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Capital One has announced that it is launching two new credit cards in partnership with Walmart and we’re less than two weeks away from seeing the cards go live.
The Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard and the Walmart Rewards Card will both debut on 24 September 2019 and, although both will come with no annual fee, they’ll be targeted at sightly different customers.
Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard
Capital One says that this card has been designed “not only for Walmart purchases but also to be the card of choice for all customers’ needs” and when you take a look at the benefits this card offers you can see what Capital One means.
The Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard will offer the following:
- 5% back on purchases at Walmart.com, inclusive of Walmart Grocery Pickup and Delivery.
- 5% back on in-store purchases when using Walmart Pay for the first 12 months after approval as a special introductory offer.
- 2% back on Walmart purchases in stores outside of the introductory offer.
- 2% back on restaurants and travel.
- 1% percent back everywhere else.
- No annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
If you’re a heavy shopper at Walmart this could be a very nice card to have in your wallet as it will earn you a nice rebate on all your Walmart spending (especially in the first year) and it doesn’t come with an annual fee.
Its usefulness after the first year will probably depend on how much spending you do at Walmart.com as the 2% rebate on in-store spending and the 2% cash back on restaurants and travel is no better than what you can earn on a number of other cards that come with fewer restrictions and/or allow you to earn a valuable currency.
The Citi Double Cash Card offers 2% cashback on all spending and the Blue Business Plus Card from American Express offers 2 points/dollar (on all spending up to $50,000) and although both of these cards will charge foreign transaction fees both come with no annual fee and, in my opinion, are better all-around cards.
Walmart Rewards Card
Capital One hasn’t said who the target audience is for the Walmart Rewards Card but as it’s similar to the “signature” card but with weaker benefits, I’m left to assume that it may be aimed at those with a lower credit score than is required to successfully apply for the Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard discussed above.
Here’s what the Walmart Rewards card offers:
- 5% back on purchases at Walmart.com, inclusive of Walmart Grocery Pickup and Delivery.
- 5% back on in-store purchases when using Walmart Pay for the first 12 months after approval as a special introductory offer.
- 2% back on Walmart purchases in stores outside of the introductory offer.
- 2% back at Walmart fuel stations
- No annual fee
It’s interesting to note that Capital One has specifically mentioned that the basic Walmart Rewards Card will earn 2% at Walmart fuel stations while no such mention is made in the literature discussing the Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard – if this means that the “basic” card is the only one which earns a rebate on fuel it’s not too hard to make the argument that it’s actually the better of the two cards (I’ve emailed Capital One for clarification and will report back here).
Readers should also note that there’s no mention of the foreign transaction fees being waived on the basic Walmart Rewards Card so that great weakens its case when compared against the likes of the Citi Double Cash card and the Blue Business Plus card from American Express.
Existing Walmart Cardholders
Per Capital One:
Current Walmart cardholders will be converted to the Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard or the Walmart Rewards Card and will start earning these new rewards starting October 11, with updated cards arriving in the mail beginning in November. Current cardholders will also be eligible to earn 5% back when they use their card with Walmart’s mobile payment solution, Walmart Pay, for in-store purchases through October 14, 2020.
Bottom Line
If you do a lot of shopping at Walmart both of these cards may be of interest but, despite what Capital One may be suggesting, I don’t think they’re particularly useful for spending made elsewhere,
