Kroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard Review: Up to 5x at Kroger, $0 Fee

Kroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard® is a $0-fee card that turns Kroger spending into grocery money, with up to 5x points on Kroger’s site and app. The short answer: on a $1,500 monthly budget with most of it at Kroger stores, online and at the pump, it earns about $516 a year in grocery rewards. That is $60 more than a flat 2% cash back card plus the Kroger Rewards number you probably already use.

This is the new card from First Bank & Trust, run by Imprint and launched September 30, 2026. It is not the U.S. Bank card with the same name, which is a different, closed product. The card is offered under 16 Kroger-family banner names, including Ralphs, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Smith’s and Dillons, and it works anywhere Mastercard is accepted. The catch is that the rewards only spend at the Kroger family, and the best rates need your Rewards Number at checkout.

Who This Card Is For

Two shoppers come out ahead. Take a Kroger-heavy household spending $1,500 a month: $600 at Kroger stores, $200 on Kroger.com or the app, $200 at Kroger fuel pumps, $200 on dining and utilities, and $300 on everything else. Here’s the math: that mix earns 4,300 points a month, or $516 a year. A shopper who only uses the Rewards Number and pays with a flat 2% card gets $456 ($360 plus $96 of loyalty points). The Kroger card wins by $60.

The online and fuel shopper does better still. At $1,000 a month ($400 on Kroger.com or the app, $150 at Kroger fuel, $450 elsewhere), the card earns $366 a year against $288 for the flat 2% plus loyalty combination, a $78 edge.

Those totals are example spending levels, not Kroger figures. The 5x and 3x rates are totals: the card’s own points plus Kroger Rewards and Boost points, which need your Rewards Number. Any Kroger Rewards member already earns 1 point per $1 on most groceries, so that is the baseline to beat.

Skip it if Kroger is a small part of your budget. A shopper with $200 a month at Kroger stores and $1,000 on everything else earns $192 a year, which trails a flat 2% card plus loyalty by $120.

Sign-Up Bonus: Is It Worth It?

The bonus is a $100 Kroger reward, redeemable for eligible grocery purchases only (not fuel), earned after $750 in net spend outside Kroger channels within 90 days of account opening. Read that twice: Kroger spending does not count toward the $750. You have to spend it at other merchants, which is easy for most households. At $500 a month outside Kroger, the household above reaches $750 in about 45 days. The online and fuel shopper, at $450 a month outside Kroger, gets there in about 50 days.

Here’s the net value for the Kroger-heavy household: $100 bonus + $516 in ongoing rewards – $0 fee = $616 net first-year value. Add the $10 birthday reward and it is $626. From year two on, it is $526.

Two limits to watch. The bonus expires on the last day of the second month after it is issued, so plan a grocery trip to use it. And Imprint can change or end the offer at any time; no end date is shown. For how these offers work in general, see our guide to how credit card sign-up bonuses work.

Earning Rewards: The Math

Every Kroger-channel total has three parts: the card’s own points, Kroger Rewards points and Boost Essential points. The card’s own part is shown below; the rest needs the Rewards Number or Alt ID at checkout, and Kroger can change its part without notice. Without the number, a purchase earns only the card’s own points. There is no cap on the card’s points.

Values assume 1 cent per point. Categories follow merchant codes, so third-party sellers, mobile card readers or a digital wallet that assigns its own code may not earn the expected rate.

A flat-rate 2% cash back pick on $1,500 a month earns $360 a year, or $456 once you add the $96 of loyalty points you’d get at Kroger anyway. This card earns $516 on that mix, $60 more, and less if little of your spending goes to Kroger. If groceries and gas are your main categories, compare it with our picks for the best grocery credit cards and the best gas credit cards.

Redeeming Rewards

All points land in one Kroger rewards balance. One point is worth $0.01 as dollars off groceries, redeemed in 100-point increments at participating stores. The daily maximum is 50,000 points ($500). Ruler and Harris Teeter are excluded for redemption. Points can also go toward fuel discounts, but the value per point is not stated, so I don’t count them.

Here is the trap: a redeemed dollars-off reward expires on the last day of the month after it is issued. The welcome bonus and the birthday reward expire at the end of the second month. Redeem when you are about to shop. Card points themselves do not expire while the account is active and in good standing, but the account counts as inactive after 12 straight months with no settled transactions.

There is no cash back: points only go to Kroger groceries or fuel discounts. The program is simple, as long as you shop in the Kroger family.

Fees and Costs

$0 a year, so there is no fee to break even against. The card carries no foreign transaction fee; see our guide to foreign transaction fees if you travel. Balance transfers cost $0 for a limited time (see the balance transfer offer terms), and the offer terms and any transfer APR are not known, so do not plan around it. Our guide to how balance transfers work covers the mechanics.

The purchase APR is 18.24%–32.24% variable, with no intro APR on purchases. Carry a balance and the rewards disappear fast. As a simple annual approximation, $1,000 carried costs about $182 at 18.24% and about $322 at 32.24%. At the high end, a $1,600 balance costs $516, the entire yearly rewards of the Kroger-heavy household. Our APR guide explains how the rate works.

Late and returned payments cost up to $41 each. There is no over-limit fee.

How It Compares

The closest rivals are the American Express Blue Cash cards, which pay cash. For the Kroger-heavy household, and assuming Kroger store and online orders count as U.S. supermarket purchases and Kroger fuel as a gas station (an assumption, not a guarantee), the Amex Blue Cash Preferred earns $528 a year. Its $95 fee is waived the first year, and the welcome offer adds $300, so year one is $828 and year two is $433 after the fee. The Amex Blue Cash Everyday earns $348 a year, or $548 in year one with its $200 offer.

Blue Cash Preferred wins year one by $202 and pays cash. The Kroger card wins from year two by $93, if you stay a Kroger-family shopper. If you like store cards in general, the Crate & Barrel Visa Signature is another First Bank & Trust card run by Imprint; here is our Crate & Barrel Visa Signature review. For the wider trade-offs between a retailer-branded card and an everyday card, see our store card vs everyday card comparison.