How to use the Capital One Savor sign-up bonus

While some cash back cards require you to spend a large sum to qualify for an introductory offer, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offers a welcome bonus that is relatively low spending requirement to score. New cardholders can earn a $200 cash bonus after spending just $500 within three months of opening a new account.

That offer, combined with the card’s other benefits, could make the Savor card an attractive choice if you’re looking for a card that rewards leisure spending. The Capital One Savor comes with a $0 annual fee and offers 3 percent cash back on entertainment, dining, popular streaming services and grocery store purchases (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target). It also offers a hefty 8 percent cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases and 5 percent cash back on hotel and rental car bookings through Capital One Travel, making the Savor card an attractive choice for travel and entertainment lovers who don’t want to pay an annual fee.

Who’s eligible for the Capital One Savor welcome bonus?

The Capital One Savor card’s welcome bonus is intended for new cardholders. As you might expect, to be eligible for the welcome bonus, you must first be approved for the card. You’ll need good to excellent credit to qualify, so you’re likely in the running if you have a FICO score of between 670 and 850.

If you had a Savor account open in the past and closed it, you may not be offered a bonus for getting this card a second time. But if you’re eligible, earning the $200 cash bonus is fairly straightforward. You just have to make $500 worth of purchases with the card within three months of opening the account.

Ways to use the Capital One Savor welcome bonus

After you meet the spending threshold, your welcome bonus is credited to your rewards balance within two billing cycles. Then, you get to decide how to use it.

• Cash in your bonus for a statement credit or check

  You can access your cash bonus by requesting a statement credit or a check after it is posted to your rewards total. If you’re worried about forgetting to claim your cash, set up automatic redemption to get the bonus cash back without doing anything further. Activate this option by logging in to your account, selecting a redemption method and choosing the level of rewards that you want to trigger the automatic redemption. To make sure you get your bonus right away, opt to get your rewards once the total hits $200.

  Alternatively, arrange to automatically redeem your rewards on a certain day each year. If you go with this approach, keep in mind that it could take two billing cycles for your bonus to post. So you may want to pick a day that’s at least a couple of months out from when you reach the $500 spending threshold.

• Shop with your rewards

  You can also use your welcome bonus to shop online with PayPal and Amazon. For PayPal, you’ll need to link your Savor card to your PayPal Wallet, then choose to checkout with PayPal when you’re ready to make a purchase with a participating online retailer. Next, opt to pay with your Capital One rewards balance.

  For Amazon, you’ll need to enroll the card in Amazon’s Shop with Points program and choose Capital One rewards as your payment method when you check out. If your bonus doesn’t cover the full amount of your purchase, you can pay for the rest using your Savor card or an Amazon gift card — but you won’t be able to use your bonus with rewards earned from another credit card.

  With both Amazon and PayPal, your cash back rewards redeem at a 1:1 value. Therefore, $50 worth of rewards in your Savor account is worth $50 of purchases through Amazon or PayPal. Note that the ratio is different if you’re using a miles-earning Capital One card; with those accounts, 125 miles equals $1 in purchases.

• Redeem your bonus for credits or gift cards

  You can exchange your Capital One Savor welcome bonus for credits toward items you’ve purchased with the card, or you can use it to get gift cards. Redemption rates can vary for either of these methods, so the value you get for your bonus might be above or below $200 if you go this route.

• Combine your rewards with a miles-earning card

  The rewards earned with the Savor Cash card and other Capital One cash back cards can be converted into travel rewards if you also have a Capital One travel card — such as the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. One cent of cash back rewards equals one mile of travel rewards, so your $200 Savor bonus equals 20,000 miles.

  Capital One miles have a base value of 1 cent each and can be redeemed through high-value travel partners for around of 1.7 cents each, according to Bankrate’s most recent valuations. That potentially makes this the most valuable redemption option for your Savor bonus if you also hold a Capital One travel card.

What’s the best way to maximize the Capital One Savor welcome bonus?

Capital One offers multiple options for accessing your cash rewards, and the best choice for you depends on what you find most convenient.

The bottom line

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card’s $200 welcome bonus is a nice reward for spending $500 within three months of opening the card. After this bonus is posted to your rewards tally, you can choose from a variety of ways to redeem it — including a statement credit or check, shopping through PayPal or Amazon or turning it into a gift card or a credit for a past purchase. If you have a Capital One travel card, consider using your Savor rewards as miles for top credit card rewards value.

There’s no right or wrong way to use your rewards, but depending on your spending habits, some redemption methods might be more useful than others. Overall, it’s important to look over your options before deciding how to cash in your bonus.