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Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi Review

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

April 04, 2024

Why trust us? Investor.com has no financial relationship with any of the credit card providers whose products we analyze and review. Our opinions are based solely on data and our own extensive independent research — that means unbiased guidance for consumers. Rewards cards in our cashback credit card calculator are listed in descending order according to how much money they pay out annually based on the inputs.

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, dining, travel — on top of 2% cash back on Costco/Costco.com purchases.

The Costco Anywhere Visa is a surprisingly versatile rewards card that pays competitive cash back rates on gas (4% back), dining (3%) and travel (3%), whether purchased from the warehouser or elsewhere. Cardholders also earn 2% on Costco and Costco.com purchases. That might not sound like a lot, but it's better than the wimpy 1% the Sam's Club Mastercard pays its base-level Club members on what they buy in-store or online.

My biggest beef with Costco's Visa is how long cardholders have to wait around to cash in rewards. The money you earn is paid out just once per year in the form of a rewards certificate that will expire if it goes unused for too long. To be fair, the Sam's Club Mastercard also has some convoluted reward redemption rules.

» Which warehouse club credit card is better? Compare the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi vs Sam's Club Mastercard.

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 restaurant and eligible travel purchases worldwide; 2% on all other purchases from Costco and Costco.com, and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

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dining Dining

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monetization_on Other

local_pharmacy Pharmacy

card_travel Travel

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Calculate Cash Back

Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi

Cashback Per Year

$...

Annual Fee

Welcome Bonus

N/A

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Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi pros and cons

thumb_up_off_alt Pros

High 4% cash back on gas/EV charging
3% back on dining and eligible travel expenses
2% back on Costco/Costco.com purchases
Charges no foreign transaction fees
Executive Members can really cash in

thumb_down_off_alt Cons

Requires a Costco membership (to state the obvious)
$7,000 annual cap on gas/EV charging rewards spending
Rewards paid out once annually ...
... and they expire
Lacks a welcome bonus or 0% intro APR

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 (aka 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.”

Category	Default Rate	Bonus Rate	Bonus Spend Cap	Bonus Spend Period (Months)
Gas	1.00%	4.00%	$7,000	12
Travel	3.00%	-	-	-
Dining	3.00%	-	-	-
Entertainment	1.00%	-	-	-
Pharmacy	1.00%	-	-	-
Groceries	1.00%	-	-	-
Other Purchases	1.00%	-	-	-

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

What we like

It's not just a Costco card. "Anywhere" in the name means that you can use the Costco Anywhere Visa anywhere Visa is accepted. The rewards program makes it worthwhile to do so, particularly when buying gas, dining out or paying for travel.

Offers one of the best gas rewards rates available: No matter where you fill up, cardholders earn 4% cash back on gas and EV charging on up to $7,000 spent annually, and 1% thereafter. Although the Sam's Club Mastercard pays a higher 5% back on up to $6,000, both cards earned a spot in our list of best gas rewards cards.

The unlimited 3% back on dining is on par with other tiered bonus category cards.

Makes a decent travel companion, thanks to the unlimited 3% cash back on worldwide travel purchases including airfare, hotels, car rentals, travel agencies, cruise lines and Costco Travel purchases.

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.

Attention Costco shoppers: Earn 2% back when you use your Visa to pay for those industrial-sized cans of water chestnuts and everything else in your cart (at the store or online). But even better ...

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).

The Costco Anywhere Visa includes special access to buy tickets to concerts, sporting events and more thanks to its partnership with Citi Entertainment.

What we don't like

Pays just 1% back on groceries from traditional supermarkets. In my head I'm picturing this policy as a not-so-subtle dig at all the rewards cards that refuse to honor the bonus "grocery" rate on food purchased at warehouse clubs and superstores. Whatever the reason, I recommend using a different grocery rewards card, such as one of these best cash back cards for foodies.

Reward redemption rules are ... woof: My biggest complaint about the Costco Anywhere Visa is how it pays out rewards cash:

Cash back is issued once per year after your February billing statement closes, which means cardholders have to wait to put the money to use.
There are just two redemption options: The most versatile is getting it in cash (as a check or electronic transfer). You can also receive a reward certificate to use to buy merchandise.
The credit card rewards certificate is only redeemable through Dec. 31 the year it’s issued and must be redeemed in a single transaction at a U.S. Costco store.
Rewards expire if not redeemed by Dec. 31 of the year issued.

The card lacks some frills it previously offered. Although it still comes with travel accident insurance and basic damage/theft protection, the Costco Anywhere Visa's extended manufacturer's warranty benefit was discontinued in 2023.

No new cardholder incentives: Sorry, Costco's not serving up a welcome bonus or introductory 0% APR deal on new purchases on balance transfers.

An active and paid Costco membership is required to apply for the card. Although there is technically no annual fee, a Costco membership runs $60 to $120 a year, depending on the membership level.

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.

tips_and_updates Trivia time!

How common are annual fees? Roughly 17% of the consumer cash back cards we review charge an annual fee. They range from $39 to $99, with an average annual fee of $67.

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.

tips_and_updates Fun fact

More than half (55%) of the consumer cash back credit cards we track in the investor.com database offer a welcome bonus, ranging from $30 up to $300. The average sign-up bonus for new cardholders is $197, with the median being $200.

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.

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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.