[ANALYSIS] Capital One Platinum MasterCard

Drum roll please…

It looks like Capital One is the new winner to form a partnership with Costco, to replace American Express. This is actually very good news for consumers. It shows me that competition still exists and if you are not careful, you can get beat out by a competitor. American Express is going to be a big loser in this transition, because they get a lot of business from Costco shoppers. The two big winners are MasterCard and Capital One. Hopefully they will be nice to its consumers.

Capital One is introducing the Capital One Platinum MasterCard that will be exclusive for Costco members. Below are the highlights of this credit card:

• No annual fee
• Exclusive to Costco members
• Earn 2x the cash back on the first 3 months
• Earn 6% cash back in the first 3 months on restaurant purchases (earn 3% thereafter)
• Earn 4% cash back in the first 3 months on gas purchases (earn 2% thereafter)
• Earn 1% cash back in the first 3 months on the first $3,000 on all other purchases (0.5% thereafter)
• Earn 2% cash back in the first 3 months on the first $3,000 on all other purchases (1% thereafter)

The no annual fee makes this credit card a no-brainer for Costco members. What makes this credit card very attractive is the 3% cash back on restaurant purchases. The 2% cash back on gas is fairly standard. Aside from gas and restaurant purchases, I would not use this credit card for any other purchases myself, except maybe (depending on what other credit cards you have in your portfolio) during the 3 month promotional period, because I can get better than 0.5% or 1% cash back on other types of purchases with other credit cards.

There is also a limit of $8,500 in spending for all other purchases during the 3-month promotional period. You will receive your cash back on your January statement to use as a rebate coupon on Costco purchases.

I think this credit card is a great start. It is very similar to the American Express TrueEarnings Card which was previously discontinued, which has similar benefits. The major difference of course is that this is a MasterCard, which is more widely accepted than the American Express, which is favourable to consumers. I am pretty excited about this credit card. I am looking forward to future improvements to the card as well.