TrueEarnings(R) Card from Costco and American Express – Review

The TrueEarnings(R) Card from Costco and American Express lets you earn cash back on your purchases. American Express is the only major credit card accepted at Costco and the True Earnings card acts as your Costco club membership card. There’s no annual fee for the credit card, though you do have to purchase a Costco membership to get the card. The Costco membership fee is automatically billed to your credit card each year.

How to Earn Rewards

Earning rewards with the True Earnings Card from Costco and American Express is easy; just use your credit card where American Express is accepted. Earn 3% cashback on annual gas purchases up to $3,000. Gas purchases after $3,000 earn 1% cashback. Earn 2% cashback on restaurants, 2% cashback on travel, and 1% on all other purchases including those made at Costco and other stores that accept American Express.

Reward Redemption

You don’t have to do anything to redeem your rewards. Each year in February your cashback reward coupon is mailed along with your billing statement. There are no increments or minimum redemption amounts to worry about. Amex automatically sends your cashback coupon for the rewards you earned the previous year. You’ll receive the coupon in the mail, even if you have online billing. You can use the coupon at Costco to get cash or redeem is towards a purchase.

There’s no limit on the cash you can earn. Your cashback coupon has an expiration date by which it must be redeemed or else your rewards will be forfeited. Your reward is also forfeited if you cancel your card.

Other Benefits

The card comes with a few other benefits like car rental loss and damage insurance, travel accident insurance, purchase protection up to $1,000 per incident, an extra year extended warranty, and fraud protection.

Fees and Interest

This is a credit card so you have the option of paying your balance over time or all in full if you want to avoid interest charges. The grace period for paying your balance in full is 20 days. After that purchases are subject to finance charges.

The True Earnings Card from Costco and American Express has a 0% introductory rate on purchases for the first six months. After that, the regular APR for purchases is 15.24% variable based on the Prime Rate.

The APR for balance transfers is 15.24% variable based on the Prime Rate. The cash advance APR is 25.24% and the penalty APR is 27.24%.

The balance transfer and cash advance fees are the same: $5 or 3% of the transfer/advance, whichever is greater. The foreign transaction fee is 2.7% of the transaction amount after it’s converted to US dollars.

You need to have excellent credit to qualify for the True Earnings Card From Costco and American Express.