Tell me your Amazon Credit Card experience

[Time2]

I got a $100 Amazon gift offer if I sign up for an Amazon Credit Card.
Amazon says I would have saved $107 on my last year of purchases.
I am tempted, years ago I got rid of all but one card just to simplify. Since then my wife has got two more Sam's and Lowe's. Both have 5% off, last I knew. So much for simplification.

I have a freeze on the big 3 Credit reporting agencies, so I need to unfreeze one to get the card. I have NOT had a lot of luck getting the one CC reporting agency I need to unfreeze. I contacted Syncrony bank and went around in circles with the agent naming all three companies 3 times before he only saying one, Equifax. So I still don't know if that is the correct one, I'm not sure he did.

I know Amazon has reduced their cash back a while ago, so it is not quite as good as it was.

I'll get paid $100 for getting the card and save near $100 a year.

Is the Amazon Card worth the hassle to get it?

 

[Ready]

I have the Amazon card where I get 5% back on all Amazon and Whole Foods purchases. I only use it for Amazon and Whole Foods but 5% is a great deal. I buy a lot on Amazon so I get a monthly credit that I can use toward Amazon purchases. I’m happy with it.

 

[Aerides]

For me it was no hassle, no more than any other card. (I don't have a credit freeze to deal with as I'd rather monitor than freeze, which seems like it creates more hassle than benefit to me.)

Applied, I think they first give you the store card with 3% then upgraded to the CC with 5%. Put it as the default payment on my amazon account. Done, 5% all the time.

I keep it in my wallet for whenever I go to Whole Foods too.

 

[Markola]

Another nice benefit for us of the Amazon Prime Signature Visa card we have is no fees while traveling internationally. Not all cards have that.

 

[flintnational]

We have it and get 5% back on Amazon purchases. it is our default card on their website. So, we automatically save 5%. We do not use it for anything else.

 

[tb001]

I love it. I only use it for amazon, so it’s never left the drawer, but the cash back is great. And it’s nice to be able to use amazon pay for things online and get the extra 5%. They’re opening one of their new grocery stores locally, so I imagine I’ll use it there as well.

My only complaint, which is more of a complaint with amazon than the CC specifically, is that at one point there was a gift card offer. Load $x on your account and get a bonus. It unfortunately seems to keep auto loading and then this gets set as the default payment, in spite of me repeatedly selecting the CC as a default.

 

[jollystomper]

we have it, no issues. We do buy a lot on Amazon as there are certain things for which we feel they are the best and quickest source. We spend enough so that the cash back covers the cost of Amazon Prime.

 

[mpeirce]

I have the Amazon card where I get 5% back on all Amazon and Whole Foods purchases. I only use it for Amazon and Whole Foods but 5% is a great deal. I buy a lot on Amazon so I get a monthly credit that I can use toward Amazon purchases. I’m happy with it.

Same here. We also buy a fair amount at Amazon and 5% is enough to make us notice.

We use our Costco Citibank Visa for most other stuff. Besides 4% for Costco purchases (we also buy a lot there) they offer 3% for travel nd restaurants (Amazon offers 2% for restaurants, unclear about other travel like hotel and airfare), also gasoline is 4% with Costco card, 2% Amazon. They are both 1% for "other" purchases.

The one other special use card we have is Apple. They offer 3% on Apple purchases - iPhones, Macs, watches, etc. plus services like Apple Music or Apple One. They also offer 2% on any purchase when you use the Apple Card via Apple Pay. That's better than the 1% with the other cards.

1. Amazon for Amazon purchases
2. Apple for Apple purchases.
3. Apple for Apple Pay purchases.
4. Costco for all other.

That's enough complexity for us.

P.S. We only carry the Costco card. The other two are for careless purchases.

 

[audreyh1]

5% back on our Amazon purchases is a huge rebate. We buy a lot. We use only the Amazon store card, not the Amazon VISA card. Chase dropped us on our original Amazon VISA cards due to lack of use.

Synchrony bank - yes, that’s the Amazon Store Card. I recommend it.

 

[Dd852]

Like others above, I got it and use it exclusively for Amazon - and I buy enough with Amazon that the discount is nice, and since it costs me 0, why not?

 

[Gumby]

We have the Chase Amazon card as our default payment method on Amazon, which is all we use it for. Getting a permanent 5% discount on all the stuff we buy from Amazon (which we would buy anyway) is quite a good deal in my book.

 

[cathy63]

There are two different Amazon cards.

The Amazon Store Card is through Synchrony Bank and you can only use it at Amazon. You can't use it at Whole Foods stores, though you can use it on Amazon Fresh which is delivered from Whole Foods.

The Amazon Credit Card is through Chase and it's a regular Visa card that you can use everywhere Visa is accepted.

The only problem I've had with the Chase credit card is that it's metal and it doesn't work at some parking kiosks. Both times I've seen this there's been a sign on the kiosk itself warning people not to put metal credit cards in the slot.

 

[calmloki]

We use my Chase Ink card, which gets 5% back at bookstores (you know, like Amazon) and office supply. Then shift the points to Gal's Chase Sapphire Reserve card, where the points are worth a point and a half on travel and Chase designated pandemic travel replacements.

I'm pretty picky on adding new cards - bonus offered often is of more value than points. For example: I just referred Gal to a new Chase Business Ink for her. Chase gave me $200 worth of points for the referral and will give her $750 in points after she spends like a demon on the rentals. $950 just in bonus and referral money, and that is before any bump up in value by transferring to the CSR account.

 

[Tadpole]

I have had the Amazon Store Card for over ten years. It is now with Synchrony bank. I have never had an issue, returns and refunds go seamlessly, and I pay off the bill each month. I have been using the built up rewards for vanity purchases in the past but plan to start using them to apply to the bill.

 

[Time2]

OP here, Wow, lots of agreement that it is worth having.
Next time I get the $100 gift card offer, I'll bite.

 

[gattara]

Very happy with the 5% rebate; I buy a lot on Amazon. My problem is that the few times a year I go to Whole Foods, I forget to use this credit card ...

 

[Markola]

Very happy with the 5% rebate; I buy a lot on Amazon. My problem is that the few times a year I go to Whole Foods, I forget to use this credit card ...

I haven’t done it yet but I’m hoping that when I use the Amazon Prime app to check out at the Whole Foods store it charges to the Amazon card I have linked to Prime.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

There are two different Amazon cards.

The Amazon Store Card is through Synchrony Bank and you can only use it at Amazon. You can't use it at Whole Foods stores, though you can use it on Amazon Fresh which is delivered from Whole Foods.

The Amazon Credit Card is through Chase and it's a regular Visa card that you can use everywhere Visa is accepted.

The only problem I've had with the Chase credit card is that it's metal and it doesn't work at some parking kiosks. Both times I've seen this there's been a sign on the kiosk itself warning people not to put metal credit cards in the slot.

We use the Chase Amazon Visa, which gives 5% back on Amazon purchases IF you have a Prime membership. Also 2% on gas and restaurants (neither of which have been used much in the last year of staying home).

We had the Amazon store card for a while but didn't see the point in carrying a redundant card, so we cancelled it.

I hadn't heard about the metal card issue. Our Amazon cards are plastic, so I might have to look out for that when the time comes to get a new physical card.

[Edit to add]: I think I got the store card in response to a gift card offer or something, but I really don't remember.

 

[Cobra9777]

We have the Amazon-branded Chase VISA, with 5% cash-back on Amazon purchases. Great card. The physical card never leaves my sock drawer. We use a grandfathered AMEX Blue Cash for 5% on groceries, gasoline, and drug stores. Everything else goes on the Fidelity/Elan 2% VISA.

Based on our mix of purchases, we average a little over 3% cash back on all credit card purchases. I especially like the Amazon 5% card in conjunction with Subscribe and Save, which typically adds another 15-20% off the regular price. Our net price on dog food is $38, versus $57 at the local pet store. And it lands at my front door automatically every month.

 

[Alectoris]

I have the Chase version and like it. I do use Amazon a fair bit and the 2% on gas is nice.

No problems using it.

 

[Sunset]

OP - What I do when I'm about to apply for a new CC, is temporarily unfreeze ALL 3 credit agencies for 24 hours. I do it on their web site and it was easy and fast.

Because it's a temporary un-freeze I don't have to go back to freeze them.

I feel it's a tiny risk that in that 24 hours someone would open a new bank account.

ETA: I haven't opened a new CC due to covid, not really spending enough, instead I closed 3 credit cards and am down to 5

 

[Dash man]

Experian and Equifax have apps that make it easy to lock and unlock your credit. Transunion for some reason discontinued their app, but it's still easy to lock and unlock on their website.

 

[Chuckanut]

The Amazon card was a no-brainer for me.

Since I already have Prime for the video service (no cable for me) the card gives me a full 5% back on any purchases at Amazon. Even though Amazon is no longer a low-price leader, the 5% can be the deciding factor for me. Mr. Bezos is one smart guy.

Once I got an Amazon offer for 5% off on any phone service or utility payment made on the card. So I prepaid three months of my electric bill using the card. That was nice. And it sure beat the return on regular and money market savings at that time.

I also use Amazon Smile to order, so 0.5% of eligible purchases goes to a charitable organization near me that helps kids in distressed situations.

 

[Major Tom]

Dagnabbit, I was completely convinced that I would never again apply for a new credit card. Now y'all have me considering getting the Amazon one!

 

[jazz4cash]

I have the ChaseAmazon card. Works well for me with autopay. I use cashback credit cards as much as possible. Besides 5% back on Amazon purchases, I really like the Chase online account interface. It has very detailed credit report access through Experian. I would think if they only use one agency to approve an application it would be experian. I don’t want another card issued by Synchrony. I have found the user interface for every Synchrony application to be hard to navigate.