Best Gas Credit Cards

What Is a Gas Credit Card?

A gas credit card allows a cardholder to earn points, cash back, or discounts on gasoline purchases—either with specific gasoline retailers or at any gas station, depending on the type of card.

What are the Different Types of Gas Credit Cards?

Gas credit cards come in two main types: co-branded cards that are offered by partnering banks and oil companies and general rewards cards from the major card issuers. Co-branded gasoline credit cards offer rewards or per-gallon discounts on gas purchases from specific chains, such as BP or ExxonMobil. By contrast, general rewards credit cards with a gasoline rewards component allow cardholders to earn points or cash back wherever they buy gas. In addition to gasoline-related rewards, general rewards credit cards typically offer bonus rewards on other purchase categories or at least pay a base rate on all other purchases, making them a better all-around deal for the consumer.

How Should You Use a Gas Credit Card?

Whether you're using a general rewards card with a gas rewards bonus or a co-branded gas credit card, it's important to put all your eligible gasoline purchases on that card. It’s also imperative to pay your balance in full each month, as the interest rates these cards charge can often dwarf any rewards you'll earn.

For the average American, gasoline purchases account for more than 3% of annual household spending, or nearly $2,000 a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. With the right rewards card, this spending can be leveraged to potentially save hundreds of dollars a year. Gas prices tend to rise and fall with supply and demand and geo-political forces, but commuting costs are always an unwelcome part of most people’s monthly expenses. Gas credit cards can help offset part of the pain of getting to and from work, or add to the pleasure of vacation road trips.

So, whether your gas rewards credit card gives you a discount of a certain number of cents off per gallon, a fixed percentage in cash back, or bonus points on the total when you fill up your tank, remembering to use it consistently at the pump will yield the most value. And, if your rewards card provides bonus earnings on other categories of spending (like groceries or travel), it could work as your primary card for all transactions. To maximize the value of a gas card, or any rewards credit card, it’s important to shift as much spending as possible from cash, check, and debit card transactions to the rewards credit card. That way you can earn some level of cash back or points on every transaction.

What is the Best Way to Compare Gas Credit Cards? 

As mentioned, there are several varieties of credit cards with gasoline rewards. Most major gasoline retailers have signs or even take-one applications in their stations for their co-branded credit cards, and credit card issuers often send out or advertise promotions for their own gas rewards cards. So you're likely to have any number of cards to choose from.

To know whether you might qualify for a particular card, it's useful to know your credit score. If you don’t already know your score, there are free resources online where you can obtain it. Most rewards credit cards require good or excellent credit, but there are options for those with fair or even bad credit.

Once you have an idea of which cards you could probably qualify for, consider your buying habits. Do you patronize a particular gas station brand more than the others? If so, that company's co-branded card could make sense for you. That's especially true with major companies like ExxonMobil or Shell, which have large national footprints and are likely to have stations wherever your travels take you. But compare your potential savings with that card to what you might get with a general rewards card that's less restrictive in where you can use it. Bear in mind, though, that some general rewards cards that offer generous bonus cash back or points exclude gasoline sold at big box warehouse stores like BJ’s, Costco, or Sam’s Club. Others restrict their bonus rewards to U.S. gas stations only.

Ultimately, the best way to compare cards is to run the numbers on how much you could earn based on each card's rewards program and the amount of money you typically spend on gas each year.

How Can You Maximize Gas Rewards Earnings?

The best way to maximize your earnings on a gas rewards card is to always use it when you buy gasoline or any other related purchases that qualify for bonus rewards. If you're using a co-branded gas card that provides rewards only at a specific retailer, try to patronize that retailer as often as possible and consider pairing that card with another one that offers rewards on all your other spending.

If you have a general rewards card that provides bonus cash back or points on gasoline category purchases, you're free to fill up anywhere—but make sure you know if the card excludes the gas pumps at certain major retailers, such as Walmart or Costco. General rewards cards typically make a good primary card to use for all your purchases and often include bonus rewards for other spending categories like groceries or dining. So, beyond maximizing rewards on gas purchases, a general rewards card can optimize earnings across multiple spending categories, resulting in greater rewards in total.

Who Is Best Suited for a Gas Credit Card?

Gas credit cards are best suited for people who spend a fair amount of money each month on gas, such as anyone with a long daily commute. People who live in downtown urban areas and don’t drive much—or who don’t even own a car—will get more value from other types of cards.

About Our List of Gas Credit Cards

Investopedia pledges to provide exhaustive and objective information about all credit cards offered in the United States. Reviews and rankings are created by our editorial team independently and impartially, without regard to any financial relationships Investopedia may have with credit card issuers or their affiliates.

Methodology

Information Gathering

In order to track and assess the U.S. domestic credit card market, we gather scores of data points on nearly 300 cards. This data is collected manually from both card-issuer websites and publicly available sources.

To ensure that our information is as up-to-date as possible, we deploy automated tools to monitor changes in such key data as annual percentage rates, introductory rates, introductory periods, bonus offers, rewards earnings rates, fees, and card benefits. We then rapidly make any needed updates to our card listings, reviews, and recommendations to ensure that readers have the most reliable information and advice.

Initial Scoring

Once we collect credit card data we organize it in our database according to features, which roll up into feature sets (such as rewards, interest, fees, benefits, and security/customer service). Each individual card feature is assigned a star rating score on a 1 to 5 scale using a prescribed formula. For instance, for a one-time bonus score we would use a formula like: If bonus is $500 or greater, then assign a score of 5; if $300-$499, then 4; and so forth.

Weighting of Scores

When all of a particular card’s features have received a score, we apply a weighting factor to each feature to arrive at a weighted average score for that card (according to the general category in which it resides, such as balance-transfer).

This weighting process allows us to assign significantly more emphasis to the attributes important to a particular category and downplay those that are less relevant to it. That lets us objectively identify cards that stand out in their category and indicate why they do. For example, for balance-transfer cards we apply significantly higher weight to such key category attributes as interest rates or fees than to travel-specific features such as airport lounge access or primary rental car insurance, which might be more strongly considered for other categories, such as travel-rewards cards.

Earnings Rates

Another critical factor we consider when rating and ranking rewards cards is the cards’ effective earnings rates. We first calculate the average value of points or miles for all the rewards cards in our database, a painstaking process that entails collecting all airline fare data by carrier across scores of popular domestic and international city-pairs, along with per-night hotel charges at all major hotel brands.

The required points and miles for air travel or hotel stays from the various reward programs are then used to calculate an effective earnings rate for each card. That allows our readers to make the most informed choices. By putting a card’s large one-time bonus or earnings rates into context across many dimensions and card features, readers can more readily weigh the card’s benefits relative to its costs. Uncovering the true but often opaque redemption value of rewards points or miles is, we feel, the only reliable way to make cogent choices among competing value-based cards.

Card Features We Score

As mentioned in our methodology explanation, we place significant weight on certain features in determining our ratings for each rewards card. Specifically, we place over 50% of our overall assessment score on the combination of the following factors:

• Value of any one-time bonus, whether in points or miles.
• Initial card spending required to earn any bonus.
• Redemption value of the bonus miles or points.
• Global card acceptance, as detailed by the four card networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover).
• Options to redeem points or miles with travel partners, both airline and hotel.

Another consideration is the cards’ coverage, if any, in these travel-related areas:

• Car-rental collision insurance, whether primary or secondary.
• Travel accident insurance.
• Lost or delayed luggage insurance.
• Insurance for trip cancellation, interruption, or delay.
• Cell phone loss or damage coverage.
• Roadside assistance and towing.
• Emergency travel medical/dental benefits.

General, non-travel related features that we consider and score include:

• Interest rates, including both introductory and regular APRs for purchases and balance transfers.
• Fees, including those for annual membership, late payments, cash advances, and foreign transactions.
• Security/customer service features.
• Other non-travel benefits, such as access to credit scores, ID theft protection, and contactless payment capability.

How We Reach Our Final Assessments

We rely primarily on the objective scores created by our rating algorithms to determine which card is chosen as the best in each category or subcategory.

However, we may make some adjustments from time to time, to both features and weightings that could affect rankings, based on subjective input from our credit card experts. Any potential modifications will be consistent with Investopedia’s belief that consumers are best served by cards that:

• Provide superior value in earning awards.
• Charge reasonable interest rates in the event that cardholders carry a balance from month to month.
• Charge fewer and/or more reasonable fees.
• Provide solid customer service, based on the number and quality of customer service features.
• Have helpful and protective security features.