5 Perks of the BJ's Credit Card

This store credit card gets you instant savings at BJ's Gas and cash back.

If you shop at BJ's often, you may have thought about opening a BJ's credit card. Technically, the popular warehouse club offers two credit card options. You need to be a BJ's member to get a card, and the card you get depends on your membership tier:

• With an Inner Circle membership, which costs $55 per year, you can get the BJ's Perks Plus® Mastercard® Credit Card.
• With a Perks Rewards membership, which costs $110 per year, you can get the BJ's Perks Elite® Mastercard® Credit Card.

The cards are mostly the same, except for the amount of cash back they earn. To figure out whether you should apply for a BJ's credit card, here are the most valuable perks you'll get.

1. Save $0.10 per gallon at BJ's Gas every day

With both BJ's credit cards, you save $0.10 per gallon at BJ's Gas. You need to pay with your BJ's credit card to get the discount. The discount is available for up to a maximum of 30 gallons of gas or $99 per fill-up, whichever comes first. Drivers with large fuel tanks could easily reach that limit. It's also worth noting that purchases at BJ's gas don't earn cash back.

Gas at BJ's normally costs less than the national average, although prices often aren't quite as low as they are at Costco gas stations. Still, for BJ's members, its credit card will help you trim your gas costs.

2. Earn up to 5% cash back

The BJ's credit cards earn cash back awards you can redeem at checkout. There's one key difference in their cash back:

• The BJ's Perks Plus® Mastercard® Credit Card earns 3% cash back on most in-club and BJs.com purchases.
• The BJ's Perks Elite® Mastercard® Credit Card earns 5% cash back on most in-club and BJs.com purchases.

In other categories, their cash back rates are the same. They earn 2% back on dining out and non-BJ's gas purchases. They earn 1% back on other purchases.

Your cash back awards are loaded to your account automatically and are redeemable in $10 increments during the checkout process. Awards expire six months from the date they were earned and can't be reissued. However, you can request your cash back in the form of a paper check before it expires.

3. Earn more through special bonus offers

BJ's frequently runs special promotions that allow you to earn more cash back. For example, there's currently an offer for $40 in awards for first-year members only. The retailer also sometimes offers double or triple cash back on certain types of purchases, such as tires.

4. No annual fee

Like most store credit cards, BJ's credit cards don't have an annual fee. As mentioned earlier, you need to be a BJ's member to apply, which costs either $55 or $110 per year, depending on the type of membership you want. If you're already a member, then this isn't an issue.

5. Use your BJ's credit card as your membership card

Once you have a BJ's credit card, you don't need to carry your membership card around anymore. Since your credit card is tied to your account, you can use that at checkout instead of scanning your membership card.

Should you apply for a BJ's credit card?

A BJ's credit card is only worth getting if you do most of your shopping there and fill up at its gas stations. These cards aren't exactly what you'd call feature-packed. They offer high cash back rates on purchases at BJ's, and they help you save on gas -- but that's about it. There are other rewards credit cards that offer more back. There are also credit cards with sign-up bonuses worth $200 or more, which is much better than the $40 you can get right now from BJ's.

For BJ's super shoppers who spend at least $2,000 to $3,000 per year there, one of its credit cards could be worth it. For everyone else, it's probably better to keep looking.