Capital One Walmart Rewards Card Review

Who is the Capital One Walmart Rewards card for?

The Capital One Walmart Rewards card is a solid option for any avid Walmart shoppers. With this card, you will receive generous rewards on all of your Walmart purchases, especially online or in-app. Cardholders will earn 5% back online, in-app, or with Walmart’s grocery services, 2% back on restaurants, travel, and in-store, and 1% back on all other purchases. This is a step up from the Walmart Rewards Card and is a viable option for people who enjoy Walmart for all of their daily needs.

Also, the Capital One Walmart Rewards card comes with a series of other protections and benefits that are available due to its partnership with Capital One. Best of all, all of these rewards come at no annual fee, meaning you will be earning with no money coming out of your pocket.

Initial Bonus

Although this card does not offer an additional sum of cash back after account opening, it does further increase the rewards you get when you shop at Walmart. For the first 12 months after account opening, you will receive 5% cash back on all in-store purchases when you use Walmart Pay, instead of the 2% cash back that the card normally provides. This is another reason that this card is only meant for the most frequent Walmart users because the additional bonus is also tailored toward Walmart purchases.

Cash Back

This card offers very generous cash back for Walmart customers. If you are someone who buys groceries from Walmart or who shops online frequently with Walmart, this might be the ideal card for you. You will receive 5% cash back on in-app or online Walmart purchases including grocery pickup and delivery through Walmart. Thus, for every $100 you spend on Walmart online, you will get $5 back, which is more generous than most other rewards programs.

Even if you do not shop online frequently for Walmart, this card still has decent rewards. You will receive 2% cash back on all travel, restaurant, Walmart in-store, and Walmart & Murphy USA Fuel Stations purchases. Gas, food, and travel are three of the main uses of credit cards, so you are being rewarded with 2% cash back on all of your everyday purchases. 2% cash back is relatively standard among cash back credit cards, so you are receiving solid cash back rewards even when you are not optimizing your cash back by shopping online at Walmart. You also receive 1% cash back on all other purchases, which can still provide you with benefits, regardless of the purchase. 

One benefit of Capital One Rewards is that they do not expire. This means that you can save your cash back rewards as long as you want in case you want to finance a purchase well in the future.

Also, your cash back rewards do not have a cap on them. Thus, you can make a large purchase and not worry about reaching the maximum amount of points. You can also save your points up and finance a large purchase completely since you can have unlimited points.

Lastly, your cash back rewards can be redeemed in a variety of ways. You will have flexibility when it comes to redeeming your rewards as you can do it any time, with any amount, and in a variety of ways. The four different ways you can redeem your points include:

1. Statement credit: Redeem your points as a statement credit toward your account bill.
2. Cover a purchase: You can use your points to directly cover a purchase that you have recently made with your credit card.
3. Gift cards: Capital One allows you to redeem your points for gift cards to Walmart or other retailers.
4. Travel: You can also redeem your cash back rewards for a variety of travel benefits. These points can be redeemed for trips and travel purchases you make using this credit card.

Other Benefits

One major benefit of this card is that there is no foreign transaction fee. Most non-travel cards have a 3% foreign transaction fee, which can really add up, especially because people usually spend more money on their international purchases. However, this fee is waived with this card, which makes this a decent option when shopping abroad.

This card also does not have a balance transfer fee when making balance transfers at the traditional APR. Most credit cards charge 3% to make a balance transfer, which can be a solid amount when transferring over large debts, so this waived fee is very beneficial.

Also, this card eliminates many common penalty payments that are prevalent with other credit cards. For example, there is no return payment fee, and they will not raise your APR with a penalty APR due to a late or missed payment. Thus, you will not be penalized much financially when you own this credit card.

With this card, you also will have access to the Capital One mobile app. Within this app, you can pay your bill, view recent transactions, and check your balance from wherever.

Finally, you will have $0 fraud liability when you use the Capital One Walmart Rewards card. If your card is ever lost or stolen and you see a fraudulent transaction appear, simply call Capital One, explain that the purchase was not made by you, and avoid financial liability.

Walmart Rewards Card

To qualify for the Capital One Walmart Rewards card, you need to have a good credit score. Anyone with a score below 650 will most likely not be accepted. However, if you are not accepted for this card, you will automatically be reviewed for Walmart’s other rewards card: the Walmart Rewards card.

The Walmart Rewards card is a Walmart exclusive card that only earns rewards at Walmart. This card is easier to acquire and has the same base rewards program as the other card. However, this card cannot be used on non-Walmart purchases. Thus, this card is helpful for Walmart shoppers but has no other use.

Annual fee

One of the best aspects of this card is that it does not have an annual fee. Many credit cards with this type of rewards structure will charge you every year for ownership. However, you are able to receive all of these cash back rewards without paying a penny. Not having an annual fee makes this card attractive for all Walmart shoppers.

Caution

The biggest negative of this card is that there is not a 0% APR period for either purchases or balance transfers. Thus, if you have a lot of debt, you will have to pay normal APR rates to transfer your debt over. Also, you will have to pay interest on your purchases immediately, which is not ideal. Many cards try to lure you in by offering 0% APR periods for anywhere from six months to two years, but you will not receive that with the Capital One Walmart Rewards card.

Conclusion

Overall, the Capital One Walmart Rewards card makes sense for any frequent Walmart shoppers with a good credit score. Considering that you will still earn cash back on all of your purchases and increased cash back at restaurants and on travel, this card has benefits not even related to Walmart. At no annual fee and with a lack of penalty, foreign transaction, and balance transfer fees, this card is financially reasonable for anyone looking for cash back at little cost.