Gas Credit Cards
Don't let gas price hikes bring you down. Rack up rewards and cash back while you fuel up. You can receive a rebate for spending on gas if you use a gas rewards credit card. There are a good number of them that now offer up to 5% cash back when you fill up at the gas pump. While there are many specialty gas credit cards that offer exclusive rewards only for purchases at gas stations, what we list below are those credit cards that help you earn rebates as part of a larger rewards program. Enjoy rewards for spending on fuel and on purchases you make in various other spending categories with the selected cards in our list.
TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express
| Intro APR | Intro Period | Regular APR |
| 0% | 6 Months on Purchases | 15.24% variable |
| Annual Fee | Balance Transfers | Credit Needed |
| No Annual Fee with your paid Costco Membership | Yes | Excellent |
How Gas Credit Cards Help You Save
Rewards credit card programs abound. You’ve probably heard of the ones that offer to give you one or two air miles for every dollar you spend, or that grant you points toward free hotel stays, but if jet setting isn’t your thing, getting one of these cards doesn’t make much sense. Most people won’t argue with getting a cash back reward, but the cash reward only comes once a month. So, are there any other options for getting rewards for using your credit card wisely? Absolutely. How about getting cash back every time you fill up your gas tank when you use a gas credit card?
Cards that reward their users every time they fill up have become extremely popular, especially since Hurricane Rita pushed pump prices up over $5 per gallon in some places. These cards work just like any other rewards credit card program in that they allow cardholders to build rewards each and every time they use their card. These points can then be redeemed through the card's rewards program; alternatively, cash back can be earned and received as a statement credit. Savings at the pump is also offered by certain other cards.
Gas rebate cards come in two flavors -- those offered by well-known, big credit card issuers like Citibank, Chase, American Express or Discover, and those offered by gas companies like Hess, Marathon, Exxon, Shell and so forth. The first type of card is usually a general cash back or rewards card that allows you to earn more rewards per dollar spent on special categories including gasoline. The second type of card is a specialty brand card that may give you a break in price when you patronize a particular brand. For example, you may be offered 5 cents off per gallon when you use such a card. If you are a loyal customer to a particular brand of gas, then specialty brand gas cards may be a good choice, but if you purchase your fuel from any station, it may be wiser to use a general rewards card in order to get a better deal.
Most gas rewards cards, like most other rewards cards on the market today, require the applicant to have good to excellent credit, though a few credit card companies will open accounts for individuals with fair credit under certain circumstances. Most credit card companies will take a look at the following:
- Low debt to credit ratio. This means that you don’t have a bunch of credit cards that are already maxed out, but it also doesn’t mean that you only have one or two cards with low limits either. This means that you shouldn’t close old credit card accounts after you pay them off since doing so will increase your ratio and keep you from getting a gas rewards card.
- Stable work history. Before you apply for a gas credit card, you should be able to show that you've got a job that you're holding on to for a while. Ideally, you should be employed over the past couple of years at least.
- No late or missed payments. Your payment history makes up around 55% of your credit score. Missing even one payment will seriously impact your score.
- No public records. A public record can be a bankruptcy, a lien, a garnishment, or a judgment. Having any of these on your credit report will seriously hamper your ability to get a gas rewards credit card.
Missing any of the above criteria may not necessarily prevent you from getting a gas card, but it will hamper your efforts. If you have credit blemishes, it will probably benefit you to locate a credit card issuer that works with individuals with less than perfect credit.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Discover periodically offers 5% on gasoline purchases under their Get More program. American Express gives 3% on gasoline purchases, but it has to be at Costco or a “free standing” gas station. 7-Eleven, AM-PM, etc are considered grocery stores so the 3% doesn’t apply.
Cheers,
Ken
Editor: Interesting points Ken, thanks so much for the clarifications! In many ways, Discover is tops when it comes to rewards.
American Express gives 3% on gasoline purchases, but it has to be at Costco or a “free standing” gas station.
I use the Citibank Simplicity Cash Rewards Card. It’s no longer available and pays back 5% on any gas stations.
I’d like to apply for that kind of credit card. I’m an adventurer, always on the road all of the time and because of that, I spend a lot using my credit card.
The card says only 2% now.
If you like rewards cards, there are many to choose from, whether it be specialty or branded gas credit cards, general cash back credit cards or some other variant of a rebate card. The specialty cards are geared towards primarily rewarding you for your gas or automobile-related expenditures. Many general cash back credit cards offer a gas rewards component as well. But you’ll need to know your spending habits well in order to make the best credit card choices for yourself. For instance, if you’re loyal to a particular brand and consistently fill up in the same stations, then a branded card may be a better choice. Generalists will of course go with cash back or rewards cards that cover the gamut of spending categories.
Don’t forget that you can also reduce commute expenses by making lifestyle adjustments. Use your car less often.
You can maximize rewards with a good card, but many of these cards also have limits on how much you can earn. You need to be aware of those limits.
Good point on limits — I’m aware of general rewards cards that are set this way. Unfortunately, some of these limits are indeed capped.
I wanted to also point out that there are surveys that show that if you exclusively use a branded gas card at participant gas stations (that carry the same brand), you’ll get higher cash back rewards than you would from any other form of cash back credit card. The operative word here is “exclusively” (that is, you use the card greater than 70% of the time).
It’s important too, that you don’t use cash back cards at all if you won’t be able to pay off your balance in full each month or it won’t be worth it.
With less income, my family’s more determined about cutting our spending, but it’s a shame that we can’t get our costs down all the way to zero, particularly because of our gas consumption. It’s just not practical. I actually get the hives whenever I watch the gas pump sucking out the dollars from my credit card.
My husband and I use cash back credit cards but we’d like to further optimize their use. So it’s helpful to know what else is out there that may get us better savings which won’t require us to do anything extra to pick up rewards. With gas spending a fairly fixed expense (at least for us), gas type cards are worth capitalizing on.