I want to buy about $109 worth of merchandise from Amazon. At the checkout they are offering me $50 off my purchase if I sign up for this card. Sounds pretty good to me. Of course when something sounds that good it’s usually a warning that you are going to get screwed somewhere down the line. Can I just sign up for this thing, get the $50 discount and never use it again and be ahead of the game? I once applied for a Sears card to get a 25% discount on my purchase and never used it till it expired and that was the end of it.
I sure could use the fifty bucks to offset the money I *flushed down the toilet on a parking ticket *last month. 
I got one a year or so ago and there was no catch.
Amazon will probably want you to use that card as the default payment for future purchases, but you can easily change your default payment method.
Thanks Old Guy, that is reassuring. I’m gonna go for it. Gonna buy me some tools! Yay!
Remember the thread on credit scores? Too many credit cards could have a negative effect on your credit score. And there are other credit cards that will give you much better perks than $50.00 on Amazon. (I am not bashing Amazon, I do a ton of shopping with them.)
Keep an eye out for USAir/American Airlines credit card offers. They have been known to offer a free flight.
I have one. I use it everytime I buy something on Amazon. The points rack up quickly and I get tons of free stuff.
I also have a Southwest card that I buy basically everything else on and get lots of free flights.
No “catch” except a fairly high interest rate. Just pay it off each month like I do, and you’re golden.
Don’t agree to anything before you read the terms and conditions.
What’s the annual fee? What’s the true APR? How long after the billing date do you have to make your payment before interest charges kick in?
Those are the three easiest ways you credit card can screw you. I’m quite sure there are many others.
Done! Didn’t take long at all and I got $109 worth of tools for $41 w/free shipping. (had $18 on the account from a Christmas gift card) Damn, it feels good to come out ahead once in a while.
I had one of those. I took the $50 signing bonus and I really like direct shipping gifts from Amazon so I used it to pay for those. Usually I’d take the bonus points and put them toward a post-Christmas gift to myself every January. I believe they accrued at 3% on amazon.com purchases and 1% on anything else.
I’m sure Amazon was happy to have my business and Chase was happy to occasionally hit me with some interest. I think I came out ahead over all.
The catch is that Chase sucks. My least favorite credit card company/website And I only got $30. Plus the usual catches about opening a new credit card from anywhere.
I have one and have zero complaints. You get 3% cash back for Amazon purchases, 2% for things like restaurants and pharmacies, iirc, and 1% for everything else. I’m quite satisfied with the card and its features.
Ditto.
Me too, me too!
Never had any problems and the points are great to use for self-made discounts or free music.
I’m not trying to correct you or anything, because I’m sure chase would love to charge you interest.
But they do just fine handling your transactions, because they take a cut out of every swipe from the vendor.
So you could never pay a single dime in interest, and actually get paid to use their card to do your shopping (rewards), and they still make money.
The tradeoff on all “rewards” cards is higher interest rates and/or annual fees. Most people are better off with the lowest-interest, zero-annual-fee card they can get; a rewards or cashback card is only good IF you already spend a bunch on whatever generates rewards or cashback AND the net return (realistically figured, less all fees, interest you will pay, etc.) is more than all costs.
ETA: And, as mentioned, the more subtle gotchas like grace period, payment calculation etc. can make a difference if you don’t watch them.
TANSTAAFL - they AIN’T giving you nothing for free, even if you think you’re gaming the offer.
(Just looked up the terms). Yeah, wow, ouch, I remember now why I just automatically click past all come-ons for the Amazon card.
14.24% is the best rate; I’d guess there’s a lot of folks holding it at 19 or 22 percent. (And yes, yes, of course the interest rate doesn’t matter a bit since everyone pays it off every month…) Hope you’re diligent about making payments about time, or the penalty rate jumps to 29.99% - and Guido comes and rips the payment out of your ass every month.
Rewards are basically 1%, maybe a little higher for heavy Amazon shoppers and those who use the card for gas and groceries (see: paying off every month, above). The 3% tier is limited to Amazon.com purchases ONLY, not to any subsidiary seller. And the rewards are good only on Amazon.
Even as a heavy Amazon buyer, and an Amazon Prime subscriber, nothing about this deal tempts me. I’ll stay with my 9.95% general shopping Visa with no fees and very relaxed payment terms and grace periods, and bet two wooden nickels that I come out ahead of most Amazon card holders in any given year.
I’ve had one of these cards since 2006, actually (it started off as a student card with an absurdly small credit limit). The bonus was only $30 at the time, I think. But I do use the card all the time; no annual fee, and pretty good rewards, especially if you buy stuff from Amazon regularly, as I do. You can apply the rewards to an Amazon purchase, or have it applied to your bill.
Regarding the APR, penalties, etc.: What Amateur Barbarian is saying may or may not be true. I honestly have no idea. I pay my credit cards off in full every month. I’ve never paid a credit card company a dime in interest, nor have I ever missed a payment. I’d assumed most people used credit cards this way except in emergencies. If you’re running a consistent balance on your credit cards, I’d be more apt to say you should be focusing on how to lower your spending than on getting a new credit card.
The easiest way to avoid penalties, interest, etc is to to have a credit card that is linked to your checking account so you can have it paid automatically. Same goes for utility bills, cell phones and other bills that slap a fine or a late charge. You also get an electronic paper trail as proof of payment should a question arise. The sweetness of that $50.00 credit will sour pretty quickly if you get hit with a bunch of fees, interest and penalties.
I’ll stay with actually paying my bills on time and not spending more than I can afford to pay, but YMMV.
I just wanted to correct the post above and point out that the 3% cash back is on all amazon.com purchases INCLUDING 3rd party merchants, what is excluded is if you don’t buy on “amazon.com”, ie woot.com, zappos.com, amazon.ca, etc are not included. (Amazon.com: Amazon Visa)
Also churning credit cards just for the bonuses is a very profitable strategy with a good credit score, and can earn you an extra $3-4k a year easily ($50 is relatively small in the scheme of bonuses, but Amazon.com visa is good because 3% back off the lowest price you can find anywhere, is a good deal). But then you get into “manufactured spend” and “app-o-ramas” - flyertalk.com is a good place to look for that stuff though.
I’ve had one for years.
Zero “catch”.
Complaints…maybe.
At one point, the issuing bank & Amazon were not communicating well, & my points were stuck in Limbo.
This lasted a month.