Summary - We highly recommend the True Earnings® Card from Costco and American Express because it is one of the rare cards that pay you more than the standard 1% cash back on gasoline, travel and dining expenses. For Costco members, this card is a no brainer. But as you will find out, you can also earn great rebates on other types of expenses.

Rebate Formula - The TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express is more of a cash back credit card rather than a Costco credit card. Firstly, you will earn 3% cash back on gasoline purchases. And if you fill up with Costco gasoline, you'll save even more money as they are typically cheaper than at the regular pump. You will earn the 3% cash back on gasoline for up to $3,000 in annual gasoline spending. After that, the rebate is just 1%.

Aside from gasoline, you will also earn 2% cash back at restaurants (and this include take outs). You will also earn 2% cash back on travel. That means that any airline ticket purchases, or hotel and car rental bookings will earn you 2% rebates.

Annual Fee - There is no annual fee for this card (though you obviously have to pay for your annual costco annual membership fees).

let's compare this card with other warehouse credit cards like BJ's and Sam's Club.

While Costco only accepts only American Express, Sam's Club only accepts Discover credit cards. The Sam's Club Discover Card has a tiered formula. (see chart below).

The rebate formula is different for Sam's Club members and non-members. The rewards percentages for Sam's Club Advantage Plus Members are .25% on total purchases up to $1,500, .50% on total purchases from $1,500.01 to $3,000, 1% on total purchases from $3,000.01 to $5,000, 1.75% on total purchases from $5,000.01 to $10,000 and 2% on total purchases from $10,000.01 to $250,000. Once your spending exceeds $250,000, you will not earn anymore rebates.

It is really hard to compare these two cards simply because of the different rebate formula. At a certain spending level, the Sam's Club Discover Card might give you more rebates. And the Sam's Club Discover Card actually pays you more than 1% rebate for purchases at Sam's Club (though you have to exceed their spending threshold). The Costco Card, on the other hand, allows you to earn more than the standard 1% rebates on gasoline, restaurants and travel.

Unlike the Costco Card, the BJ's credit card allows you to earn 2% rebates at BJ's store (for Costco, you just earn 1%) and 1% on other regular purchases. The Costco has it the opposite way round. You can earn 3% cash back on gasoline and 2% on travel, restaurants. For other regular stuff including Costco purchases, you earn 1% rebates. So in terms of actually earning more than 1% at the store, BJ beats Costco, but Costco has more categories that let's you earn more than 1%.

Can you use your Costco Card at regular supermarkets? Sure you can. But you can only earn 1% rebates. What if you want to earn more than 1% cash back for supermarket shopping? Well, the best card to get for this is the Blue Cash Everyday^SM Card from American Express. You can earn 3% cash back on supermarket spending and 2% on gasoline and department store purchases. This is another great card to have in addition to the Costco card because chances are that you will not just buy your groceries at Costco, but rather at a few places. The Costco though, beats it in the gasoline area (3% vs 2%)

There are other cash back cards that offer quarterly rotating categories that allow you to earn 5% rebates on supermarket shopping. For example, the Discover More Card allows you to earn 5% rebates on groceries from October to December every year.

Verdict - As a background, Costco accepts only American Express credit cards. If you are a Costco member (especially an Executive member), you can use any American Express Cards to pay there. But this card has a couple of things going for it. The best feature of this card is that you earn cash back on travel. If you are a frequent traveler, we would also suggest that you consider this credit card as you earn cash back equivalent or even better than a specific travel credit card (airline or hotel), without incurring any annual fees. The "restaurant" and "travel" categories are not common in most cash back credit cards so the ability to earn more than 1% on these spending is really good with this card. This makes the card a great supplementary card to other cash back credit cards. The gasoline at Costco is cheaper than most stations as well. So having this card allows you to get 3% cash back on gasoline at already "relatively cheaper" prices (though you can still earn 3% at non-Costco gas stations).

The only snag is that you get your cash in the form of a certificate once a year, which has to be redeemed at Costco. (So make sure there is a Costco around where you live). You can obviously also redeem your certificates for Costco purchases.

If you are a costco member, we highly recommend the True Earnings® Card from Costco and American Express. Even if you are not a costco member and there is a Costco near your place, you might just want to consider becoming a member to save money by bulk buying some groceries and also to take advantage of the generous rebates from their credit card. You should check our review of the benefits of having a Costco membership here.

References
1. American Express Becomes First and Only of Big Three to be accepted at Costco Warehouses