X1 Credit Card: More Features and Rewards Than Most No-Annual-Fee Cards (2024)

Our take

The X1 Card has a lot to offer. Its companion app makes it easy to manage and it’s more rewarding than most no-annual-fee credit cards. It might even be a bit easier to qualify for.

It can even help make online shopping more secure by generating virtual cards from its app. Additionally, it has a higher credit limit than most other cards at its fee level, which could come in handy if you’re looking to improve your credit or have access to emergency funds.

Overall, its features are more akin to a credit card with an annual fee. It might even double as a travel card if you don’t already have one in your wallet, though a dedicated travel card would do it better. Its redemption options are plentiful and can push its rewards potential far ahead of what competitor cash-back cards offer.

The X1’s rewards program

The X1 card features one of the most rewarding programs attached to a credit card without an annual fee. Its base rate of 2x points per dollar for every purchase is double what many other flat-rate cards offer, and its bonus categories expand its reward potential considerably.

On top of this, every month you spend at least $1,000 you’ll earn 3x points per dollar -- a higher flat rate than even the highly regarded Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card*. If you’re using the X1 card for all of your necessary purchases, spending $1,000 a month is likely an easy target to hit.

Additionally, X1 partners with some well-known brands including Apple, Amazon, Nintendo, Best Buy, Nike, Patagonia and Airbnb, among others. You can earn up to 10x points per dollar when shopping with partner brands through the X1 app. Choose the “Shop” tab in the app to see which brands qualify.

X1 will occasionally offer boosted rewards for specific purchase types too, like gas or groceries. Here’s how it works: Tap a button in the app to increase your rewards rate on a select category for any single purchase you make during the next 24 hours.

For example, if you’re about to fuel up and see that X1 is offering a 5x boost on gas, you can activate it and increase your rewards rate from 2x points to 5x points on that transaction. X1 offers five new boosts every Friday.

Redeeming rewards is where things get a bit tricky. In order to get the best value, you’ll need to redeem your rewards for purchases made with X1’s partner brands. While you can redeem for statement credits, your points will only be worth 0.7 cent rather than the full cent you’d get for redeeming for partner purchases. However, if you spend $1,000 or more in eligible purchases in a month and get bumped up to the 3x rewards rates, even the cash-back redemption will net you a 2.1% return.

Refer your friends

Though they’re rare, credit card companies sometimes use referral bonuses to encourage cardholders to recruit new members. The reward is usually a few hundred dollars cash. X1’s referral bonus comes in the form of a boost on your reward rate to 4x, 5x or 10x points on every $1 spent for up to a month for each successful referral for up to 30 days. The referred cardholder will also receive their own mystery reward.

Though this may seem like a more convoluted bonus, there are a few benefits: You can potentially earn more in rewards than with a defined cash bonus, and your bonus isn’t subject to taxes. Credit card referral bonuses are typically subject to tax -- but rewards are considered discounts instead of earned income by the IRS, making X1’s referral bonus tax-free.

Added security with virtual cards

A virtual credit card is a disposable credit card number you can use to make secure transactions. It replaces your credit card’s physical number with a temporary one. The few other credit cards that offer virtual credit card numbers don’t support much flexibility; you get a card number that you can use once and that’s it.

The X1 app takes this concept to the next level. You can manage dozens of virtual cards simultaneously, assign temporary cards and choose expiration dates.

If you sign up for free trials or subscription services with one of your virtual credit card numbers, you can cancel the service with the tap of a button in the app. If you want to share a credit card with someone else to make a purchase on your behalf -- a family member, babysitter or other trusted individual -- you can manage and cancel that number at will.

Other card perks

The X1 includes a surprising number of shopping and travel protections for a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee. Take a look:

• Cellphone protection
• Trip interruption reimbursement
• Purchase security
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Extended warranty protection
• Return protection
• Zero liability protection
• Visa Signature Concierge Service
• Travel and emergency assistance
• Roadside dispatch

Not only does it cover your new purchases against damage or theft, but it also includes a number of travel protections. Couple that with the lack of foreign transaction fees and flat-rate rewards for your purchases, and the X1 card doubles as a lucrative travel rewards card.

In addition to its card perks, it could also help improve your credit. While all credit cards can do that if you pay on time, the X1 card often provides a higher credit limit than most competitors. How much credit you have available contributes to your credit utilization, which is one of the many factors that go into contriving your credit score.

Alternative cards

Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card

The Wells Fargo Active Cash is the best flat-rate cash rewards card you could choose. It earns 2% cash rewards for your purchases with an introductory purchase APR. It has no annual fee and comes with some useful perks like cellphone protection and roadside dispatch. It may not be able to measure up to the X1 card’s rewards, but it’s less complicated and offers a way to avoid interest charges for new purchases, for a time. It also features a welcome bonus that likely won’t be too hard for most cardholders to obtain.

You can read more in our Wells Fargo Active Cash review.

Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card* features rewards for a wide variety of purchases including entertainment, dining, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target). It’s one of the most rewarding credit cards without an annual fee. It’s not as flexible as the X1 card as it earns 3% cash back for specific purchases rather than every purchase, but it does feature a welcome bonus. Similar to the X1 card, it has a dash of travel features, including no foreign transaction fees and heightened rewards for booking hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel.

You can find all the details in our SavorOne Cash Rewards review.

FAQs

*All information about the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card and the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.

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