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Updated: 04/15/2019
Overview
What is the Amazon Store Card? The Amazon Store Card is an Amazon credit card issued by Synchrony bank. The Amazon Store Card can only be used on Amazon.com, or at Amazon stores, and at some participating Amazon Pay merchants.
There are 4 versions of this credit card available (depending on your credit and Prime eligibility you may qualify for 1 of these):
- Amazon Store Card
- Amazon Store Card Credit Builder
- Amazon Prime Store Card
- Amazon Prime Store Card Credit Builder
The regular Amazon Store Card does not give you any % of money back. If you are not a Prime member the only real advantage to this card is the special financing options that are available using it – which I would actually shy away from myself because they are extremely complicated to understand and you can very easily wind up with a much bigger bill than expected.
The Amazon Prime Store Card is available to Prime members and it will give you an additional 5% back on most of your Amazon purchases, so there is a benefit in using it. There are no yearly fees for the card in addition to the Prime Membership yearly fees, but you do have to be a Prime Member (currently the Prime subscription price is $119/yr) to be a cardholder. The beauty of this credit card is that you are able to stack discounts on it, so that you can take advantage of other Amazon discounts on top of the Amazon Store Card percentage off, to get even more money back on purchases.
Who Is The Amazon Prime Store Card Good For?
If you’re already a Prime member and you make a lot of big-ticket Amazon purchases throughout the year, then this card or the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card is something you might consider.
If you have good credit: Consider the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card
If you have fair credit : Consider the Amazon Prime Store Card
If you have no credit: Consider the Amazon Prime Store Card Credit Builder
The Credit Builder Cards are great for people who have bad or no credit – these are secured credit cards that require you to place a refundable security deposit down. Your max limit will be the amount of your deposit. The credit card functions like a regular credit card and requires monthly/minimum payments.
If you are not currently a Prime member but would like the Amazon Prime Store Card, then you will need to consider if the yearly Prime fees would be worth it for you. While Prime benefits are ample, if you don’t think you will take advantage of these, the price of the membership might not outweigh the benefits of the Amazon Store Card. There are a lot of reasons to consider a Prime membership on top of the ability to apply for an Amazon Prime Credit Card.
Prime Membership
A few benefits of having a Prime membership are:
- Free 2-day Shipping
- Prime Now 2-hour or less deliveries
- Prime Pantry discounts on grocery items
- Prime-Exclusive Offers – deep discounts on items that are only available for Prime Members
- Prime Day Deals – Once-a-Year sales similar to Black Friday that typically happen in July.
- Prime Music (free music library)
- Prime Video & Streaming (free video & TV library)
- Prime Image Storage
- Kindle Owner Lending Library (access to thousands of books for free)
- Prime Now – Grocery Shopping delivered within 2 hours
- 10% off of some items at Whole Foods
There are many other perks with Prime membership, but these are the most widely known ones.
To find out about all of the benefits Amazon Prime offers, check out – Is Amazon Prime Worth It?
Amazon Prime Store Card Details
- No Annual Fees
- $10.00 Gift Card upon account opening
- 5% cashback credit to apply to Amazon balance statement or Amazon purchases
- Ability to defer payments for certain purchases over a specified amount
- Special (equal-pay monthly installments) financing on some products
- ~28% APR
- Can only be used on Amazon.com or at Amazon stores
- Balance transfers not allowed
Note: You cannot use this card for these types of purchases:
- Rentals
- Digital and Print + Digital Subscriptions (including newspapers and magazines)
- Cell Phones Associated with a Plan
- Purchases on Amazon subsidiaries
- Amazon Game and Software Downloads
- Digital Add-on Subscriptions (e.g. Starz, Hulu, GameFly, etc.)
- Amazon Restaurants items
- Whole Foods Market
Alternative Credit Cards
Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card
Along with being issued by Chase, a bank with a better reputation behind it than Synchrony, this credit card will give you 5% cashback when you purchase on Amazon.com or at WholeFoods, gives you 2% back at gas stations, restaurants, and drugstores, and 1% everywhere else.
When using this card you can take advantage of perk pricing at certain luxury hotels.
There are zero international transaction fees and automatic travel insurance for items like luggage.
With no annual fee and a $70.00 gift card as your sign-on incentive, it’s a pretty easy decision to choose this when compared to the low-frills Amazon Store Card choice – but you need a better credit score to qualify.
Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card
This card is similar to the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card, but the main difference is that you do not need to be a Prime Member to qualify.
This card comes with all the same amenities as the Prime Rewards Card, but with 1 exception: 3% cashback for Amazon and WholeFoods purchases as opposed to 5% (for the Prime version).
The incentive to sign up for this is a $50.00 Amazon Gift Card.
Helpful Negative & Positive Customer Feedback
“0 is what they will get from me. Synchrony Bank is the worst. Do not apply! They will lower your limit without letting you know putting your balance over the new limit amount. They will have promotional offers like no interest if paid within certain amount of months and even though the amount was paid off, they will still acrued interest on to your account. They will not help when it comes to fixing thepayments. Horrible customer service!”
“I got it because I shop a lot on Amazon.com and getting 5% store credit on my Amazon.com purchases is a really good deal. I would recommend it to others only if they are heavy shoppers on Amazon.com since you can use the card to make purchases only on Amazon.com. I am not sure about the customer service myself since I have had no reason to contact them before.”
FAQs
What is the Amazon Store Card APR?
What Credit Rating Should I Have To Apply?
Where Can I Use The Amazon Store Card?
The Scoop
- The only people who should consider this card are those who are die-hard Amazon shoppers and Prime Members, who don’t qualify for the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card.
- Avoid using the deferred payments option unless you are acutely aware of how these payments need to be made to avoid very high interest fees.
- The majority of reviews for this credit card and bank are mostly scathing – our score of 4 may even be a bit high, but the cash-back feature is slightly appealing. People who pay their entire bill every month and are never even one day late with a payment are the ones who are satisfied with this card, for the most-part. Those who allow interest to accrue or who have any issues whatsoever with mis-charges are very unhappy with the customer service and resolution process from Synchrony Bank.
