Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard®* vs. Prime Visa
The card most similar to the Walmart credit card is the Prime Visa. The Prime Visa card charges no annual fee but requires a $139 annual Prime membership ($69 for students) to be eligible for the card and earn the highest rewards. Cardholders earn 5% back on purchases at Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and on Chase Travel℠ purchases with an eligible Prime membership, unlimited 2% back at gas stations, restaurants and on local transit and commuting (including rideshare), and unlimited 1% back on other purchases.
Prime also offers free same-day, one-day and two-day shipping on millions of items with the “Prime” shipping offer. Walmart offers free two-day shipping on millions of items, too, but that’s for everyone, not just cardholders.
The structure and perks of both cards are so similar that it essentially comes down to whether you prefer shopping with Amazon or Walmart. If you’re not sure you have a preference, consider a general purpose cash-back card instead.
Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard®* vs. Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi*
Costco often competes with Walmart in major markets, and its co-branded card, the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi* offers strong cash-back rewards too. The Costco card has no annual fee but does require a Costco membership to apply (beginning at $60 a year). While it doesn’t provide the 5% incentive for online purchases that the Walmart Rewards card does, it offers better rewards in other categories: Earn 4% cash back on eligible gas and EV charging purchases for the first $7,000 spent annually, 1% thereafter, 3% cash back on restaurants and eligible travel purchases, 2% cash back on purchases from Costco and Costco.com and 1% cash back on all other purchases. A Costco membership is required to apply.
One potential drawback: You can only redeem your rewards once a year and it has to be in person at a Costco customer service counter. The rewards for online purchases are significantly less than the Walmart card, but the gas, dining and travel earnings are higher. Whether you choose this card over the Walmart card will depend on how and where your household spends.
Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard®* vs. U.S. Bank Shopper Cash Rewards® Visa Signature® Card*
The U.S. Bank Shopper Cash Rewards® Visa Signature® Card* allows cardholders to earn rewards on par with even the most expensive premium cards by offering the opportunity to earn 6% cash back each quarter on combined eligible purchases from two retailers of choice ($1,500 limit), 5.5% cash back on prepaid car and hotel reservations booked through the Rewards Travel Center, 3% cash back each quarter in one everyday category of choice ($1,500 limit) and 1.5% cash back on everything else. The catch of course; the 6% cash back is capped at $1,500 per quarter and limited to two retailers of your choice. This, naturally, will limit the rewards potential but it can still represent decent value if you select stores that you already frequent. If you manage to max out your spending cap each quarter, that would be $360 back to you annually from just the 6% category—nothing to sneeze at, to be sure.
The list of approved 6% retailers is subject to change but currently includes Walmart as well as other popular brands such as Apple, Home Depot and Target. The Walmart and Target options are particularly valuable since they sell groceries (and other everyday items), potentially turning this card into a high-value grocery rewards card. The Shopper Cash Rewards card has a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95. It’s light on additional benefits, so if you don’t think you will spend at one of the approved 6% retailers, you’re probably better off looking elsewhere.
