Amazon Store Card Review 2024

The Amazon Store Card*, issued by Synchrony, offers deferred financing options that actually make us frown. Deferred financing is often considered a deceptive lending practice because of its complexity and the financial dangers posed to the consumer.

The “special financing” offered by the Amazon Store Card provides a promotional period from six to 24 months to pay off your purchase and requires minimum monthly payments. But if you don’t pay the purchase off in full within the promotional period—and minimum payments likely won’t be enough to pay it off in full—you’ll be charged interest on the entire amount from the date you made the purchase. With this card’s high see terms APR, you could be hurting if a deferred interest charge hits.

This differs from a typical 0% introductory APR offer—if you’re still carrying a balance when the introductory period ends, you’ll accrue interest only on the balance that remains, and only from the date the regular APR takes effect.

Earning rewards with the Amazon Store Card only happens when you have an Amazon Prime membership, and only on purchases where you don’t activate a promotional financing period. A Prime membership currently costs $139 per year. The rewards earned can only be used for Amazon or affiliated brand purchases, or as a statement credit to the card account. Prime members with good-to-excellent credit may instead wish to consider the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card*, issued by Chase.

Compare Amazon Store Credit Card With Other Cards

Prime Visa

Apply Now →

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On Amazon's Website

Welcome Bonus

Get a $100 Amazon Gift Card

Annual Fee

$0

Credit Score

Good, Excellent

Regular APR

19.49% - 27.49% Variable

Credit Score ranges are based on FICO® credit scoring. This is just one scoring method and a credit card issuer may use another method when considering your application. These are provided as guidelines only and approval is not guaranteed.

Get a $100 Amazon Gift Card instantly upon approval exclusively for Prime members

Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard®

Welcome Bonus

5% cash back for the first 12 months

Annual Fee

$0

Credit Score

Good, Excellent

Regular APR

19.48% or 29.99% variable

Credit Score ranges are based on FICO® credit scoring. This is just one scoring method and a credit card issuer may use another method when considering your application. These are provided as guidelines only and approval is not guaranteed.

Earn 5% cash back on purchases made in Walmart stores for the first 12 months of account opening when you use your Capital One Walmart Rewards Card with Walmart Pay.

• see terms annual fee
• Earn an see terms
• Earn 5% back with an eligible Prime membership. Cardmembers without a Prime membership will not earn rewards
• Promotional financing options on orders of $150 or more

Earning Rewards

The Amazon Store Card earns 5% back with an eligible Prime membership. Cardmembers without a Prime membership will not earn rewards . It may take up to two billing cycles for rewards earned to be credited to your rewards account. Rewards are only available to cardholders who are also Amazon Prime members and cannot be combined with special financing offers.

The Amazon Store Card includes a welcome bonus: an see terms.

Redeeming Rewards

Rewards earned with the Amazon Store Card may be applied toward eligible Amazon purchases or received as a statement credit. Closing your account forfeits any rewards not yet redeemed.

Rewards Potential

To determine the rewards potential of the Amazon Store Card*, we consider what an American household might spend on a credit card each year. Forbes Advisor uses data from various government agencies in order to determine both baseline income and spending averages across various categories. The average household we estimate might qualify for this card brings in about $84,352 annually and we base spending on that number.

Forbes Advisor estimates that this household reasonably charges $25,087 to a credit card each year. Of this, we estimate about $3,604 may be spent generally on “shopping.” Assuming this example family is avidly loyal to Amazon and places this entire amount on the Prime version of the Amazon Store Card, that comes out to $180.20 cash back earned.

Subtract from this the $139 cost for Amazon Prime and the net cash back you’re left with comes to $41.20. If you’re already paying for a Prime membership, it’s smart to do your shopping with a card that earns cash back for Amazon purchases, such as this one. But if you’re considering signing up for Prime specifically to qualify for the 5% rewards rate, carefully evaluate whether your spending habits justify the membership cost.

The Amazon Store Card offers see terms. There are two types of promotional financing plans with this card.

One type of plan lets cardholders pay off the purchase in equal monthly payments that will cover the entire amount by the end of the financing period. Aptly, these are called “equal monthly payment” plans. If adhered to, these plans avoid interest charges. But if you pay late, a late fee will be added to your amount due, and will accrue interest at the standard purchase APR.

The other type of payment plan is what Amazon calls “special financing.” On one of these plans, variable payment amounts are permissible and a minimum is required, but the minimum payment option does not guarantee full payment of the balance by the end of the period.

If the full purchase amount is not paid before the end date of your special financing period, interest will accrue retroactively to the date of purchase on the full amount—not just on the balance remaining after any payments you have made. This is a crucial difference from 0% intro APR offers, which assess interest only on any remaining balance when the intro period ends.

Financing offer lengths on the Amazon Store Card will typically depend on the purchase amount and if it’s a promotional or special financing offer. With special financing, purchases of $150 or more qualify for 6-month financing, purchases of $600 or more qualify for 12-month financing and only select purchases will qualify for 24-month financing.

• $0 fraud liability: No cardholder responsibility for unauthorized transactions.

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: see terms
• Purchase intro APR: see terms
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A

Fees

• Annual fee: see terms
• Balance transfer fee: N/A
• Foreign purchase transaction fee: N/A

Amazon Store Card* vs. Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card*

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card* earns 5% cash back in rewards at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market with an eligible Prime membership, 5% back on Chase Travel purchases, 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, drugstores, and local transit and commuting and 1% on all other purchases. Get 10% back or more in bonus rewards on rotating categories and products sold on Amazon.com. This card may be used anywhere Visa is accepted and includes an extensive suite of Visa Signature benefits. There’s no annual fee, but a Prime membership is required.

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature is a better card by most, if not all metrics—but for those whose credit is less than stellar, and already are paying for a Prime membership, the store card may be a good starting point to help build better credit and earn rewards on Amazon purchases. Note that the Visa is issued by Chase, so beware the 5/24 rule when applying. In short, you should not have opened five or more cards from any issuer in the past 24 months.

If you don’t want to pay for Prime, but still want to earn cash back on your Amazon shopping, consider the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card*. It charges no annual fee and earns 3% cash back in rewards at Amazon.com, Whole Foods Market and Chase Travel purchases, 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, drugstores and local transit and commuting and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

Amazon Store Card* vs. Target RedCard™ Credit Card*

For those who prefer shopping online or in store at Target, the Target REDCard store credit card offers 5% off on purchases at Target in store or online purchases. Unlike Amazon’s store card, which only earns cash back for Prime members, there is no membership requirement to receive the 5% discount the RedCard offers on most Target spending.

Plus, that 5% discount is applied immediately when you check out—unlike the Amazon Store Card’s rewards, which take 1 to 2 billing cycles to become available for redemption on additional purchases or as a statement credit.

The Target REDCard also offers free shipping on online Target orders and an extra 30 days for returns or exchanges. There’s no annual fee to carry the card.

While there is a Mastercard version of the card, which might appeal to those who don’t want to be restricted to a store card, there’s just one application—after you apply, you’ll find out whether you’re approved for the Mastercard, the store card or neither.

Amazon Store Card* vs. Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard®*

If you can find what you need online at Walmart.com instead of Amazon.com, the Capital One Walmart Rewards Card may provide a better option than the Amazon Store Card. The Walmart Rewards card earns 5% cash back on purchases made at Walmart.com and the Walmart app, including grocery pickup and delivery, 2% cash back on restaurants and travel, and at Walmart Stores, Walmart & Murphy USA fuel stations and 1% back everywhere else.

Where the Amazon Store Card is a closed-loop, store-only card, the Capital One Walmart Rewards Card may be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted. The Capital One Walmart Rewards Card also charges no annual fee, nor does it charge foreign transaction fees. For those with good-to-excellent credit who shop often at Walmart.com instead of Amazon.com, the Capital One Walmart Rewards Card may be the better choice.

Amazon Prime members who regularly amass piles of brown smiley-faced boxes at the door may find this card appealing. But we recommend looking elsewhere than the Amazon Store Card, unless you think you won’t qualify  for the superior Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature and still want to earn 5% cash back on your Amazon spending. And regardless of whether you’re a Prime member or not, we strongly advise you to stay clear of this card’s deferred “special” financing offers.