Amazon “Prime Visa” Card Review: 5% Back for Amazon Prime Members

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Do you have an Amazon Prime subscription in 2023? If so, there is an easy way to save 5% on many of your purchases.

The credit card (formerly known as the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card) offers Amazon Prime members unlimited 5% back at Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and on Chase Travel purchases.

And with special offers for card members, some purchases can be discounted as much as 20%!

But is it worth adding the card to your wallet based on those benefits alone? It likely depends on how much of your monthly shopping you do with Amazon.

In this review, Team Clark will assess all the details of this card and compare it to some of the top rewards cards on the market.

This article was updated in October 2023 and I review it every six months. Detailed notes on all updates can be found here.


Table of Contents


What Is the Prime Visa Card?

The is a rewards credit card that offers cash back perks exclusively to Amazon Prime subscribers.

This card does not carry an annual fee as long as you’re an Amazon Prime member, which costs $139 for a year-long subscription.

It offers unlimited 5% back on purchases made at Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods or Chase Travel for Prime members and unlimited 1%-2% for purchases outside the Amazon ecosystem.

This card is on Team Clark’s list for the top rewards credit cards and best cards for grocery shopping.

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Card Specs and Perks

The Prime Visa requires that you have an Amazon Prime membership in order to reap the benefits of this card.

To join Amazon Prime, which gives you access to free shipping and streaming TV among other benefits, you’ll need either a monthly or annual subscription:

  • Monthly Amazon Prime subscription: $14.99 plus taxes
  • Annual Amazon Prime subscription: $139 plus taxes
  • Groups eligible for discounted subscription rates include: students, EBT recipients

If you don’t have a Prime membership, you have the option to apply for the Amazon Visa instead. It’s similar to this card but rewards only 3% back on Amazon purchases.

Rewards Program

You’ll receive your cash back in the form of rewards points. These will be available to use as soon as the next day after a purchase clears.

You can use your accumulated points to pay for Amazon purchases directly, as credit card statement credits via Chase, or you can request a deposit of the cash back to a bank account you attach to your credit card account.

Top Cardholder Benefits

  • 10% or more off select Amazon products: Cardholders will gain access to discount opportunities on select Amazon products. These are limited-time offers, may have some restrictions and must be purchased with the credit card to receive the big discount.
  • Gift card freebie upon approval: This credit card does not have a traditional welcome bonus that offers a cash reward for a certain threshold of spending. Instead, it offers an instant gift card that is added to your Amazon account upon application approval. The amount on the gift card can vary. At the time of this article, the offer was for a $100 Amazon Gift Card (or more).
  • Extended warranty on many purchases: If you use this card to make a purchase on an eligible warrantied product, it will extend the time period for the manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year. The manufacturer’s warranty has to be three years or less to qualify.
  • Auto rental insurance: Amazon says, to get this coverage, you simply decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your Amazon card. The coverage is secondary to your personal auto insurance, but it can still save you money.
  • Zero-liability fraud protection: If your credit card is lost or stolen, you’re not going to be held liable for any fraudulent charges made with your card.

Prime Visa vs. 2% Cash Back Credit Cards

Money expert Clark Howard’s standard credit card recommendation is to get a rewards card that pays unlimited 2% back on all purchases without an annual fee.

This Amazon card isn’t quite that, but could it be better for a segment of dedicated Amazon consumers?

Let’s do some analysis.

Spending Analysis

Since the merits of having this card are all about how often you spend money at Amazon or Whole Foods, the first thing you want to look at is how much money you spend at those two retailers each month.

Every dollar you spend at either retailer will earn you an additional 3% back on the purchases with the Amazon card versus a 2% card.

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That adds up pretty quickly:

Amazon + Whole Foods Spending Per MonthPrime Visa Cash Back (5%)2% Card Cash Back
$50$2.50$1
$100$5$2
$200$10$4
$300$15$6
$400$20$8
$500$25$10
$800$40$16
$1,000$50$20
$1,500$75$30

Next, for the purposes of this spending analysis, you should throw out any monthly spending on dining, gas and drugstore purchases. That’s because the Amazon card and the unlimited 2% cash back cards are going to reward these purchases at the same rate of return: 2%.

Finally, you should add up all of the purchases that you’ll be making with the credit card each month that don’t fall into the reward categories we’ve already mentioned above: Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, dining, gas or drugstores.

In all the rest of these spending categories, the 2% cash back card is going to give you twice as much return as the Amazon card (1%).

That, too, can add up quickly:

Miscellaneous Spending Per MonthPrime Visa Cash Back (1%)2% Card Cash Back
$50$0.50$1
$100$1$2
$200$2$4
$300$3$6
$400$4$8
$500$5$10
$800$8$16
$1,000$10$20
$1,500$15$30

At the end of the day, we think the best solution is to carry both types of cards in your wallet and use each when it is most advantageous.

However, if you’re picking just one, you’ll have to do some quick math on where you fall in that first table versus where you fall in the second table to figure out which card is going to give you the most cash back in a given month.


Final Thoughts

Are you considering adding the to your wallet? Let’s review some of the major pros and cons of the card before you make your final decision:

Pros and Cons

ProsCons
5% back on Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods purchases, as well as purchases made through Chase TravelMust pay for Prime subscription to receive maximum cash back rewards
No annual or foreign transaction feesHigh balance transfer fee
Auto rental insurance and extended warranty coverages includedNo introductory APR periods on new purchases or balance transfers

Bottom Line

If you’re a frequent Amazon shopper and Prime subscriber, this rewards credit card is a great candidate to add to your wallet.

The 5% that you’ll get back on Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods purchases is among the best returns that you’ll find from any credit card, and the 2% back on three other popular spending categories helps ensure your total rate of return is high.

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And, with no annual fee and a rewards program that gives you cash, the card checks a lot of the boxes for what money expert Clark Howard looks for in a rewards credit card.

This card is included on some of our “best of” credit card lists for good reason.

Do you have the Prime Visa in your wallet? We’d love to hear about your experience in the Clark.com community.


Article Updates
  • October 2023: Amazon now offers a $150 gift card as a welcome bonus.
  • May 2023: Amazon rebranded this credit card from “Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card” to “Prime Visa.” Among the adjustments to perks included a 5% back opportunity on purchases through Chase Travel, 2% on transit purchases and options for “daily redemption” of rewards.
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