Capital One has just rebranded its popular no annual fee, cash back credit card. I think this rebranding ultimately makes a lot of sense, though it’s bound to cause some confusion.
In this post:
Capital One SavorOne becomes Capital One Savor
For some background, up until several months ago, Capital One had the following two cards, with different price points and perks:
- The $95 annual fee Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offered 4% cash back on dining, entertainment, and select streaming services, 3% cash back on grocery stores, and 1% cash back on everything else
- The no annual fee Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card offers 3% cash back on dining, grocery stores, entertainment, and popular streaming services, and 1% cash back on everything else
In July 2024, the version of the card with an annual fee closed to new applicants. At the time, here’s how this decision was described by a Capital One spokesperson:
“We’re always listening to customers and evaluating our products for the right offerings. Based on this, we have made the decision to remove Savor as a card offering.”
Many of us found this to be a bit strange, and wondered when the other shoe would drop. Well, there’s now an update. Long story short, the no annual fee Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card will be taking over the name of the former card that had a $95 annual fee. In other words, the card is dropping the “One” from the “SavorOne” part of the name.
For those who have had the no annual fee card, nothing is changing about the value proposition. As before, the card has no annual fee, and offers 3% cash back on dining, grocery stores, entertainment, and popular streaming services, and 1% cash back on everything else.
What’s especially awesome is that the rewards on the card can be converted into Capital One miles, if you have the card in conjunction with a product like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review). That’s what caused me to pick up the card.
The only thing that will change for existing cardmembers is that they’ll see the card’s branding referred to simply as “Savor,” and they should get a card with the new name once their current card nears its expiration date.
This seems like a sensible branding change
Capital One has a great portfolio of cards, though frankly I think the branding has historically left a bit to be desired, in terms of consumers easily being able to differentiate between the products, or even knowing how they all tie together. It seems to me like Capital One has realized that, and is working on simplifying things a bit.
Along those lines, I think the branding change makes a lot of sense:
- Presumably the no annual fee version of the card was proving more popular and/or profitable than the $95 annual fee version of the card, so Capital One is going all-in on the former
- It’s much more straightforward for a card to simply be branded as “Savor,” rather than having the “SavorOne” branding, which seems redundant, especially since the card issuer is already Capital One
Bottom line
Capital One has rebranded its popular SavorOne Card as the Savor Card. This follows the issuer recently closing applications for the Savor Card, clearly in anticipation of this. The branding makes a lot more sense, though it’s now also clear that the $95 annual fee card won’t be making a comeback.
What do you make of the Capital One Savor being rebranded as the Savor?
For some, the fewer cards, the better. And, the Citi Strata Premier is the easier choice. If someone is going to pay a $95 annual fee for a travel & dining card anyway, throwing in groceries & gas onto that card makes life easier. Not everyone's choice but just a thought.
This card in no annual fee
Would love to ditch my Quicksilver since this earns more in certain categories than my Venture X. Is a product change possible over the phone, and if so, would it still be eligible for the SUB? Do they do another hard inquiry?
There are people who have had the Quicksilver for years and are still unable to product change. Try calling monthly. Be persistent. Good luck.
If you product change, you're not elligible for the SUB.
Also worth noting that the signup bonus is slightly increased with the rebranding. It is now $250 for $500 spend (which then can become 25000 transferrable miles with a VX, etc). Usual bonus is $200.
So it's basically all reverting back to the original $0 annual fee Premier Dining Rewards card, which then became the Savor card with a $95 annual fee and upped the cash back on dining from 3 to 4%...
Still confused - does my 4% cat change to 3%?
Does anyone know if the Uber 10% cash back benefit on this card will be extended past November?
Seems very unlikely at this point, which is a shame as that's a huge reason I have this card. I'm honestly concerned they won't even replace the benefit with another perk.
I was torn between getting the Savor card and the Amex Gold. I ended up getting the Amex Gold because its coupon book incentives align with stuff I would buy anyway, I still wanted to have one foot in the Amex ecosystem, and I think it's a cooler looking card.
It cannot be that difficult to make an intuitive naming scheme