Costco has treated credit cards differently from most retailers.
First, the chain only accepts one single credit card brand at any given time
For 16 years, that was American Express, but in 2016, a change was made. “Costco Wholesale Corp. has started to issue new Visa cards to its customers, who after June 20 will no longer be able to use their former Costco cards from American Express,” MarketWatch reported. That wasn’t just Costco moving its co-branded credit card from AmEx to Visa; it was the chain no longer taking any American Express and partnering with Citi to accept Visa and create a new signature card. The Costco Anywhere card by Citi has been popular and recently improved its gas cash-back benefits.
Costco has increased its cash back on gas from its own gas stations from 4% to 5% for people who pay with the Costco Anywhere credit card from Citi. The warehouse chain’s gas stations only take credit and debit cards. That’s part of a broad strategy to deliver value to members, but Costco has been less forthcoming about another change made to the Costco Anywhere card.