Sam’s Club® Mastercard® from Synchrony Bank Credit Card Review

Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card Review

Let’s review the Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card, which is a great card to own if you’re a Sam’s Club member.

The Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card offers great rewards for Sam’s Club members, including 5% cash back on gas (up to $6,000), 3% cash back on dining, and 1% on all other purchases. ‘Plus’ members can also earn up to 5% cash back at Sam’s Club, 2% on eligible purchases with their ‘Plus’ membership, and 3% with this card (only 1% for ‘Club’ members). There is no annual fee; however, you need a Sam’s Club membership. There are two types of membership, ‘Club’ and ‘Plus’ and annually they each cost $45 and $100, respectively.

Sam’s Club® Mastercard®: pros and cons

Rewards system in a nutshell

The cash back program of the Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card has the following rates:

• 5% rewards rate for gas purchases everywhere, but with a cap amount. After you spend $6,000 a year, a 1% rewards rate will be applied. Eligible purchases for this rewards rate are those made at gas or fuel stations like Sam’s Club, Walmart, Shell, and others. A gas purchase at some grocery stores or other warehouse clubs might not qualify for the 5% rewards rate. It will depend on how merchants and individual stores code their machines. You can get a list of exclusions by logging into your account or calling the card’s customer service.
• 3% rewards rate for dining worldwide. This rewards rate is applied to purchases at restaurants, fast food places, drinking places, and caterers.
• 1% rewards rate on all other purchases.

Additional cash back rates for ‘Plus’ members on Sam’s Club purchases are the following:

• 3% rewards rate for purchases made with the Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card (1% for ‘Club’ members).
• 2% rewards rate included in the ‘Plus’ membership.

Rewards for purchases made with the Sam’s Club® Mastercard® are issued once a year, in February, and you get those earned in the previous year. They can be $5,000 at most and will be automatically put into your membership account.

A few things to keep in mind for the 2% rewards rate. It’s applied only on in-club purchases, not at samsclub.com. Also, it has a ‘maximum balance’ feature which means that once you reach $2,000 in rewards, you won’t accrue any more rewards until you start redeeming them. The maximum amount you can earn with this rate is $500 in a 12-month membership period.

There are limited options for rewards redemption. You can apply them towards your in-store or online Sam’s Club purchases or membership upgrade or renewal. There is an option to redeem them for cash, too, at a membership service desk at Sam’s Club.

A welcome bonus of $30 account credit is awarded if you spend $30 in the first 30 days after opening the account. You can apply that credit towards Sam’s Club purchases. It’s a small amount, but it can help offset the membership fee a little bit.

So, is this card worth it? To give you an insight, we’ll do a few simple calculations which will help you decide whether this card is worth it to you.

‘Club’ tier membership costs $45 a year, and ‘Plus’ tier costs $100 a year. To offset these fees, annually you’d have to spend this much on only one of the following:

• On gas purchases: $900 for ‘Club’ level, $2,000 for ‘Plus’ level.
• On restaurant purchases: $1,500 for ‘Club’ level, $3,333 for ‘Plus’ level.

These amounts are pretty easy to reach, considering the average American household spends around $3,000 a year in each of those categories.

Finally, consider that the ‘Club’ membership earns you 4% less than a ‘Plus’ membership. Is it worth paying $55 more a year for that membership? That depends on how much you plan to spend at Sam’s Club. If you manage to spend more than $1,375 (55/0.04), a ‘Plus’ tier membership will be a better choice for you.

You also need to take into account your annual spending on Sam’s Club purchases and whether it will outweigh your membership fee:

• $100 annual fee is offset with $2,000 spent.
• 45$ annual fee is offset with $4,500 spent.

In conclusion, the rewards rates are great and match those at some annual-fee credit cards. Yet, the system is somewhat complicated, and the redemption rules don’t work in its favor either.

Who can benefit from getting the Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card?

This card is a great choice for consumers who often shop at Sam’s Club and also spend a significant amount on gas. They’ll also find this card convenient since they can use it as a membership card too.

If you plan on making big purchases at Sam’s Club or spend a lot there, you’ll benefit more from the ‘Plus’ membership.

People who often eat out will also get a good value from the card. However, those who rather spend their money on groceries and cook at home might want to look elsewhere.

Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card: compared to other store cards

Let’s compare the Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card with two other store cards:

• Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi – a no-annual-fee Costco store card that offers 4% cash back on gas, 3% on restaurants and travel, 2% on Costco purchases, regardless of the membership type ($60 and $120 membership fees). 1% on all other purchases and no welcome promotion offer.
• Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card - 5% cash back at Amazon and Whole Foods Market, 2% at restaurants, gas stations and drug stores, and 1% on all other purchases. There is no annual fee, but you’re required to have Prime membership, which costs $119/year. There is also a welcome bonus - $100 worth of Amazon Gift card, which you get immediately after being approved.
• Credit cards with rotating categories like the Discover it® Cash Back often have warehouse clubs as a bonus category. You need to activate bonus categories each quarter, and you’ll get 5% cash back on those purchases (up to $1,500 spent) and 1% on all other purchases. This card has no annual fee.

Conclusion

Overall, the Sam’s Club® Mastercard® Credit Card is a good card, but not the best store card we’ve seen. It offers significant rewards in the gas category, and Sam’s Club regulars with a ‘Plus’ membership will get the most out of it. They’ll easily earn enough (and even more!) to justify the membership fee. Although rewards are capped at $5,000, that’s a bit out of reach and only possible if one spends at least $100,000 a year.

We think that the rewards system could’ve been more straightforward, with fewer rates and capped amounts to keep up on. Also, the redemption is very restrictive; you have to wait months for your rewards; they have an expiration date and can only be redeemed at Sam’s Club.

Consider this card only if you regularly shop at Sam’s Club or make big purchases there.