Best Credit Cards for Gas Stations

Gas purchases are a major household expense for many people. Unfortunately, earning bonus points on gas purchases with travel rewards credit cards can be hard to come by—unlike transit passes or parking fees, gas is usually excluded from “travel” bonus categories.

Still, whether you’re looking for travel rewards points or straight cash back, there are several credit cards offering bonus points on gas purchases to choose from.

An important note: If you often buy gas at grocery stores or warehouse clubs, such as Costco or Sam’s Club, read your credit card terms carefully because many cards don’t offer bonus points for gas stations attached to these types of stores. Earning bonus rewards will depend on how the individual location processes credit card charges.

The Best Cards for Gas Stations

Citi Premier Card

The Citi Premier® Card is working hard to earn a spot in your wallet. It earns 3X Citi ThankYou Points per dollar spent at gas stations, as well as supermarkets, restaurants, airlines and hotels. You can redeem these points for travel. There are no limits on points earned, and your rewards don’t expire.

The Citi Premier Card has no foreign transaction fees and a $95 annual fee. It also offers an annual $100 discount toward prepaid hotel reservations of $500 or more through the Citi ThankYou Rewards portal, easily offsetting the annual fee if you’re able to take advantage of the discount.

Pro tip: If you want to earn more Citi ThankYou Points and are willing to add on a second card without an annual fee, consider the Citi® Double Cash Card. While this is marketed as a 2% cashback card—1% when you make the purchase and another 1% when you pay your card off—the rewards earned can be transferred to Citi’s travel partners when this card is paired with the Citi Premier Card or the Citi Prestige Card.

Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card

The Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card has an unusual incentive structure that can be rewarding. It earns 2X Membership Rewards points at U.S. gas stations, 3X at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in eligible purchases per year, then 1X thereafter) and 1X on all other purchases.

If you use your card 30 times in a billing period, you’ll earn 50% bonus points, meaning you can earn up to 3X points at gas stations and 4.5X at supermarkets. Membership Rewards points can be transferred to more than 20 different airline and hotel partners, giving you maximum flexibility to use your points for travel.

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (see rates & fees) earns 6X Hilton Honors points on purchases at U.S. gas stations. You’ll also earn 6X points on purchases at U.S. restaurants and U.S. supermarkets (including takeout and delivery), 12X points at eligible Hilton properties worldwide and 3X points everywhere else.

The card also offers complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status (enrollment required) and the ability to earn a free weekend night award if you spend $15,000 in eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year.

Pro tip: If you want to earn Hilton Honors points without paying an annual fee, the Hilton Honors American Express Card offers 5X Hilton points at U.S. gas stations, U.S. restaurants and U.S. supermarkets. It has a $0 annual fee (see rates & fees).

Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi

The Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi is the most rewarding cashback card for gas purchases, offering a whopping 4% cash back on your first $7,000 in gas purchases every year (and 1% after).

The card has no foreign transaction fees and earns 4% cash back at gas stations worldwide, so it’s also great if you rent cars when traveling. The Costco Anywhere Visa Card also earns 3% cash back on restaurants and travel, 2% back on Costco purchases and 1% back everywhere else.

The card has no annual fees but requires a Costco membership, costing $60 to $120 per year. Cash back earned with the card is distributed once per year as a voucher, which you can exchange for cash at a Costco location (or spend on Costco merchandise in-store). Keep in mind that although it earns cash back, you can’t redeem it for travel.

Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (see rates and fees) earns 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations. You’ll also earn 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year, 1% back thereafter), 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming services, 3% cash back on transit (including public transportation, rideshare, parking and tolls) and 1% cash back everywhere else.

Citi Custom Cash® Card

The Citi Custom Cash® Card earns 5% cash back in the highest spend category each billing cycle, on up to $500 in purchases—and the eligible categories include gas stations. Other eligible categories are restaurants, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment.

Since only one of these categories can earn 5% cash back each billing cycle, you’ll want to either dedicate this card to one category permanently, or be careful of when you’re spending and how much to make sure you maximize your spending.

Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card

The Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card is one of the highest earning options for businesses to earn on gas. It earns 8X points per dollar spent on gas. Wyndham points are often overlooked, but if you have this card it is a great way to stack up on points from your gas purchases.

American Express® Business Gold Card

The American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees) earns 4X Membership Rewards points on the top two categories you spend per month, including gas stations. The 4X applies to the first $150,000 spent per year. After that, you’ll earn 1X point per dollar.

Chase Cards Earning Ultimate Rewards That Can Be Combined

The no-fee Ink Business Cash® Credit Card offers 2% cash back (or 2X Ultimate Rewards points) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year, as well as 5% cash back (or 5X Ultimate Rewards points) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year. (It earns unlimited 1% cash back everywhere else.)

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® and the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card earn 1.5% cash back (or 1.5X Ultimate Rewards points) on all purchases, including gas stations.

The no-annual-fee Chase Freedom Flex℠ card offers 3% cash back (3X Ultimate Rewards points) at restaurants and drugstores and 1% back in all non-bonus categories. However, each calendar quarter, it offers a generous 5% cash back (5x Ultimate Rewards points) on up to $1,500 in purchases in select categories—and gas stations are one of the bonus categories July through September 2022. The 5X earning rate applies to the first $1,500 spent per quarter (then 1X after that).

If you hold at least one Chase credit card that earns Ultimate Rewards points, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can combine the rewards earned from one of the no-fee cards by transferring the points to one of the premium cards.

Then you can redeem the points directly for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards website at a rate of 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point, depending on which card you have, or transfer them to airline and hotel partners.

Bottom Line

There are many excellent credit card options out there, but depending on your personal high spending categories, some may be a better choice than others. These are our top picks for the best credit cards for gas stations, no matter what type of rewards you want to earn.