Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card review: A role model retail card

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card is one of the best online shopping credit cards due to its high reward rates on Amazon purchases with no spending caps and Visa Signature benefits. This card is worth it if you spend around $2,800 or more at Amazon and Whole Foods. If used to its full potential, you can easily recoup the cost of your Amazon Prime membership while enjoying other key perks, including surprisingly rich travel and purchase protections.

However, the cost of an Amazon Prime membership, being limited to Amazon brands for your best reward tiers and a few missing purchase protections are the biggest drawbacks — but these are minor nitpicks compared to what many other store cards don't offer.

Quick highlights

• Rewards rate: 5 percent back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market; 2 percent back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores; 1 percent back on all other purchases
• Welcome offer: Up to $150 Amazon gift card upon approval
• Annual fee: $0 ($139 Amazon Prime subscription required)
• Purchase intro APR: N/A
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A
• Regular APR: 18.49 percent to 26.49 percent (variable)

Current welcome offer

You can currently receive an Amazon gift card worth up to $150 just by being approved for the Prime Rewards Visa card, which is equal to the card’s highest-value promotion we saw in 2021 — and a good step up from the previous $100 gift card offer. However, it’s important to note that the value of this gift card may vary depending on the page you apply from.

The previous $100 promotion wasn’t a bad offer by any means — as the bonus gift card was once worth $70 — but seeing the much more competitive up to $150 gift card return makes for a much more enticing hook. The $100 value was below the low end of many of the best credit card sign-up bonuses. However, there is no spending requirement for the standard Amazon credit offer (you receive the bonus instantly) and many store cards don’t offer a sign-up bonus at all. As far as retail cards go, the bonus is a nice plus since it can cover the annual $139 cost of Amazon Prime membership for the first year.

Rewards rate

Regular Amazon shoppers will have no problem earning a slew of rewards with the Prime Rewards card. With one of the highest-earning rates available for Amazon purchases, you’ll only need to spend $2,780 each year to recoup your Prime membership — or about $232 per month.

How you earn

Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market purchases will earn you unlimited 5 percent rewards. Plus, you’ll earn 2 percent at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores, along with 1 percent back on all other purchases.

Since the 5 percent category also applies to Whole Foods Market, the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature is also one of the best cards for grocery rewards rates if you do your grocery shopping there.

Amazon and Chase occasionally offer additional ways to earn rewards. For example, Amazon regularly posts limited-time “Exclusive Prime cardmember” offers that provide anywhere from 10 to 25 percent back on select items.

How to redeem

Although the reward terms make it sound like you’re earning cash back, you’re actually earning points. You can redeem your points at a 1:1 value toward cash back, travel, gift cards or Amazon purchases upon checkout.

There is no minimum rewards balance to redeem for cash back or for Amazon purchases, but there’s a disappointingly long list of what you can’t buy with points. Many of these items are small purchases that you would probably use points on more often, such as music, Kindle eBooks and video downloads. Depending on what you may spend points on, cash back might be the most flexible option.

How much are the rewards worth?

Each point earned on the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card is worth 1 cent no matter how you redeem it. For example, 50,000 Amazon points are valued at roughly $50. There is no minimum redemption requirement when you redeem your points for Amazon.com purchases. You can maximize your cash back on Amazon by taking advantage of the site’s “subscribe and save deals” and other retailers’ Amazon gift card promotions for extra discounts and rewards.

The Amazon Prime Rewards card carries a surprising number of benefits for a retail card, such as Luxury Hotel Collection benefits, concierge service and premium travel perks.

Since it’s a Visa Signature credit card, it comes with a handful of travel and shopping protections that are standard to many rewards cards. But even these “standard” Visa benefits outweigh those of rival networks, like Discover.

Travel protections

Considering how light co-branded store cards are on perks, the Amazon Prime Rewards card’s depth of travel protection coverage is remarkable.

Your card’s travel accident insurance (coverage up to $500,000), lost luggage reimbursement (up to $3,000 per passenger) and baggage delay insurance (reimburses up to $100 per day for three days) do a little to smooth the rough edges of airport travel. Or, if you’re on the road, the auto rental collision damage waiver and roadside dispatch service can be a big help in a pinch.

Purchase protections

Credit cards that offer purchase protection provide peace of mind when you come across a good deal but are worried about shady merchants or shipping damage. Your Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature offers purchase protection that covers damage or theft up to $500 per claim ($50,000 per account).

As an online shopping card with Visa Signature benefits, it’s surprising that the Amazon Prime Rewards card doesn’t come with price and return protection too. It’s a bit disappointing that you can’t get your money back if a sketchy seller doesn’t offer returns, but return protection is a rarer perk nowadays.

Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection and Concierge Service

The Visa Signature level of the Luxury Hotel Collection grants cardholders seven “VIP Guest status” amenities, including automatic room upgrades when available and other complimentary privileges.

When you need to save time planning your travel or even at home, the free Visa Signature Concierge Service is like a 24-hour personal assistant that can book reservations, tickets and more.

The rates and fees for the Amazon Prime Rewards card are standard, but the “no annual fee” comes with an important footnote. You must have an Amazon Prime membership to get the card, which is currently $14.99 per month or $139 each year (if you opt to pay for a whole year at once).

On Feb. 18, 2022, Amazon’s Prime yearly membership price increased from $119 (previously $12.99 if you pay monthly), making it tougher to spend the extra $400 you need to spend each year (about $34 more per month) at Amazon or Whole Foods to recoup your membership cost, but leaning on your other categories can help fill the gap.

Amazon comes with a variety of valuable benefits, but the cost of Amazon Prime just for this card might not be worth it for shoppers who don’t regularly shop at Amazon or won’t take advantage of other Amazon services like Prime Video. It takes spending at least $232 each month across Amazon.com and Whole Foods to break even on a Prime membership.

Otherwise, you have to spend almost $580 per month across your 2 percent categories with the card to break even. The no-annual-fee Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card might be a more reasonable alternative if you don’t spend a good deal more than that. The standard Amazon Rewards Visa card doesn’t require a Prime subscription but carries a slightly lower rewards rate in exchange.

Other than offsetting Amazon Prime, the only other potential rates to be aware of are the ongoing interest and foreign transaction fees. Fortunately, the 18.49 percent to 26.49 percent variable APR can be well below the current average credit card interest rate. What’s more, there are no foreign transaction fees to worry about if you frequently travel.

Several members of the Bankrate staff love the Amazon Prime Rewards card and dedicate a regular slot in their wallets to it. Bankrate editor Nouri Zarrugh enjoys the versatility Amazon.com online shopping rewards adds to his credit card rotation:

The Amazon Prime Rewards card has given a nice boost to my cash back strategy. Considering the variety of items available on Amazon, this card gets you 5 percent back on almost anything you can think of — from streaming subscriptions via Amazon Channels to grocery deliveries via Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods to tools and home goods — making this easily one of the most versatile cards in my wallet.

— Nouri Zarrugh, Senior Editor at Bankrate

Although they may not reward you as lucratively for your Amazon.com purchases as some of the best cards for shopping on Amazon.com, there are credit cards dedicated to rewarding you for your online and in-person store purchases. Retailers like Walmart and financial institutions like Bank of America are helping consumers earn more on their purchases. Depending on your shopping habits and preferences, either one of these cards could work for you.

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card vs. the Capital One® Walmart Rewards® Card

Ultimately, whether the Amazon Prime Rewards card or the Capital One® Walmart Rewards® Card is the better choice depends on which retailer you shop with online more often. They have comparable reward programs, except the Amazon card offers 2 percent rewards at drugstores while the Walmart card offers 2 percent cash back on travel. While the Walmart card’s travel category would likely have more rewards potential, its gas category only covers Walmart and Murphy USA gas stations, while the Amazon card’s gas category is much more flexible.

You may be able to get more first-year value from the Walmart card since its 12-month 5 percent cash back rate on in-store purchases when using Walmart Pay only takes spending over $3,000 that year (about $250 per month) to eclipse the Amazon card’s up to $150 bonus gift card. However, factors like better benefits, a slightly lower potential ongoing APR and a more popular online shopping platform can make the Amazon Prime Rewards card a slightly better option overall.

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card vs. the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card

If you’re a big online shopper, but you want as much rewards flexibility as you can get month-to-month, the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card is one of the most versatile cash back cards. Granted, its online shopping category rewards rate is lower than the Amazon Prime Rewards’, but you can swap out your highest-earning rate category each month for five other choices that include dining, gas, travel and other everyday expenses. You’ll also benefit from a decent fixed cash back rate on categories that cover grocery stores and wholesale clubs. More interestingly, Bank of America’s online shopping category is one of the most comprehensive available, covering major retailers like Amazon.com and Walmart.com on top of a myriad of retailers and specialty sites like Etsy.com.

The downside is that the Bank of America Customized Cash card’s bonus categories share a $2,500 quarterly spending limit, which will drop all your spending to 1 percent cash back after you exceed it. The Bank of America card’s better welcome offer, intro APR period, and similar ongoing APR may offset this hurdle, but the Amazon Prime card offers unlimited rewards. It’s worth noting that, aside from rewards, the Prime card also has meatier benefits.

Although the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature could be more rewarding if most of your online shopping is through Amazon, the better-rounded Bank of America Customized Cash card could be a more valuable day-to-day option if your online spending is varied enough that you can’t justify a Prime membership.

Best cards to pair with this card

Since the Amazon Prime Rewards card is focused on rewarding Amazon purchases, a general-purpose cash back credit card is a great partner for broader rewards. Flat-rate cards like the Citi® Double Cash Card are solid picks to earn cash back on every other purchase you make. 

The Citi Double Cash has one of the best flat-rate cash back programs on the market. This card offers up to 2 percent cash back (1 percent when you buy and 1 percent when you pay your credit card balance) and its earn-as-you-pay rewards structure helps you track your spending habits — so you can not only earn more than 1 percent cash back on all purchases, but you can also maximize your spending while building credit.

The Amazon Prime Rewards card is undoubtedly worth it if you frequently order from Amazon — especially if you spend over $2,780 each year on the site or spend big during the holidays or on Amazon Prime Day. 

With the Prime Rewards card, you can easily reimburse your Prime membership, better protect your purchases and enjoy a few travel perks to boot. The unlimited 5 percent rewards easily outperform other credit cards’ online shopping categories.

On the flip side, a general-purpose rewards card may earn you more if you prefer higher rewards rates on more variable bonus categories or other online retailers. (Note: business owners may save even more with the Amazon Business Prime American Express Credit Card‘s extra reward categories.) Still, the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature offers better rates and more versatile rewards than many store cards.

All information about the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card, Capital One® Walmart Rewards® Card, and Amazon Business Prime American Express Credit Card has been collected independently by Bankrate.com and has not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.