Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card Review

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card Essentials

Imagine getting money back for shopping on Amazon.com and at Whole Foods? That's not a dream. It's what you get with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card.

The card offers Prime members 5% back on their Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market purchases and those points can be redeemed for future Amazon.com purchases or for cash back via an account statement credit or electronic deposit into an eligible account. Rewards credit cards commonly provide 1.5% or 2% back on purchases – or perhaps more in certain categories – but this card goes well beyond that for Amazon and Whole Foods purchases and, let’s be honest, between Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market, there aren’t many things you buy that you couldn’t purchase at 5% back.

But there are a couple of things and those things are eligible for rewards too. You earn 2% back at restaurants, gas stations and drug stores and 1% back on all your other purchases. The information related to this card has been collected by CardRatings and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer.

Another benefit that sets this card apart from others is that it doesn't have an annual fee. You do need an Amazon Prime membership to earn the 5% back (otherwise, you’d earn 3% back on those purchases). That membership costs $119 annually and has other perks, including free two-day shipping for eligible items, free streaming from the Amazon Prime movie and TV library and a host of other perks and features.

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• $300 - $10,000 credit limits
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What Our Editors Like Most About the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card

The 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods Market purchases is one of the more generous benefits available, especially when you see that the amount you can earn isn’t capped. The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card also offers flexibility when you redeem points. Let's say you make a $100 purchase on Amazon. When you go to pay for the purchase, Amazon allows you to reduce the amount by using your points. So, if you have $50 worth of points in this scenario (that would be 5,000 points), you could use your points and then pay only $50 for the purchase.

Every 100 points are worth $1 toward a purchase. That means if you use your card for $1,000 in Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, that's 5,000 points or $50 to redeem on Amazon.

Sometimes, you might want to use your points for other reasons. The card lets you redeem points for cash back (starting at 2,000 points), gift cards and travel. For instance, 2,500 points can get a $25 gift card and you can choose from flights, hotels, cruises and car rentals, too.

And we really haven’t discussed that you’ll receive a $150 Amazon gift card as a welcome gift immediately upon approval for the card.

Beyond being a solid rewards credit card, cardholders also benefit from not having to pay foreign transaction fees, so feel free to take this card with you on your next venture abroad. Plus, there are many card perks. With the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection, for instance, you get room upgrades and VIP guest status at some of the country's top hotels.

Additionally, Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card cardholders receive travel benefits like 24/7 Visa Signature Concierge Service to help you plan and book a trip. Other perks include travel and emergency assistance, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance and travel accident insurance. There's also roadside assistance and an auto rental collision damage waiver.

Potential Downsides of the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card

There are other rewards cards with more flexible introductory bonuses and even 0% introductory APR periods for purchases and/or balance transfers if those things are important to you (which is understandable if they are). Other cards might give you hundreds of dollars’ worth of points when you spend a minimum amount in the first three months. You won't get that with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card. Instead, you receive a $150 Amazon gift card when you're approved, which might be exactly what someone like you wants given that you’re applying for an Amazon-branded credit card.

There's also no introductory low or 0% APR period, which could be important if you were wanting to do some serious shopping and have a few extra months to pay it off interest-free.

The card also limits how you can redeem points. For instance, you can't use your points for Amazon Kindle downloads, digital music, Amazon video titles, Amazon Appstore apps and Prime memberships. Keep that in mind if you plan to were hoping to use your card to make those purchases; of course, you can redeem your points for cash back as statement credit or as a deposit into an account, which would, technically, give you the funds to pay for those things. It’s just an extra step to take rather than simply “paying with points.”

Lastly, this card is only for Prime members (if your Prime membership isn’t kept current once you have the card, you’ll drop to only earning 3% at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market), but there is another option for those without that membership – the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card. The Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card offers cardholders 3% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases. Otherwise, there's no difference between the two cards' rewards programs.

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card Cardholder Scores

*Scores above reflect the results of surveys with actual cardholders. Full methodology below.

How the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card Compares to Other Rewards Credit Cards

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card vs. CardName discontinued

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Neither card charges an annual fee and both offer 5% back on a category of purchases. While the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card lets you maximize points on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, CardName offers 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in categories that rotate each quarter (you must activate the bonus categories quarterly in order to earn at that rate).

You might get 5% back on charges at gas stations one quarter and then enjoy 5% at grocery stores the next. All other purchases get 1% cash back as do your purchases in the bonus categories after hitting the spending cap. CardName has traditionally named Amazon.com purchases a 5% category at least once per calendar year, often during the holiday season.

Another huge perk with CardName is that Discover matches all the cash back you earn in the first year, which means that earning $150 in cash back during your first year will effectively mean you earn $300 in cash back that first year. Discover also doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee, but the card isn't accepted in as many global locations as Visa and Mastercard, so keep that in mind.

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card vs. CardName

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The CardName doesn't charge an annual fee and has a new offer that lets you maximize your cash back in the category of your choice: gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores or home improvement/furnishings.

Now you can earn 3% cash back in your choice category and 2% back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases) and an unlimited 1% back on all other purchases.

Cardholders also earn a $200 online cash rewards bonus when they make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.

This card is an option if you spend a lot of time at the pump and in grocery store aisles or, thanks to the option to choose your category, if you're a regular online shopper.

Interested in additional options for online shopping? See our roundup of the best credit cards for online shopping for more.

Who Should Get This Card?

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card is meant for Prime members who are regular Amazon and Whole Foods Market shoppers. You get 5% back on those purchases, which is one of the more generous rewards programs. Plus, you don't pay an annual fee. That combination is rare.

Plus, it's not just an Amazon-branded card; the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card offers multiple benefits and no foreign transaction fees and the chance to earn bonus rewards beyond your Amazon purchases.

All of these perks, and more, make the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card a well-rounded credit card.

Survey Methodology: CardRatings commissioned Op4G in September and October 2022 to conduct surveys among 1,554 cardholders nationwide. CardRatings website analytics from Jan. 1, 2022-Aug. 31, 2022 were used to determine a selection of the most popular cards and additional cards were included to add survey breadth. Responses to each of nine questions were given on a scale of 1-10 and respondents' scores were then averaged under broad topics. To determine the overall score, responses from questions 1-8 were summed and the answer to "How likely are you to recommend this card to a friend, coworker or family member?" was double weighted. "Current Scores" reflect scores from the most recent survey (2022); "Past Scores" reflect scores from the 2021 survey.