Amazon credit card

[Simpo Two]

Every time I go to buy something on Amazon they push me to take their credit card. £30 off an order of £155... then I see something about points... does anyone have one and what's the actual rate of return after the opening offer?

[xeny]

"You will earn Amazon Reward Points at a rate of 0.75 per pound spent at Amazon.co.uk and 0.5 points everywhere else. Eligible Prime members will earn Amazon Reward Points at a rate of 1.5 per pound spent at Amazon.co.uk and 0.5 points everywhere else. You will earn points on the full transaction value (including pennies)."

"1,000 points = £10 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card"

from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon-Platinum-Mastercar...

[Simpo Two]

Thanks, well found. It seems to have changed though, with the 'everywhere else' rate being halved:

Earn 1.5 Amazon Reward Points per £2 spent at Amazon.co.uk,
Earn 0.5 Amazon Reward Point per £2 spent everywhere else

For eligible Amazon Prime members**:
Earn 3 Amazon Reward Points per £2 spent at Amazon.co.uk,
Earn 0.5 Amazon Reward Point per £2 spent everywhere else

1,000 points = £10 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card

Given the awful reviews I doubt I'd use it, but am tempted by £30 off a planned order...

[louiebaby]

Simpo Two said:

Thanks, well found. It seems to have changed though, with the 'everywhere else' rate being halved:

Earn 1.5 Amazon Reward Points per £2 spent at Amazon.co.uk,
Earn 0.5 Amazon Reward Point per £2 spent everywhere else

For eligible Amazon Prime members**:
Earn 3 Amazon Reward Points per £2 spent at Amazon.co.uk,
Earn 0.5 Amazon Reward Point per £2 spent everywhere else

1,000 points = £10 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card

Given the awful reviews I doubt I'd use it, but am tempted by £30 off a planned order...

1 point is worth 1 pence, so for Prime members:

1.5 pence per £ on Amazon
0.25 pence per £ elsewhere

Compared with the Tesco Clubcard Credit card, which is:

1.25 pence per £ in Tesco
0.25 pence per £ elsewhere

However, with Tesco you can often find offers to use the points at 4x the value.

• Other points based credit cards are available, [insert generic small print].

[Cyder]

I got one last year in order to take advantage of the discount, repaid the balance in full the following month and closed the account.

[Simpo Two]

Cyder said:

I got one last year in order to take advantage of the discount, repaid the balance in full the following month and closed the account.

Sound idea. But given the dire customer service I can imagine something going wrong with the repayment and a fight starting. I think it's not worth the aggro.

[Jamescrs]

I have one, it's the only Credit card I do have now because it's useful to have one in my pocket though I don't really use it. apart from my Amazon purchases which I clear monthly.

I did get it when I was spending a few grand on Amazon a couple of years ago after a burglary and got a decent discount and I've maintained it since. I don't really track the points but every so often I go to buy something on Amazon and I get told I have a £10 voucher to use. Because of my usage I don't really worry about what the APR actually is but I think it's around 21%

Edit- They do also have a pretty reasonable phone app which I use to manage my card so I never have to call them for anything.

[xeny]

Simpo Two said:

Thanks, well found. It seems to have changed though, with the 'everywhere else' rate being halved:

Earn 1.5 Amazon Reward Points per £2 spent at Amazon.co.uk,
Earn 0.5 Amazon Reward Point per £2 spent everywhere else

For eligible Amazon Prime members**:
Earn 3 Amazon Reward Points per £2 spent at Amazon.co.uk,
Earn 0.5 Amazon Reward Point per £2 spent everywhere else

1,000 points = £10 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card

Given the awful reviews I doubt I'd use it, but am tempted by £30 off a planned order...

Where did you find the new reward rates?

I had a previous iteration that they shut down, and I had a perfectly reasonable experience, but I'm a clear the balance by DD kind of card user, so didn't actually interact significantly with them.

[Simpo Two]

xeny said:

Where did you find the new reward rates?

Your link!

Can only assume they changed this morning - and cunningly contrived to hide the reduction.

[xeny]

As you guessed, I C&P'd straight from that page this morning.

1.5% on Amazon purchases is mightily tempting, but looking at the recent reviews the poor customer service is just too much risk of hassle now.

[jeff m]

In the States we get 5% cash back on Amazon purchases and at Whole foods. 2 % and 1% elsewhere.
Cash back is credited one month in arrears.
Only negative I've found is: if an item is returned then an Amazon gift with a credit is given, not a credit to the visa.
The bill is not the easiest to decipher as it only lists order numbers, but no errors so far : (2 years).
If you use Amazon, it's a no brainer.

[Simpo Two]

jeff m said:

In the States we get 5% cash back on Amazon purchases and at Whole foods. 2 % and 1% elsewhere.

How can they do that in the US but not here? Some lurking regulations?

[blingybongy]

I linked my Amazon card to my Amazon account and made it my default card and got a £10 gift card applied to my account this week.
There was a banner to click on the Amazon home page.
I did it, got the tenner.
Can't see a catch.

[xeny]

Simpo Two said:

How can they do that in the US but not here? Some lurking regulations?

I believe the EU has legislation limiting the size of fee a credit card company can charge a business for processing payment. The introduction of this resulted in the reduction in credit card rewards as that was where the money for them came from.

I'd guess the US has no such legislation, so running a credit card is rather more profitable, allowing larger rewards.

[Simpo Two]

I suspected as much, but didn't want to be accused of EU-bashing.

So, we can look forward to 5% on 1 Jan then, hurrah! (though ATOTD it's all a money-go-round)

[williaa68]

Simpo Two said:

I suspected as much, but didn't want to be accused of EU-bashing.

So, we can look forward to 5% on 1 Jan then, hurrah! (though ATOTD it's all a money-go-round)

I think this is one to credit, not bash, the EU for! Or it certainly is as a small business owner who takes credit card payments.

[Simpo Two]

williaa68 said:

I think this is one to credit, not bash, the EU for! Or it certainly is as a small business owner who takes credit card payments.

Well as said it's a money-go-round. If your CC company charges you 5% you'll add it to your prices and carry on. Those who get the 5% back on their CC win, those that don't lose. Every '£10 off!' voucher is paid for by somebody somewhere, you just hope it's not you.

With the same logic I should really have solar panels, and let everybody without them send me money. But I think that's immoral, perhaps because I know it's politically inspired eco-nonsense.