I don’t know what the deal is out there in Seattle but Amazon has been on a tear this year (read my post on why you should buy their stock this year).
Now, the company is still sweetening it’s value proposition, this time in their financing/credit card department. Amazon, in collaboration with my favorite bank, JP Morgan Chase, has long offered a credit card that gave 3% back on all Amazon purchases. The card is available only to members of Amazon Prime, which is kinda obvious and self explanatory so I won’t go into it.
However, just today, the company announced that rather than earn 3% back, user of their credit card, the ‘Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card‘ will start earning 5% on all Amazon.com purchases as well as 2% at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores, and 1% on every other purchases. On top of that, the card accumulates points, with the company rewarding you with $1 for every 100 points, and after 2,000 points, you can redeem the points for cash. And all of that comes with no annual fees whatsoever, other than your $99 per year Prime membership fee of course.
Consider that a similarly rewarding credit card, like the Chase Sapphire Rewards Card that went viral last year comes with a $450 annual fee and much higher points redemption bar and a slightly lower rewards percentage. This is an amazing deal, and it’s likely to drive more people to Prime, which of course strengthens the investment case for Amazon.
Well played, Bezos.