The credit cards debuted Monday (May 1) with new names — “Prime Visa” and “Amazon Visa” — along with updated designs.
“Prime Visa and Amazon Visa cardmembers can now earn 5% back and 3% back, respectively, on purchases made through Chase Travel, Chase’s new and enhanced travel booking platform,” Amazon said in a news release provided to PYMNTS.
According to the release, both Prime Visa and Amazon Visa cardmembers can now also get back 2% on local transit and commuting, including rideshare services.
“The addition of travel-based earn opportunities on the cards and ability to now redeem rewards points earned on purchases as soon as the next day means we’re providing even more value to our cardmembers, faster,” William Mahoney, general manager of Amazon Visa cards at Chase, said in the release.
In addition, cardmembers can earn, view and redeem rewards on their cards daily rather than monthly. Prime Visa cardmembers will continue to earn uncapped 5% back on Amazon purchases, while Amazon Visa cardmembers will get 3% back on Amazon purchases.
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The launch comes just days after Amazon announced a partnership between its Amazon Pay service and Citi to let Citi’s credit card members pay for purchases over time.
“Customers want flexible payment options and merchants want to offer that flexibility but don’t always have the resources to do so,” said Omar Soudodi, director of Amazon Pay.
The collaboration, he added, “is a win-win for both customers and merchants — customers have a new, convenient way to pay for their purchases and merchants can seamlessly offer new and existing customers more choice, affordability, and flexibility in how they pay.”
Both these credit card programs are happening at a time when credit insecurity is impacting 80 million consumers, according to a recent PYMNTS/Sezzle report, “How Credit Insecurity Is Changing U.S. Consumers’ Borrowing Habits.”
Among the findings in that report is the revelation that few consumers know how credit products such as buy now, pay later (BNPL) can help boost their credit score.
In fact, very few consumers surveyed were knowledgeable about how credit works. Their responses to questions on whether different credit-related actions improved credit scores thus indicated that more than two-thirds of consumers have a shaky grasp of the credit score system.
“Our key findings reveal that consumers exist along a credit continuum, and multiple factors can push consumers away from credit security,” PYMNTS wrote. “Those who believe they have no other choice may use predatory products, and credit providers have the opportunity to develop products that can help even more consumers become credit secure.”
