What is the best credit card at REI?

U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card earns the most at REI right now at 5%.

How does SwipeCaddy pick the best card at REI?

We rank each card by its reward rate times a conservative cash value of its points or miles — no inflated transfer valuations — and apply REI's card-acceptance rules, so the "best" card is one you can actually use at the register.

Does REI have its own credit card?

No. REI does not issue a co-brand credit card, so there is no store card to weigh against the field and the best option is always a general-purpose one: the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card at 5% if you selected sporting goods stores this quarter, and your best flat-rate card if you did not. The REI member dividend is a benefit of the co-op membership rather than of any credit card, so it lands the same regardless of how you pay.

Does rei.com earn the same 5% as an REI store?

Probably, but we would not bank on it. A chain's website can carry a different merchant category than its stores: U.S. Bank states plainly that Cabela's stores qualify for its sporting goods category while Cabelas.com does not. There is no published carve-out like that for rei.com, so it should qualify — treat the physical store as the certain case and the website as the likely one, and check your statement after the first online order before you plan around it.

Best credit cards at REI

In store

1
#15%
U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card
U.S. Bank · Visa · No annual fee · Choose this category · up to $2,000/qtr (combined)
5%
2
#23x
Robinhood Gold Card
Coastal Community Bank · Visa · No annual fee
3x
3
#32%
Apple Card
Goldman Sachs · Mastercard · No annual fee · Pay with the mobile wallet
2%
4
#42%
Blue Business Cash Card from American Express
American Express · Amex · No annual fee · up to $50,000/yr
2%
5
#52x
The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express
American Express · Amex · No annual fee · up to $50,000/yr
2x
6
#62%
Citi Double Cash Card
Citi · Mastercard · No annual fee
2%
7
#72%
Coinbase One Card
Cardless · Amex · No annual fee
2%
8
#82%
Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card
Elan Financial Services · Visa · No annual fee
2%
9
#92%
PNC Cash Unlimited Visa Signature Credit Card
Pnc · Visa · No annual fee
2%
10
#102%
Wells Fargo Active Cash Card
Wells Fargo · Visa · No annual fee
2%

Online

Good to know at REI

The U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card leads at REI with 5%, because sporting goods stores is one of the twelve categories you can pick for its 5% slots. There is no annual fee, but there is real homework. You choose two 5% categories plus one 2% category; the 5% covers only the first $2,000 of combined quarterly spend across both picks and then falls to 1%; and you have to re-enroll every quarter, with registration closing five days before the quarter ends. Skip the selection and everything, including the 2% category, drops to the 1% base. Our ranking shows the best case, which assumes you actually picked sporting goods.

REI is the archetypal dedicated sporting-goods retailer, and that is exactly why it fits the category so cleanly — unlike gear bought inside a department store or superstore, which rings as that store, an REI shop reliably codes as what it is. The exception worth knowing is the channel. U.S. Bank publishes that Cabela's stores qualify for the sporting goods category while Cabelas.com does not, so a chain's website can code differently from its shops. Treat rei.com as less certain than the store floor. And if you are putting a $700 kit on the card, note that a single order like that eats more than a third of the $2,000 quarterly bucket you share across both 5% picks.

Behind the leader, the Robinhood Gold Card pays 3%, but it requires the $50-a-year annual Gold plan, and its points are worth a full cent only when redeemed into a Robinhood brokerage account. At a one-point edge over a 2% card, you need about $5,000 of annual spending on it just to earn the $50 back. Then comes the flat 2% pack, including the Apple Card, whose 2% assumes you tap with Apple Pay. REI has no co-brand credit card of its own, so the answer here is always a general-purpose card — and the member dividend is a benefit of the co-op membership that arrives whatever you swipe, entirely separate from what your card pays.

The math

Spend $300 a month at REI and U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card returns about $180 a year at our valuations — a flat 2% card returns $72.

Common questions

What is the best credit card at REI?: U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card earns the most at REI right now at 5%.
How does SwipeCaddy pick the best card at REI?: We rank each card by its reward rate times a conservative cash value of its points or miles — no inflated transfer valuations — and apply REI's card-acceptance rules, so the "best" card is one you can actually use at the register.
Does REI have its own credit card?: No. REI does not issue a co-brand credit card, so there is no store card to weigh against the field and the best option is always a general-purpose one: the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card at 5% if you selected sporting goods stores this quarter, and your best flat-rate card if you did not. The REI member dividend is a benefit of the co-op membership rather than of any credit card, so it lands the same regardless of how you pay.
Does rei.com earn the same 5% as an REI store?: Probably, but we would not bank on it. A chain's website can carry a different merchant category than its stores: U.S. Bank states plainly that Cabela's stores qualify for its sporting goods category while Cabelas.com does not. There is no published carve-out like that for rei.com, so it should qualify — treat the physical store as the certain case and the website as the likely one, and check your statement after the first online order before you plan around it.