Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card Review: Get 5% Cash Back and a Suite of Perks

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Best for Amazon and Whole Foods Shoppers

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card is the second credit card I opened in college, and I’ve had it for over 10 years now. It’s also one of my favorite credit cards because it offers 5% cash back at Amazon.com, which is where I do most of my online shopping. It can be especially beneficial if you’re planning to do a lot of shopping online during Amazon Prime Day and the holidays.

The card isn’t just great for Amazon purchases, however. Here’s everything you can expect to get with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card.

The card, which is issued by Chase, doesn’t offer a big sign-up bonus, but for people who spend a lot online and at Whole Foods Market, it’s tough to beat.

Rewards Rates

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card offers 5% cash back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market, 2% back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores, and 1% back on everything else. Note, however, that if you want to earn the 5% rate at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market, you'll need to be a Prime subscriber.

If you're not an eligible Prime member, you'll be downgraded to the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card, which offers just 3% back on those purchases.

An Amazon Prime subscription costs $119 per year, but if it helps you earn 2% more back with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card, you could recoup that cost after you spend $5,950 per year at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market.

Annual Fee

The card doesn't charge an annual fee, which is great if you're already a Prime member and you're spending that money whether or not you have the card. If you don't have an Amazon Prime membership, though, you will need to pay the $119 annual fee to join, which may feel steep if you wouldn't otherwise join Prime.

Average Percentage Yield (APR)

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card APR is a variable regular APR based on creditworthiness. APR is the interest rate for a whole year, rather than just a monthly rate, as applied to whatever balance you carry from one statement period to the next. Chase will determine your APR during the approval process. However, APRs can fluctuate periodically as a credit card issuer adjusts its rates to the market.

Redemption

The cash back you earn comes in the form of points, and unlike most store credit cards, you'll get a lot of flexibility with how you can use them. Your points are worth 1 cent apiece, regardless of how you use them, and you can opt for one of the following:

• Pay for Amazon.com purchases at checkout
• Get cash back in the form of a direct deposit
• Request a statement credit to help pay down your balance
• Buy gift cards through Chase (review the latest Chase gift card deals)
• Book travel through the Chase Travel Center

One thing to note is that if you want to use your points to book travel, you'll need to call Chase to do it. There's no way to go through the process online.

While the redemption rate is the same for all options, I'd recommend avoiding using your points to pay at checkout. The reason is that if you're using rewards, you're not getting the 5% back on the amount that you'd get if you were using your card.

For example, if you have a $100 purchase and use your card, you'd get $5 back, and you can request a direct deposit or statement credit for $105 to effectively pay off the purchase and more. But if you use your points, you wouldn't get the extra $5. So while it's convenient, skip using your points to pay for Amazon.com purchases during the checkout process.

Bonus

The card doesn't have a standing sign-up bonus like most rewards credit cards. However, from time to time, Amazon will offer a gift card, which it will load onto your account as soon as your credit card is opened. The highest bonus I've seen is a $100 gift card, but the actual bonus can vary.

Amazon Prime Rewards Signature Visa Bonus

Currently, for Prime members, the Amazon Prime Rewards Signature Visa bonus is a $100 gift card immediately applied to your account upon approval. However, this bonus offer may vary depending on the time of year you choose to apply, as well as your geographical location at time of application.

Amazon Rewards Visa Card Bonus

For those who aren't Prime members, the Amazon Rewards Visa Card bonus is a $50 gift card applied to your account upon approval. Similar to the Prime Rewards Card bonus, this offer can vary by seasonality and geographical location.

Benefits

While the card's rewards program alone makes it worth having in your wallet, it also offers some significant perks that you don't normally get with a cash-back credit card, as well as some that are pretty standard:

• Travel accident insurance: If you use the card to pay for eligible transportation, you qualify for accidental death and dismemberment coverage of up to $500,000.
• Lost luggage reimbursement: If a carrier loses or damages your luggage, you can get reimbursed for up to $3,000 to replace the contents.
• Baggage delay insurance: If a carrier delays your luggage by six hours or more, you can get reimbursed up to $100 per day for up to three days for essential purchases like clothing and toiletries.
• Rental car insurance: Use your card to pay for your car rental and decline the company's coverage, and you'll get insurance for theft and collision damage (secondary to your personal auto insurance policy).
• Roadside dispatch: If you experience a roadside emergency, you can call to get a dispatch for a tow, jumpstart, tire change, lockout service, winching and even gas delivery. While the dispatch service is free, the actual assistance is not.
• Purchase protection: If you purchase an eligible item with the card and it's damaged or stolen within 120 days of the purchase date, you'll be covered up to $500 per item and up to $50,000 total on your account.
• Extended warranty protection: If you buy an eligible item with your card and the item has a warranty of three years or less, you'll get an additional year's worth of protection.
• No foreign transaction fees: The card won't charge a fee, which is typically 3%, when you make other purchases abroad.

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Versus Amazon Rewards Visa

If you are looking to earn rewards on everyday purchases, then you should get either the Amazon Rewards Card or the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card. While both are no-annual-fee cards, the main difference is whether or not you have an Amazon Prime membership. Prime members will be able to earn 5% back at Amazon and Whole Foods. Whereas, non-Prime members will only earn 3% back for the same purchases.

5 Ways to Save With the Amazon Prime Rewards Signature Visa

Squeeze More Out of Every Amazon Prime Purchase

Right now, there doesn’t seem to be any other credit card that offers such a high rewards rate for spending at Amazon and Whole Foods. You get 5% back on qualifying Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, which is great for those who are fans of both retailers.

Sure, other cards occasionally offer bonus categories that could rival this card, but as a regular patron of Amazon, I don’t want to wait for rotating categories to come around. In many cases, I find big-ticket items tend to be cheaper on Amazon, and the rewards rate helps me save even more money.

You can further optimize your spending by checking Slickdeals for any Amazon deals or coupon codes before making any other purchases.

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Has No Annual Fee

While this co-branded Chase card technically has no annual fee, you do need Prime membership to get this card. If you’ve already paid the annual Prime membership fee anyway, why not sign up and start earning rewards? Even if you put the card in your sock drawer, you’re not out any cash.

Additionally, if you downgrade and no longer want to be one of the millions of Amazon Prime members, you can still earn cash rewards. Instead, you’ll earn 3% cash back on spending at Amazon and Whole Foods, and you’re still not subject to an annual fee.

Redeem Points Any Time You Want

You can earn an unlimited amount of rewards, and they don’t expire. There’s also no minimum redemption requirements — use them as soon as they land in your rewards account. Whenever you check out at Amazon and you’ve linked your card, you should be able to see how much cash back you have, and whether you want to use it up.

Since points don’t expire, you can save them for big-ticket items or deals during Prime Day or Black Friday. However, like we stated earlier, redeeming points for products means you miss out on the 5% back you would have otherwise earned. But if you're ok with missing out on the extra savings, saving points for holiday spending is a popular option.  Knowing that Prime deliveries take one to two days to arrive, I’ve been able to ship off last-minute gifts in time to go under the tree.

Nab Some Other Perks While You’re At It

Aside from getting cash rewards, there are other perks, like certain consumer protections. This card comes with extended warranty protection on qualifying items. Not that I usually shell out extra cash for those types of warranty add-ons, but it’s nice knowing that my purchases have additional protection.

Like other cards issued by Chase, Amazon Prime Rewards Signature Visa features purchase protection up to $500 per claim, a maximum of $50,000 per account when your item is damaged or stolen within 120 days. But always check the fine print to see which products qualify.

The Amazon Prime credit card is a great backup card when traveling abroad too. International purchases aren’t subject to foreign transaction fees and you can get other benefits such as baggage delay insurance and travel accident insurance. But only when travel purchases are made on the card, of course. Thank goodness we haven’t had to make any claims for loss or damage during our travels, but travel protection does bring piece of mind.

Additionally, the 2% back at gas stations and drugstores is a great value for other purchases that don't fit neatly into traditional rewards categories like spending at supermarkets or home improvement stores.

Start Getting Free (or Heavily Discounted) Amazon Purchases

If your already legions of Amazon Prime members, it’s worth looking into getting the Amazon credit card for the cash rewards alone. It's a no-annual-fee card that squeezes more savings from every Amazon or Whole Foods purchase.

However, the Amazon Prime credit card might not be worth it, if you don’t spend more than $5,950 a year for the extra 2% in earnings — the amount that makes up for the cost of membership. For the occasional Amazon shopper, you might want to stick with the regular Amazon Rewards Visa card. However, if you use other services Prime Video or music streaming, this 5% back card is a no-brainer.

Apply for Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card is one of the best store credit cards available. It offers excellent rewards at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market, gas stations, as well as on other purchases, and it provides standout benefits you won't normally see from a store card or even a standard cash-back credit card for that matter.

If you regularly shop at Amazon.com or Whole Foods Market and you're a Prime member, the card's a no-brainer. If you're not a Prime member, do the math on a membership and your typical online spending to determine if it's a good bet for you.