Summary of the Costco TrueEarnings Credit Card from American Express

Last Reviewed: 8/27/2010

If you are looking for a Costco credit card, you need look no further. As you may know, Costco only accepts American Express, and the TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express is definitely a super-strong cashback card, routinely clocking in amongst the top 5 cash-back credit cards per the PlasticIQ Ranking Engine (rank varies based on your personal spending profile).

Additionally, the TrueEarnings Costco credit card offers some unusually high bonuses in specific categories, wihch make this card an excellent niche play as well. More on that below.

The Costco TrueEarnings Credit Card competes in the following categories: cashback, gas, hotel, air travel, and restaurants.

How Does The Costco TrueEarnings Credit Card by American Express Stack up Against the Competition

Category	Spend/month	Costco TrueEarnings Rank	Card Value*	Top Card	Card Value*
Cashback	$2,000	3	$1,062	Discover Escape	$1,466
Gas	$150	3	$155	PenFed Visa Platinum	$268
Hotel	$125	8	$85	Chase Marriott Rewards Visa	$507
Air	$208	31	$225	Barclays US Airways Premier World MC	$1,014

TrueEarnings Costsco Credit Card Rewards

Here’s a quick table summarizing some of the key features of the TrueEarnings credit card from Costco and American Express

Snapshot: TrueEarnings Costco Credit Card

Base Rewards	1% cashback on virtually all purchases, including purchases at Costco.
Special Rewards	Additional 2% cashback (on top of base 1%) on all gasoline purchases made with your Costco TrueEarnings credit card. This bonus is valid for up to $3,000 of spend on gasoline purchaes per year; after reaching this cap, all gasoline purchases earn the standard 1% cashback for the remainder of the year. Additional 2% cashback on all restaurant purchases (no caps). Additional 1% cashback on all travel related purchases, including: airfare, hotel, rental cars, cruises, and purchases through travel agencies.
Redemption requirements	Rebate is awarded annually in the form of an in-store coupon redeemable for cash or merchandise at any US CostCo Warehouse.
Sign up bonus	None
Rewards expiration	None
Rewards Caps	Additional 2% cashback on gas purchases is limited to $3,000 of gasoline purchases per year.
Annual Fee	None–but you are required to join Costco. Their cheapest membership level (Gold Star) is $50 per year.
International Transaction Fee	2.7% of each transaction after conversion to USD

There are several things worth calling out here. Firstly, the 3% cashback on gasoline purchases is excellent. If the Costco credit card is just for your own spending needs, then you’d be able to earn the full 3% on about 1,000 gallons of gasoline (assuming a price of $3.00 per gallon). That’s equivalent to 20 gallons of gas per week. Put another way, assuming you get 20 MPG on your car, you’d have to be driving more than 20K miles per year to exceed the $3,000 cap. That’s by no means beyond the realm of possibility, but most people should be at or under this cap. All that said, if you are looking for the ultimate killer gas card, it has to be the PenFed Visa Platinum, with its whopping 5% cashback on gas purchases and no caps.

The second call-out is the 3% cashback at restaurants. It is actually quite rare to find any card offering more than 1% cashback at restaurants, and 3% is truly exceptional. The TrueEarnings Costco credit card deserves a home in your wallet if for no other reason than this. Note, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but rather just the ones we deemed most valuable.

Finally, the 2% cashback on travel purchases is also very respectable, and adds to the overall performance of this credit card.

Other Benefits of the Costco TrueEarnings Credit Card from American Express

While PlasticIQ focuses mostly on assessing the value of rewards, in an effort to be thorough, we also discuss some of the harder-to-quantify benefits of holding this particular piece of plastic.

• Fraud Protection: American Express protects you against unauthorized or fraudulent charges to your Costco TrueEarnings credit card.
• Extended Warranty: Mirrors and extends for up to 1 additional year the manufacturer’s warranty for covered products purchased with your TrueEarnings credit card.
• Purchase Protection: Protects covered items for up to 90 days from the date of purchase in case of accidental damage or theft.
• Travel Accident Insurance: The TrueEarnings Costco credit card provides up to $100,000 in accidental death and dismemberment insurance.
• Global Assist Hotline: In cases where you travel more than 100 miles from your home, American Express will provide you with emergency assistance 24/7 round-the-clock, including medical and legal referrals, visa/passport help, cash access, lost luggage and more.

PlasticIQ’s Final Assessment of the TrueEarnings Credit Card from Costco and American Express

The TrueEarnings Costco credit card is indeed exceptional, and merits its place amongst the very best of cash-back credit cards.  You can also check out the all-star American Express Blue Cash Preferred Credit Card as a potential alternative Amex Card.  We also recommend you try out the PlasticIQ Ranking Engine to figure out which of these cards performs best for your specific spending profile.

Costco TrueEarnings Card from Amex
Apply for CostCo TrueEarnings Card From Amex

Tags: AMEX, Cashback Credit Card, Gas credit cards, Travel credit cards

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Cashback Card Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.