Paul Soucy has led the Credit Cards content team at NerdWallet since 2015 and the Travel Rewards team since 2023. He was an editor with USA Today, The Des Moines Register and the Meredith/Better Homes and Gardens family of magazines for more than 20 years. He also built a successful freelance writing and editing practice with a focus on business and personal finance. He was editor of the USA Today Weekly International Edition for six years and received the highest award from ACES: The Society for Editing. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and a Master of Business Administration. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife, Sarah; his two sons; and a dog named Sam.
Lead Assigning Editor Paul Soucy
Lead Assigning Editor | Credit cards, credit scoring, personal finance
Paul Soucy has led the Credit Cards content team at NerdWallet since 2015 and the Travel Rewards team since 2023. He was an editor with USA Today, The Des Moines Register and the Meredith/Better Homes and Gardens family of magazines for more than 20 years. He also built a successful freelance writing and editing practice with a focus on business and personal finance. He was editor of the USA Today Weekly International Edition for six years and received the highest award from ACES: The Society for Editing. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and a Master of Business Administration. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife, Sarah; his two sons; and a dog named Sam.
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The rewards structure on the Prime Visa has changed, so this article is out of date. For current information see NerdWallet's review .
Online superstore Amazon rolled out a new credit card in 2017 that combined the best features of the Amazon Prime Store Card and the existing Amazon Visa . Available only to Amazon Prime members, the card now known as the Prime Visa offers:
5% back on purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods (which is owned by Amazon). 2% back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores. 1% back everywhere else.Rewards never expire and are easily redeemable at Amazon. Your rewards balance appears on the checkout screen when you make a purchase, and you can apply rewards to a purchase in any amount, with no minimum redemption. The new card has no annual fee, but it requires membership in Amazon Prime, which costs $139 a year and provides such perks as free two-day shipping and unlimited access to streaming media. The card has no foreign transaction fees.
Amazon says you can also "redeem your points through Chase for cash back, gift cards and travel." Redemption values for those options aren't clear.
Not an Amazon user? Looking to save 5% on everyday items without having to wait for them to arrive in the mail? Consider the Target Circle™ Credit Card . You get an instant 5% discount at Target, both in-store and online, plus 30 extra days for returns and free shipping on most items at Target.com. Read our review here .
Amazon Prime customers who already have the existing Amazon Visa will be upgraded to the new Prime product automatically. Their existing accounts will start earning the new benefits immediately, and their new card should arrive soon, Amazon said. The new card will be made of metal rather than plastic, latching on to the craze that surrounded the 2016 release of the metal Chase Sapphire Reserve® .
How does the new card stack up against other Amazon cards? Take a look:
Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature
Amazon Prime Store Card
Where can you use it?
Anywhere that accepts Visa
Anywhere that accepts Visa
Rewards on purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods
Rewards at restaurants, drugstores, gas stations
Rewards on all other purchases
Annual fee for card
$0 (but requires $139 Prime membership)
$0 (but requires $139 Prime membership)
"The upgraded Amazon Prime card took the best of both worlds and is really a fantastic product for regular Amazon shoppers," NerdWallet credit cards expert Sean McQuay says.
For Prime members who already have the existing Amazon Visa , upgrading to the new card will mean higher rewards at no additional cost. For cardholders who might have been on the fence about ponying up the $99 for Prime membership, the new rewards rate for Amazon purchases — a 67% increase — might be just the push they're looking for. And for holders of the Amazon Prime Store Card, the fact that they can get the same 5% back at Amazon plus additional rewards elsewhere makes the new card an enticing upgrade.
The biggest drawback with most store credit cards is that their rewards can be used at only one place. Although this card offers redemption options beyond Amazon, you may never need them. Amazon carries so many different kinds of products that you won't lack for opportunities to redeem rewards, whether on Cartier watches, Angel Soft toilet paper or anything in between.
"Think of the card as a 5% discount on every Amazon purchase, no coupons needed," McQuay says.
Information related to the Amazon Visa and the Prime Visa has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of these cards.
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Paul has been the lead editor for NerdWallet's credit cards team since 2015 and for the travel rewards team since 2023. Previously, he worked at USA Today and the Des Moines Register, then built a freelance writing and editing business focused on personal finance topics. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MBA. See full bio.
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