
Amazon Prime’s latest perk is a new Rewards Visa Card with 5% back - panabee
https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/11/amazon-primes-latest-perk-is-a-new-rewards-visa-card-with-5-back/?ncid=rss
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netinstructions
There's already the 'Amazon.com Store Card` which offers 5% back on purchases
at Amazon.com. It can only be used for Amazon.com purchases.

There's also the 'Amazon Rewards Visa Card' which offers 2% back at gas
stations, drugstores and restaurants (all other purchases are 1% back).

So unless I'm mistaken, this just looks like it combines both benefits into
one card.

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ghaff
It also adds no foreign transaction fees which is common on Chase affinity
cards with a fee but wasn't the case with the original non-Prime Amazon card.
(Which is a fairly significant benefit if you travel internationally and don't
already use a card with that benefit.)

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Someone1234
No foreign transaction fees is always appreciated. I never travel without it
these days.

I will add that typically this perk does NOT apply to foreign ATM cash
withdrawals. Only to regular purchases made with the card. Taking out cash
using a credit card is always an expensive proposition, doubly so abroad.

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ghaff
Right. And in many cases, it's considered doing a cash advance which turns on
the interest fee machine. A few years ago, my dad got hit by this much to his
surprise even though he's been a huge traveler forever.

I use my regular ATM card to get cash. There's still a (relatively high) fee
but it's still probably better than the currency exchange places and, at least
in Western Europe, I don't need cash that often any longer.

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nommm-nommm
>I use my regular ATM card to get cash. There's still a (relatively high) fee

Are you in the US? If so there's no reason to pay any fees.

Get a Fidelity Cash Management Account and/or a Charles Schwab Investor
Checking Account. Both are free without any minimum balance requirements.
Neither charge a currency conversion fee and both reimburse all ATM fees.

Personally, I use Fidelity. I couldn't be happier with their products (I also
have an IRA and credit card with them) and service. I'm not affiliated, just a
happy customer.

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ghaff
Thanks. I already use Fidelity. Though, to be honest, I doubt I spend $30 in
ATM foreign exchange fees a year. I should look into though.

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nommm-nommm
They refund all ATM fees that the the ATM charges as well, which is really
nice when you are stuck somewhere without cash, the place is cash only, and
the only ATM is some no-name, no-brand ATM in the back that charges and arm
and a leg.

I should mention that Fidelity does have a foreign transaction fee on _DEBIT_
purchases, I don't know if Schwab does or not. But I don't use my debit card
for debit purchases, just at ATMs, so that doesn't apply to me.

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dlbucci
* on Amazon purchases

Looks like a neat deal to me, but it's a bit weird to say there's no annual
fee when you need to have a Prime membership...

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bluehawk
It's common for cards to have a roughly $99 yearly fee that gives you nothing
other than the ability to have the card. It's a stretch, but I don't think
it's dishonest to say the card is free* . *With an Amazon Prime membership.

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nommm-nommm
Not really extremely common, it's extremely easy to find good cards without
annual fees. The annual fees are usually for the more "prime" cards that give
you more benefits and rewards.

Even so, the point was it's misleading at best to require something that has
an annual fee as a condition to get the best rewards then claim the card has
no annual fee.

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bengunnink
It's not really an annual fee, though. You're paying for a product with Amazon
prime -- besides free movies, photos, shipping, etc, you can now get a special
card with no annual fee _just for having it_.

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xpose2000
Awesome update for existing Visa Amazon Chase card holders. Their Store Card
already offered 5% back, so it's nice that everybody gets the new rate now.

A bit weird that we have to verify the card to get the 5% back... you'd think
the fact that I've been using it for years would be enough verification.

In any case, don't forget to verify!

Go to Your Account -> Manage Payment Options

Then type in your full credit card number and click on verify and rewards will
change to 5%.

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fooey
I just checked mine and it was already updated to 5%

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autoreleasepool
I'm sorry to be the one to say it, but this is an advertisement.

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closeparen
5% is well outside the norm for what credit cards will give you back. So I
think this is an interesting story about the economics of online payments, and
how Amazon is positioning itself in the marketplace.

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vinay427
Not on specific categories or stores. See Discover, Chase Freedom, and the US
Bank product I forgot the name of if you live in the US.

This is interesting from a market standpoint, but it is directly advertising a
paid product in the process.

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joshstrange
Nice! I already had the Amazon Prime Rewards Signature Visa card which I used
exclusively for Amazon purchases and I just logged into my Amazon account and
looked at my payment methods and it's already updated to say 5% instead of the
previous 3%.

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jbredeche
If only it could be used for AWS expenses!

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maxxxxx
It can't? Isn't this a regular credit card now?

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snug
You don't get 5% cash back.

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Thriptic
I see this is a Chase card. Can these points be transferred to ultimate
rewards?

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ghaff
Don't think so. But it's 1:1 (well 1:100) to Amazon credit which most of the
Ultimate Rewards aren't any longer. (Bizarrely, I have a card I can cash out
at a higher value in cash than in Amazon credit these days.)

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Thriptic
Yeah I just got off the phone with Chase. You cannot transfer to Ultimate
Rewards.

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Havoc
Was excited for a while...but US only. I need UK...

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ChristianGeek
15% interest rate with perfect credit? Not even remotely interested.

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mikecke
How do you have perfect credit if you're not paying your balances in full?

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p0rkbelly
To maintain 'perfect' (which I doubt is 100% perfect) you just have to make
your payments on time. It is okay to carry a balance. In fact, I remember my
credit went up higher after paying off a balance I was carrying when I
typically paid in full every month...

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kenjackson
From reading the reviews of the card it sounds like you get charged interest
if you don't pay off the full balance each month. That is, it's not the
statement bill you need to pay off, but the current balance. Which seems hard
to track for a lot of people like me who use their credit card several times
per day.

I'd do more research before using this card.

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sergiotapia
That's how all credit cards work, and how they exist as a business. You making
minimum payments is how they can pay for everything they offer.

How exactly do you think they offer miles, cashback, etc? It all comes from
somewhere. That somewhere being people who pay interest by making the minimum
payment.

Learn how to use your credit cards properly. It's simple: Pay off your
complete balance every month.

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AjithAntony
> That somewhere being people who pay interest by making the minimum payment.

Skeptical. I have done no research, but my instinct is that banks make more on
the transaction fees than the interest. That somewhere is all of us paying
higher prices to account for those transaction fees.

