The Amazon credit card makes sense only if you spend enough on Amazon to offset the annual fee, and only if you can pay the full balance every month
Amazon offers two credit cards through Chase: the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card (which requires a Prime membership) and the Amazon Rewards Visa Card (no membership required). Both charge no annual fee. The Prime card gives 5% back on Amazon purchases and Whole Foods spending, 2% at gas stations and restaurants, and 1% everywhere else. The non-Prime card gives 3% on Amazon and Whole Foods, 2% at gas stations and restaurants, and 1% elsewhere.
Whether either card is worth carrying depends on three things: how much you actually spend on Amazon each year, whether you can avoid paying interest, and whether the rewards rate beats what you'd get from a general-purpose card. Most people overestimate their Amazon spending and underestimate how much interest charges erase any reward value.
Key Takeaways
- The Amazon Prime card pays 5% back on Amazon purchases, but only if you have an active Prime membership and pay no interest on the card balance.
- A $1,000 purchase at 5% back saves you $50, but if you carry a balance at 20% interest, you lose $200 in interest charges — a net loss of $150.
- The non-Prime Amazon card offers 3% back on Amazon purchases with no membership fee, making it the lower-stakes option if you want to test the rewards.
- A flat-rate cash-back card (typically 1.5% to 2% on all purchases) often beats the Amazon card unless you spend over $3,000 per year on Amazon alone.
- The card's real value sits in the 5% back on Whole Foods purchases if you shop there regularly, since that's harder to match with other cards.
How much Amazon spending you actually need for the Prime card to work
The Prime card's 5% back on Amazon purchases only beats a standard 2% cash-back card if you spend enough to make the difference matter. At $2,000 per year on Amazon, the Prime card gives you $100 in rewards versus $40 from a 2% card — a $60 advantage. At $1,000 per year, that gap shrinks to $30. Most people who think they spend heavily on Amazon actually spend between $800 and $1,500 annually.
The math changes if you already pay for Prime. If you're going to have the membership anyway, the card costs nothing to carry and the 5% rate is genuinely useful. But if you're considering getting both Prime and the card together, you're adding a $139 annual membership fee (or $14.99 monthly) to the equation. You'd need to spend roughly $2,800 per year on Amazon just to break even on that membership through the card rewards alone.
Interest charges wipe out rewards faster than most people realize
This is where credit card math breaks down for most cardholders. If you carry a balance on the Amazon card, you're paying interest at a rate typically between 18% and 25% depending on your credit score. A $1,000 purchase at 5% rewards saves you $50. That same purchase, if you pay interest at 22% over six months, costs you roughly $55 in interest charges — erasing the reward and leaving you $5 behind.
The only way the Amazon card (or any rewards card) makes financial sense is if you pay the full statement balance every single month. If you carry a balance even occasionally, the interest charges exceed the rewards. This is the single biggest reason people lose money on rewards cards: they chase the percentage back while ignoring the interest percentage they're paying out.
When the Whole Foods 5% back actually matters
The 5% back on Whole Foods purchases is harder to replicate with other cards. Most general-purpose rewards cards offer 1% or 2% everywhere, and few cards offer 5% on grocery stores specifically. If you shop at Whole Foods regularly — say $200 per month — that's $120 per year in rewards from that category alone. That's real value that doesn't exist on most other cards.
The catch is that Whole Foods is expensive. A $200 monthly Whole Foods bill is roughly double what many people spend on groceries at conventional supermarkets. If you're shopping there for the rewards, you're probably spending more than you would elsewhere, which defeats the purpose. The 5% back works best if Whole Foods is already your grocery store for other reasons.
How the Amazon card compares to flat-rate alternatives
A flat-rate cash-back card — typically offering 1.5% to 2% on all purchases with no category restrictions — often beats the Amazon card for people who don't spend heavily on Amazon. Here's the comparison at different spending levels:
| Annual Amazon Spending | Amazon Prime Card Rewards (5%) | Flat-Rate 2% Card Rewards | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $50 | $20 | Amazon card +$30 |
| $2,000 | $100 | $40 | Amazon card +$60 |
| $3,000 | $150 | $60 | Amazon card +$90 |
| $500 | $25 | $10 | Amazon card +$15 |
The flat-rate card wins if you spend less than $1,000 per year on Amazon. The Amazon card pulls ahead as your Amazon spending climbs. But this comparison ignores the other categories: the Amazon card's 2% at gas stations and restaurants versus the flat-rate card's 2% everywhere. For most people, that difference is small enough that it doesn't change the decision.
The non-Prime Amazon card: lower stakes, lower rewards
If you don't have Prime and don't want to pay for it, the Amazon Rewards Visa Card offers 3% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases. This is a middle ground: better than a flat-rate card on Amazon purchases, but not as good as the Prime card's 5%. There's no annual fee, so the only cost is the opportunity cost of not using a different card.
The non-Prime card makes sense as a test. If you're unsure whether you spend enough on Amazon to justify rewards-chasing, this card lets you find out without committing to a Prime membership. After six months, you can look at your statement and see whether the 3% back actually added up to anything meaningful. If it did, you can consider upgrading to the Prime card.
What usually goes wrong with rewards cards
People often get the Amazon card and then change their spending behavior to use it more. They buy things on Amazon they would have bought elsewhere, or they buy things they wouldn't have bought at all, because they're thinking about the 5% back. That's a net loss: the rewards don't offset the extra spending.
The second mistake is carrying a balance. Someone gets the card, makes a large purchase, and plans to pay it off next month — but then something comes up, and they carry it for two months instead. By then, the interest charges have exceeded the rewards. This happens to roughly half of all credit card users at some point.
The third mistake is ignoring the card after the first year. Rewards cards are only valuable if you use them consistently. If you get excited about the Amazon card, use it for three months, and then forget about it, you've gained nothing. The card only works if it becomes your default card for the categories where it pays the most.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need Prime to get the Amazon credit card?
No. Amazon offers two cards: the Prime card (which requires an active Prime membership for the 5% rate) and the standard Amazon Rewards card (which offers 3% on Amazon with no membership required). The non-Prime card has no annual fee and no membership requirement.
What happens to my rewards if I cancel Prime?
If you have the Prime card and cancel your Prime membership, the card itself stays open, but your rewards rate on Amazon purchases drops to 1%. You can keep using it for the 2% at gas stations and restaurants, or switch to a different card. Existing rewards don't disappear — they're just not earned on new purchases.
Can I use the Amazon card to pay my Prime membership?
Yes, and you'll earn 5% back on the membership payment itself. However, the membership fee is typically $139 per year, so the 5% back is only $6.95 — not enough to offset the membership cost unless you're already spending heavily on Amazon for other reasons.
Is the Amazon card worth it if I only shop there occasionally?
Probably not. If you spend less than $1,000 per year on Amazon, a flat-rate 2% cash-back card will give you nearly the same rewards with more flexibility. The Amazon card's advantage only becomes clear at higher spending levels, and it disappears entirely if you ever carry a balance.
What's the interest rate on the Amazon credit card?
Interest rates vary based on your credit score and are set by Chase. Typical rates range from 18% to 25% for purchases. You can see the specific rate offered to you before you accept the card. The rate matters far more than the rewards rate if you ever carry a balance.