrial-sized can of water chestnuts and everything else in your cart (at the store or online). But even better ...

Earn 4% cash back year-round on gas, up to $7,000 annually (that’s $280 right there) and 1% thereafter.

With an unlimited 3% cash back on worldwide travel purchases including airfare, hotels, car rentals, travel agencies, cruise lines and Costco Travel purchases, the Costco card also makes a decent travel rewards card.

Costco Executive Members ($120 a year) can supersize their shopping rewards to 4% — snagging 2% using the card and an extra 2% membership rewards, up to $1,000 per year, on qualifying Costco purchases (deets: gas, no; Costco Travel, yes).

Charges no foreign transaction fees, which is like saving 3% (what other cards charge) on that case of duty-free ouzo you plan on buying during your layover at the Thessaloniki airport in Greece.

Includes special access to buy tickets to concerts, sporting events and more via Citi Entertainment.

What we don't like

Technically, there’s no annual fee to carry this card. But you must be a Costco member, which runs $60 to $120 a year, depending on the membership level.

Reward redemption rules are 🤨: Cash back is issued once annually as a reward certificate after your February billing statement closes.

There’s more: Your credit card rewards certificate is only redeemable through Dec. 31 the year it’s issued — in a Costco store, FYI — as cash (a check or electronic transfer) or to use to buy merchandise.

And another thing: Wave buh-bye to any rewards amount not redeemed by that date.

The card lacks some frills. It offers just the bare minimum in protections — damage/theft protection (FYI: the extended manufacturer's warranty benefit was discontinued in 2023); no travel coverages or insurance.

Also missing: Any break on balance transfers (the standard variable APR applies) or introductory low-APR deal on new purchases.

The bottom line

Is the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi the best rewards card for your wallet? The answer depends entirely on your spending patterns. Let the numbers speak for themselves: Use the investor.com Cashback Credit Card Calculator to see which credit card pays back the highest rewards based on how much you spend each month.

Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi fine print

Costco Anywhere Visa card rewards explained, and get into the terms and conditions weeds.

Does the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi charge an annual fee?

No, there is no annual fee for the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi.

Does the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi offer a welcome bonus?

No, the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi card does not currently offer a welcome bonus.

How much cash back can I earn with the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi?

The average American that spends $1000 per month will earn $235.92 in cash back per year using the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi. For comparison, the average annual rewards payout from the cashback credit cards in the investor.com database is $191.26, and $180 is the median.

These calculations are based on average consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the reward payout rates from the providers we track. Of course, you’re so much more than an average data point (aka “consumer unit,” in BLS parlance). The amount you can earn in cashback rewards using the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi depends entirely on your unique spending habits.

Find out exactly how much you’ll rake in with the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi by tailoring the spending inputs in the calculator above.

Read next

• Best Cashback Credit Cards
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• What Is Credit? (And Why It Matters)
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• Find a Financial Advisor
• Our Complete Coverage of Credit Cards

Methodology

The results of the investor.com Credit Card Rewards Calculator are based on the monthly spending amounts you enter and the annual dollar value of the rewards each credit card program pays per $1 spent. Credit card companies often express this payout amount as a percentage (e.g., 1.5% of every dollar spent) or on a points basis (e.g. ,1.5 points for every dollar spent). We converted all of them to a dollar amount (“Cash Back Per Year”) to make comparing offers easier.

To calculate the amount of cash back you could earn per year, we factored in:

• Spend category inputs: The default dollar values for each “Spend Category” in the Best Cashback Credit Cards tool — gas, groceries, travel, restaurant, entertainment, pharmacy, other — are based on average American spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We also include additional spend categories (such as streaming services, online shopping, utilities, transit, Amazon and more) to help you see which rewards cards are most closely aligned with your actual spending patterns. We encourage you to customize the monthly spend inputs for the most accurate results.
• Tiered rewards rates: If a rewards credit card pays higher cashback rates on certain spending categories (also called “Bonus Rewards”), that difference is reflected in the total “Cash Back Per Year” tally.
• Rewards spending caps: Some cards impose category- or time-based limits (monthly, quarterly, annually) that affect the amount of rewards you can earn. For example, a card may pay 3% cash back on groceries on up to $1,000 of spending each quarter, then revert to the base/default rewards rate until the following quarter. We accounted for bonus spending caps and timeframe in the calculations.
• Default rewards rates: Purchases that exceed a spending cap are usually subject to a lower default rewards rate (e.g., 1% or 1.5%). We mathed that out too.
• Annual fees: If a rewards card charges an annual fee, we deducted that amount from the “Cash Back Per Year” total to provide a true accounting of a card’s annual rewards payout.

What’s not included in the “Cash Back Per Year” total is the cash value of any sign-up/introductory bonus. We highlight any Welcome Bonus separately. While sign-up bonuses can be the most lucrative part of getting a new cashback rewards credit card, not everyone will want or be able to do what it takes to earn the extra cash. (It usually requires spending a certain amount in a specified time period after the card is activated.)

About the Editorial Team

Dayana Yochim

Dayana Yochim has been writing (articles, books, podcasts, stirring speeches) about personal finance and investing for more than two decades, focusing on bringing clarity and the occasional comedic aside to what is often a murky, humorless topic. She’s written for NerdWallet, The Motley Fool, HerMoney.com, Woman’s Day, Forbes, Newsweek and others, and been a guest expert on "Today," "Good Morning America," CNN, NPR and wherever they’ll hand her a mic.

Carolyn Kimball

Carolyn Kimball is Managing Editor for Reink Media Group and the lead editor for content on investor.com. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.

Andrea Coombes

Andrea Coombes has 20+ years of experience helping people reach their financial goals. Her personal finance articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch, Forbes, and other publications, and she's shared her expertise on CBS, NPR, "Marketplace," and more. She's been a financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, and is working on becoming a Certified Financial Planner. She knows that owning pets isn't necessarily the best financial decision; her dog and two cats would argue this point.