Which Credit Cards Earn the Most on Gas, and What the Fine Print Means

The short answer

For a household that spends 2,400 dollars a year on fuel, the Costco Anywhere Visa by Citi, the Sam's Club Mastercard and Citi Custom Cash each pay 5 percent and earn 120 dollars. A flat 2 percent card earns 48. Those three are the highest gas earners in Julia's tests, but only if you meet each card's conditions.

Those conditions matter more than the headline rate. Costco and Sam's Club require a paid membership. Custom Cash is closed to new applicants and pays 5 percent on only the first 500 dollars a billing cycle. Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards pays 3 percent on gas, within a quarterly cap shared with groceries and wholesale clubs.

Julia's Wallet Score ranks the cards differently from a gas-only ranking, because the score measures a whole household budget. In that order: Wells Fargo Active Cash 70, Wells Fargo Autograph 67, Citi Custom Cash 63, Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards 60, Costco Anywhere Visa 56 and Sam's Club Mastercard 55. Read the score as the everyday-card grade and the gas figures below as the fuel-only comparison.

How much does each card earn on 2,400 dollars of gas?

Here is the same 2,400 dollars of fuel on each card, using the rates in Julia's videos.

• **Costco Anywhere Visa by Citi:** 5 percent at Costco gas, so 120 dollars. Other eligible gas and electric-vehicle charging earns 4 percent.
• **Sam's Club Mastercard:** 5 percent on eligible gas and charging, so 120 dollars.
• **Citi Custom Cash:** 5 percent when gas is your top eligible category and stays within 500 dollars a cycle, so 120 dollars.
• **Wells Fargo Autograph:** 3 points per dollar, worth 1 cent each as cash, so 72 dollars.
• **Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards:** 3 percent if you select gas, so 72 dollars.
• **Wells Fargo Active Cash:** a flat 2 percent, so 48 dollars.

A flat 2 percent card is the baseline. The 5 percent cards add 72 dollars over it on this fuel budget. The 3 percent cards add 24 dollars.

What do the Costco and Sam's Club gas rates really cost?

Costco Anywhere Visa has no separate annual fee, but it needs an active paid Costco membership. Standard Gold Star costs 65 dollars a year, plus tax. In Julia's example, a family spending 2,400 dollars on Costco gas and 1,200 dollars on other eligible fuel earns 168 dollars, against 72 on a 2 percent card. That is a 96 dollar gain on fuel the family already needed. Add eligible dining at 3 percent and the advantage over a flat card reaches 120 dollars. If you would join Costco mainly for the card, 65 dollars of membership leaves 55 dollars.

Sam's Club Mastercard also has no separate annual fee, but it requires Sam's Club membership. Standard prices are 60 dollars for Club and 120 for Plus. The 5 percent fuel rate does not require Plus. In Julia's example, 2,400 dollars of fuel earns 120 dollars against 48 on a 2 percent card, a 72 dollar gain. Fuel and dining together add 90 dollars, and the card's weaker 1 percent on Club-tier shopping takes 54 of that back. The family that stays on Club is left 36 dollars ahead before ordinary purchases.

Rewards also arrive late. Costco generally delivers its rewards as an annual certificate after your February statement closes, redeemable at U.S. Costco warehouses. Sam's Club pays in Sam's Cash, generally within 1 or 2 billing cycles. Neither pays at the pump. Julia's test charges the membership in full, which is why these two cards score 56 and 55 despite their fuel rates.

Where do the caps cut in?

The 5 percent rate stops at a limit on every card that offers it.

• **Costco:** Costco gas and other eligible gas share an annual limit of 7,000 dollars, then drop to 1 percent. On 8,000 dollars of Costco gas, the first 7,000 earns 350 dollars and the last 1,000 earns 10, for 360 dollars.
• **Sam's Club:** The limit is 6,000 dollars of gas and charging combined each calendar year, then 1 percent. On 8,000 dollars, the first 6,000 earns 300 dollars and the last 2,000 earns 20, for 320 dollars, an effective 4 percent. Moving the last 2,000 dollars to a 2 percent card would earn 40 dollars instead of 20.
• **Citi Custom Cash:** The limit is 500 dollars per billing cycle, then 1 percent. Unused room does not roll forward. A year of 200 dollar cycles for six months and 800 dollar cycles for six earns 228 dollars, not the 300 dollars that 12 even cycles would earn on 6,000 dollars of spending.

For a typical household, the caps matter only if fuel spending is unusually high. Drivers who commute long distances should find the point where their gas spending crosses the cap and move the rest to a 2 percent card.

Does Citi Custom Cash or Bank of America suit a gas budget?

Citi Custom Cash picks your highest-spending eligible category each billing cycle, and gas stations are on the list. That automatic choice is the catch. Julia's example shows a 600 dollar home-improvement purchase pushing that category ahead of 400 dollars of groceries, which lowered the total from 32 dollars to 30. If you want Custom Cash to earn 5 percent on gas, keep other large eligible purchases off it. Citi closed new applications on May 28, 2026, so this applies only to existing cardholders. Custom Cash scores 63.

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards lets you choose gas and electric-vehicle charging as the 3 percent category. You can change the choice once each calendar month, and the change is not retroactive. The catch is a shared quarterly limit of 2,500 dollars across your chosen category and 2 percent groceries and wholesale clubs. Spending 2,500 dollars entirely in the chosen category earns 75 dollars a quarter against 50 on a 2 percent card, which is 100 dollars of extra value across four quarters. Eligible new cardholders get a first-year boost of 3 percentage points, making 6 percent within the cap, and it returns to 3 percent after year 1. The card scores 60.

Is a flat card or Autograph enough for gas?

Wells Fargo Autograph earns 3 points per dollar on gas, plus restaurants, travel, transit, popular streaming and phone plans. It has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee. No cap on gas is mentioned in Julia's test. In her example, a household spending 3,000 dollars on gas and transit, with dining, travel, streaming and phone spending around it, earns 48 dollars more than Citi Double Cash. If more than half of your spending misses those 6 categories, the flat card comes out ahead. The pair together beat Double Cash alone by 148 dollars. Autograph scores 67.

Wells Fargo Active Cash earns a steady 2 percent with no category to track. It scores 70, the highest of the six, because it keeps more after costs across Julia's three household budgets. It adds nothing on gas over another 2 percent card, but it never needs a cap, a membership or an activation.

Before you apply

Gas stations vary in how they are coded. Check each issuer's definition of eligible gas, whether warehouse-club pumps, electric-vehicle charging, and fuel at supermarkets or big-box stores count, and whether the rate applies at the pump or only inside.

Compare pump prices, not just rewards. At Costco, a 70 dollar fill-up with 5 percent back costs an effective 66.50 dollars. The same fuel at 65 dollars with 2 percent back costs 63.70 dollars. The lower final price wins.

Read the cap, the membership cost and the redemption timing on the issuer's page before you decide, and pay the balance in full so interest does not erase the rewards. Terms checked October 6, 2026. Rates, caps, membership prices and offers may have moved since then, so confirm them with the issuer.

The cards in this guide

Keep reading

• Citi Custom Cash vs Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards, compared on caps
• Active Cash and Double Cash tie on everyday rewards, so the extras decide
• A credit card payment routine that keeps card bills from surprising you
• A first-year plan for building credit from no history