Any Amazon credit card users here?

[disneysteve]

My daughter is looking for a new rewards card and is considering the Amazon card but there are a bunch of negative reviews. Mostly saying that people are getting hit with interest charges immediately after purchase, even when they don’t have a balance.

Do any of you have the card? If so, any issues?

 

[dmpi]

I have the Amazon Prime Chase card. Never had an interest charge on it.

 

[SloHan]

^^ the same just pay the balance every month and never an interest charge

 

[REWahoo]

I've had an Amazon Prime card for many years and never had any issues.

 

[harley]

I use the Amazon Chase card, and have for years. I charge tens of thousands of dollars each year (side hustle), and have never had a single problem. I pay it off each month, or sooner if I use up my credit limit. They've been very responsive to any issue I've had, and raised my limit multiple times at my request. And the 5% cash back on Amazon purchases is unbeatable anywhere else, afaik.

I'd highly recommend it. Just make sure she learns right away, never carry a balance. That's true no matter what card she ends up with.

 

[DJRR]

My daughter is looking for a new rewards card and is considering the Amazon card but there are a bunch of negative reviews. Mostly saying that people are getting hit with interest charges immediately after purchase, even when they don’t have a balance.

Do any of you have the card? If so, any issues?

Quite the opposite. Chase is IMO the best at running credit cards. They let me finance larger purchases at 0% or have a balance transfer and you can set an automatic payment for the interest saving amount. This pays all new charges and the minimum payment for your BT or financed piece and you pay the minimum interest possible. If you have 0% financing then you pay $0 interest automatically. You can also directly deposit balance transfers into your checking account vs. having to pay a creditor. I use this card for all Amazon and Whole Foods purchases and have never had a problem. Also, rewards show up on your Amazon checkout page, so they are easy to use.

 

[W2R]

I've had an Amazon Prime card for many years and never had any issues.

+1

I have my Amazon Prime Chase Visa card set up to automatically pay off the full balance every month, and that works nicely for me with no interest ever, and no problems.

One really cool thing about it is that your un-spent rewards points show up at the Amazon check-out (after a few days) so when making purchases you can choose to use them (or not) at that time, very easy.

IIRC Amazon has another credit card but I know nothing about that one.

 

[Dean56]

I have a Amazon Prime Chase Visa card. You get 5% cash back on every purchase on the Amazon website. Never had any issues.

 

[troutnut1]

Saves me a lot on all my Amazon purchases (5%). Thats all I use it for and I’ve never had any problems.

 

[Katsmeow]

OP - maybe she is looking at a different card. I have the Amazon Prime Visa card which works great.

+1



One really cool thing about it is that your un-spent rewards points show up at the Amazon check-out (after a few days) so when making purchases you can choose to use them (or not) at that time, very easy.

I used to use it as a credit at check out. But, someone here explained why that is not a good idea. If you use a $5 credit on an item then it reduces the purchase price of the item and you don't get reward points on them. So, now I never use it to get a credit at check out and just get the cash back deposited to my account.

 

[badatmath]

I have the Amazon Prime Chase card. Never had an interest charge on it.

Yep had it for years not a penny of interest. I am not a prime subscriber so it is only 3% on the purchases though. But it is totally fine.

 

[Major Tom]

I've had the Amazon Prime Visa card through Chase for about 2 years now. I pay off the balance in full every month, and have never had any interest added to the balance. No issues at all and, as others have said, the 5% back on Amazon purchases sure is a sweet deal. The percentages back on other purchases are roughly the same as other cards so, overall, it's better than the other cards for me (I buy a fair amount of stuff from Amazon).

 

[braumeister]

I wonder where she saw those reviews? I've never heard anything against that card. Been using it extensively since 2015.

 

[DrRoy]

Love the rebate. No issues.

 

[disneysteve]

I wonder where she saw those reviews? I've never heard anything against that card. Been using it extensively since 2015.

The reviews are right on the Amazon page where the card is promoted.

I don’t know if it matters but she’s looking at the non-Prime card because she isn’t a Prime member. Rewards are a bit less but she isn’t planning to pay for Prime as she uses our account.

I thought I’ve heard nothing but good things about their cards but the reviews were surprisingly bad but we know to always be skeptical about those. Plus when it comes to banking most of the problems people experience are their own fault like late fees and overdrafts and such.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Aerides]

My daughter is looking for a new rewards card and is considering the Amazon card but there are a bunch of negative reviews. Mostly saying that people are getting hit with interest charges immediately after purchase, even when they don’t have a balance.

Do any of you have the card? If so, any issues?

I have it, it's fine, no issues, and the 5% back is very nice.

Those reviews sound suspect to me. Banking systems work automatically, they don't randomly charge interest when you don't carry a balance. They are so highly regulated it just doesn't happen - accounting errors, etc. Probably the folks writing those reviews are wrong, or they don't realize things like cash advances always incur day1 interest?

 

[braumeister]

The reviews are right on the Amazon page where the card is promoted.

I looked at that page and saw an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5, from 101,668 ratings. So that doesn't sound exactly terrible. I would ignore those bad ones and go for it.

 

[jollystomper]

Probably the folks writing those reviews are wrong, or they don't realize things like cash advances always incur day1 interest?

I believe what you said that I bolded above is very true. Many folks use cards for cash advances, and they do not expect the interest charges to start accruing immediately. Based on the timing of the withdrawal with your statement cycle, you can still see interest charges after the statement you paid in full.

I have the Amazon card, it is fine, both the 5% Prime and the other benefits. But I did get it primarily because I was a Prime member. One who is not a Prime member can find the other card benefits at other cards (sometimes better). I will add that Chase has provided us with great customer service across all of our cards. Sometimes the issue is less "what benefits does the card provide" and more "how will I be treated when something goes wrong?" On the latter, Chase has been outstanding for us.

 

[Gumby]

We've had the Chase Amazon Prime Visa Card for years, specifically to make purchases on Amazon, since it gets 5% back. We've have it on autopay and have never paid interest.

P.S. - when I read reviews for any product, I look at the negative ones too. Reading them, I have concluded that many of the people leaving those reviews (for credit cards, rocking chairs, rice cookers or whatever) are idiots who couldn't organize a two car funeral, let alone their own financial lives.

 

[qwerty3656]

no problems with my amazon card (chase)

 

[Golden Mean]

Big fan of my Amazon Chase card. On top of everything said above, there are no foreign transaction fees with this card.

 

[W2R]

I don’t know if it matters but she’s looking at the non-Prime card because she isn’t a Prime member. Rewards are a bit less but she isn’t planning to pay for Prime as she uses our account.

I think that just about all the glowing replies to your post were about the Prime card, not the card you mentioned. Might want to keep that in mind.

 

[badatmath]

I wanted to add when I was a prime member they upped it immediately to the 5% and adjusted it back down to 3% when I quit. Either way it it chase visa with no issues and I have had it several years.

 

[lucky penny]

Love the rebate. No issues.

A great tip on the Prime card rebate (which I discovered on this forum) is that instead of using it to pay for new purchases on Amazon, you can use it to get a credit on your monthly statement.

Most people probably use the "cash back" reward for future purchases because it feels great to get a future purchase "for free" -- but if you do that, you miss getting a 5% bonus on the new purchase. On the other hand, if you apply the reward as "statement credit" to your account, you get the full monetary credit (it reduces your bill) plus you also get 5% back on the new purchase by using your card to pay for it.

 

[Koolau]

A great tip on the Prime card rebate (which I discovered on this forum) is that instead of using it to pay for new purchases on Amazon, you can use it to get a credit on your monthly statement.

Most people probably use the "cash back" reward for future purchases because it feels great to get a future purchase "for free" -- but if you do that, you miss getting a 5% bonus on the new purchase. On the other hand, if you apply the reward as "statement credit" to your account, you get the full monetary credit (it reduces your bill) plus you also get 5% back on the new purchase by using your card to pay for it.

Excellent analysis. Thanks for the 'hack.'