Phillips 66 Conoco 76 Mastercard Credit Card Review

By : Mr Credit Card

Summary - The Phillips 66 Conoco 76 MasterCard pays a 4% rebate on purchases made at Phillips 66 and Conoco 76 stations. But they do have a cap on how much rebates you can earn a month and there is a tier formula to their non-gas purchase rebate system. Is this a good card to get? Let's find out.


Rebate Formula - The Phillips 66 Conoco 76 MasterCard allows you to earn a 4% rebate on any Phillips Conoco purchase and 1% rebate for other purchases. Rebates are valid for six billing cycles. They are automatically credited towards next months purchase. You can earn up to $50 in rebates each month.

The rebate for regular purchases becomes a little trickier. For spending less than $5,000, you will earn 0.5% rebates. For spending above $5,000, you earn 1% rebates.

Caps on rebates - That means that you can spend up to $1,000 in gasoline expenses a monthly and earn those 4% rebates.

Annual fee and APR - The Phillips 66 Conoco 76 MasterCard has no annual fee. The APR is prime rate plus 7.99% for the platinum version and prime rate plus 11.99% for the regular version. The Phillips 66 Conoco 76 MasterCard uses the average daily balance method (including new purchases) to calculate monthly balances. New cardholders will get a 0% APR introductory rate on balance transfers for 6 months.

Much has changed in the gas credit card landscape the last few years. A while back, most gas cards has a percentage cash back formula like this card. This meant you got say 3%, 4% or 5% cash back when you use the card at gas stations. However, most gas cards these days use the cents per gallon savings formula. Hence, the comparisons are a little more difficult today.

Prior to those changes, 4% rebates is actually not bad for a gas card. The lower range is 3% while the upper range is 5%. Gas cards that pay 5% rebates include the Shell, BP and Marathon. 4% cards include the Lukoil and Speedway SuperAmerica. Hess and Gulf pay 3% rebates. So based on these observations, it puts the Phillips Conoco MasterCard in the middle of the pack.

The downside of this card is that for other regular purchases, you need to spend over $5,000 before you earn even 1% rebates (which is actually the standard on most other cards.

However, in today's world, the comparisons are a little more difficult. For example, the Shell MasterCard allows you to save 20 cents per gallon if you spend more than $2,499 a month on their card. Depending on where gas prices are, 20 cents per gallon might or might not be better than 4% cash back. The ExxonMobil MasterCard allows you to save 15 cents per gallon.

There are also quite a few cash back cards that give you 2% or 3% cash back on gasoline purchases. For example, the Blue Cash Everyday gives you 2% cash back while the Costco Amex gives you 3% cash back. So compared to modern day cards, 4% is quite a good deal.  

Pros - 4% rebates on gasoline (while not the best) is a very good rebate number.

Cons - The problem with this card is that the rebates is capped a month at $40. Furthermore, there is a tier system on their rebate for regular purchases. Unlike most cards which simply pay 1% rebates for non-gas purchases, this card requires you to spend $5,000 before you can earn 1%. Prior to that, you earn only 0.5%.

Verdict - The Phillips 66 Conoco 76 MasterCard will appeal to those who use Philips Conoco gasoline stations frequently. I one thing that I do not like about is that you need to spend above $5,000 to earn just 1% on regular purchase is a real black mark for this card. But if you use this station exclusively, then getting this card makes a lot of sense.

There are some of you who might be checking out this card because you have average credit and are looking to get a gas card. This card actually requires that you have a good credit (think 700+) to get approved. If your credit score is in the 600s, then their gas store cards might be something that you want to look (though you can only use it at their stations). Alternatively, you might want to consider a card like the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard - For Average Credit, which allows you to earn 2X on gasoline, as well as groceries and utilities, making it an excellent everyday card to use.