Drawbacks to know about
The Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi can certainly help you save money. It earns cash back and has no annual fee, after all. But there are some disappointing downsides with this card, including important perks that it doesn't offer.
You'll miss out on a welcome offer
This card has no sign-up bonus and no 0% intro APR offer. The lack of a 0% intro APR isn't the worst thing in the world, to be honest. Those sometimes do more harm than good by encouraging people to spend more. Still, lots of store credit cards have zero-interest offers, so it's worth mentioning.
But when a rewards credit card doesn't have a sign-up bonus, it's a red flag. Not quite as bad as someone on a dating app asking you to wire them money, but it's not a good sign.
That's because there are plenty of cards out there that give new cardholders the opportunity to earn sign-up bonuses. Even on no annual fee cards, you can find bonuses worth $200 that only require you to spend $500 to $1,000 in the first three months.
With a Costco credit card, it could take a long time to earn $200 back. You'd need to spend $10,000 at Costco to earn the same amount that some cards include as a sign-up bonus.
RELATED: The Ascent's Picks for the Best Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses
The cash back program isn't right for everyone
Here's the elephant in the room with the Costco credit card: It doesn't actually earn that much at Costco. A rate of 2% on other purchases from Costco and Costco.com at its own store is the bare minimum for a store credit card. Amazon offers 5% back on Amazon spending with its Prime Visa, to give you an example of a store card that does a better job of rewarding loyal customers.
There are also other cash back cards that earn just as much at Costco. So even if you shop there often, it doesn't necessarily mean this card is the best choice.
Before you decide, check out some other credit card reviews (you'll find two good alternatives further below). See if there's another card with a cash back program that's a better fit. That could be a card with different bonus categories. Or, if you want a more all-purpose option, there are cards that earn 2% back on all your purchases.
Getting your cash back is a slow, inconvenient process
This card's process for redeeming cash back feels like it comes out of the 1990s. You'll get your cash back once a year. After your February billing statement closes, Costco will send you a reward certificate with all the cash back you earned for the previous year. Citi and Costco may pick another way to issue your cash back if it's over $10,000.
Some cardholders like getting their cash back in a big lump sum, instead of redeeming $15 to $20 here and there. But you can do that with other cash back cards, if you want. They just also give you the option of using your cash back without needing to wait a year first.
What makes this even worse is that you lose all your cash back if your card is canceled before Costco sends you the reward certificate. Even if you aren't using your Costco credit card anymore, you need to keep it open until you at at least receive your cash back.