Amazon Prime Visa Offers Ample Points For Online Shopping

My partner and I use a mix of rewards credit cards for both personal and business spending, mainly to earn points we can pool and transfer to travel partners. We also keep a few cash back cards for high rewards in categories we frequent, like the Amazon Prime Visa*. We chose it for its 5 percent cash back on Amazon and Whole Foods, plus other bonus categories, making it great for earning generous cash back or other rewards on our online shopping.

The Prime Visa requires an Amazon Prime membership, but since we already had it, the card was an easy addition, offering strong rewards and helpful perks like fraud protection. Here’s an overview of the reasons my husband and I signed up for this card a few years ago, the steps we take to maximize cash back rewards and other ways we benefit from having the Prime Visa in our card lineup.

Earn 5% back when you shop online with the Prime Visa

Many cash back credit cards offer up to 2 percent back on everything you buy, but that doesn’t come close to this card’s rate for purchases with the online retailer. In fact, cardholders with the Prime Visa and a qualifying Prime membership earn unlimited 5 percent back on online purchases with Amazon.com and Amazon Fresh, plus the same rate online and in-store at Whole Foods Market.

How does this pay off in my household? While we try to do most of our shopping in person at brick-and-mortar stores, we still rely on Amazon for items we don’t have time to shop for. In the last few months, we have used the online retailer to order things like shampoo and conditioner, dishwasher tabs and new socks for my husband.

As you can see, earning 5 percent cash back on these purchases can add up fast. You probably also notice that we don’t really use this card for any other purchases outside of its 5 percent cash back categories. For all other types of spending, including groceries, gas and travel, we rely on other rewards credit cards.

Select purchases with the online retailer net 10% cash back (or more)

This cash back credit card also offers a “Prime Card Bonus” that translates to 10 percent back (and potentially more) on eligible purchases through the online retailer. While the deals that qualify change all the time, they often include popular electronics, clothing, small furniture, shoes, cookware and other items you’d find on your normal shopping list.

Some of the Prime Card Bonus items currently available include Proactiv products, Amazon Fire TVs, Beats Studio Pro x Kim Kardashian headphones as well as various Kindle models, such as the Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.

No annual fee and no foreign transaction fees

The Prime Visa charges no annual or foreign transaction fees if you use it for purchases abroad, so the rewards you earn from online shopping are essentially yours for “free,” provided you pay your balance in full each month to avoid interest.

This is another reason I personally signed up for the card, and why I’m happy using it only for Amazon and Whole Foods spending. The lack of an annual fee means I can use it whenever I want, but I don’t have to feel pressured to maximize its value.

Redeem your rewards for Amazon.com merchandise, cash back and more

Points earned through the Prime Visa can be redeemed in several different ways, including offsetting eligible Amazon.com purchases (some popular products like music, Kindle eBooks and video downloads may be excluded).

Alternatively, Prime Visa points can be redeemed with Chase — the card’s issuer — to claim cash back, gift cards and travel redemptions. Note that redeeming your rewards with Chase does not make them part of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program or eligible for Ultimate Rewards perks like point transfers to airlines and hotels. However, you can use your points for travel redemptions through the Chase Travel℠ portal at the normal cash back rate.

On a personal level, I just redeem my rewards for free merchandise (or a lower bill for purchases) with Amazon. It’s the easiest thing to do, and it lets me use some of my cash back for “splurge” purchases I might otherwise not pay for.

Redeeming rewards at checkout on Amazon.com is also a breeze. All you have to do is shop for items you want like normal, click on your shopping cart to check out and select the option to pay for all or part of your purchase with cash back earned from this card.

You can even redeem some rewards to cover all or part of a purchase while saving the rest of your cash back for something else.

The bottom line

If you shop online with Amazon.com, you’ll almost certainly benefit from signing up for the Prime Visa. Doing so will net you unlimited 5 percent back on most purchases and up to 10 percent (or more) on Prime Card Bonus deals. And with no annual fee and a potential $100+ Amazon gift card upon approval, it’s one of the best cards for online shoppers.

Checking out our Prime Visa card review and benefits guide can help you decide if this card is worth it, or if you should consider other cash back credit cards instead.

*The information about the Amazon Prime Visa has been collected independently by Bankrate. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.