Sam's Club Mastercard
Sam's Club / Synchrony, Mastercard, no annual fee. Earns cash back.
Rates checked against the issuer 2026-09. Foreign transaction fee: not recorded here.
The short version
- Best at: gas (#2, $5.00 per $100).
- A year's rewards: about $451, with no fee to pay.
Is the annual fee worth it?
No annual fee, so everything it earns is kept: about $451 a year on the illustrative household's spending, which puts it number 25 of 59 the no-fee cards in the catalogue. All of them, ranked.
Price its credits, perks and sign-up bonus your way — tick what you would use and say what it is worth to you.
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What it earns, category by category
| Earns on | Rate | ConditionsWhat the issuer attaches to this rate: a spending cap, a category you have to switch on, or a booking you have to make through its travel portal. |
|---|---|---|
| Gas Stations | 5% | Up to $6,000 per year, then the base rate. Any gas station, first $6,000 a year |
| Restaurants & Bars | 3% | |
| Flights, Hotels, Car Rental | 3% | Travel |
| Everything else | 1% |
Where it ranks
Against every card in the catalogue, scored in dollars per $100 with no rotating categories switched on:
- #2 of 117 for gas — $5.00 per $100
Where a year's rewards come from
| Spending on | Earns a yearWhat this card earns on each kind of spending over a year, for the illustrative household on the method page. Before the annual fee. |
|---|---|
| Restaurants & Bars | $108 |
| Gas Stations | $90 |
| Groceries | $60 |
| Everything Else | $60 |
| Flights | $36 |
| Hotels | $27 |
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What the issuer lists besides rewards
- Rewards can be redeemed in club, as cash, or against the membership fee
- Earns nothing without an active Sam's Club membership, which starts at $50 a year
Similar cards
- Wells Fargo Active Cash — annual fee none
- U.S. Bank Altitude Connect — annual fee none
- U.S. Bank Altitude Go — annual fee none
- Amazon Visa — annual fee none
- Every cash back card, ranked
- The best two- and three-card combinations
Point values: published industry valuations. How every number here is worked out.