Prime Visa
Is the Prime Visa worth it?
Yes, if you already pay for Prime and buy enough on Amazon. The arithmetic below shows exactly where that stops being true.
The short answer
Is the Prime Visa worth it?
If you already pay for Prime, yes: 5% back at Amazon beats every flat-rate card, and the card itself costs nothing. If you would be buying Prime purely to unlock that 5%, you need to spend around $6,950 a year at Amazon before it beats simply holding the no-Prime Amazon Visa instead. The arithmetic is below.
#ad Sign-up offers are for new cardmembers only, and approval is Chase's decision, not ours. We earn a flat fee if you sign up through this link, at no cost to you. How we’re paid.
What it earns
The earning rates, with sources attached
The Prime Visa is a Visa credit card issued by Chase. It works anywhere Visa is accepted, and it earns at three tiers.
| Where you spend | Rate | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market, Chase Travel | 5% back | Requires an eligible Prime membership |
| Gas stations, restaurants, local transit and commuting (including rideshare) | 2% back | No condition |
| Everything else | 1% back | No condition |
| Annual fee | $0 | No condition |
| Foreign transactions | No fee | Applies to purchases made outside the United States |
Source: Chase — Prime Visa · verified 2026-08-11
The number that matters is the first row, and the condition attached to it matters just as much. The 5% applies to Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market and Chase Travel, with an eligible Prime membership (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-11). Take the membership away and Amazon spending no longer earns at that rate — which is the whole reason this page has arithmetic in it rather than a verdict.
The card also has 18.74%–29.99% variable (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-11) on purchases. That is normal for a rewards card and it is also the single fastest way to lose more than the card earns: carrying a balance for two months at that rate costs more than a year of 5% on typical spending. The rewards on this card are only real if you clear the statement in full.
The math
Where the answer flips to no
There are two versions of this question, and publishers usually answer only the easy one.
Version 1 — you already pay for Prime
Then there is no threshold. Prime is a sunk cost you were paying anyway, the card has no annual fee, and 5% beats the 2% you would get from a flat-rate cashback card on the same purchases. Every dollar of Amazon spending is 3 cents better on this card than on a 2% card. Nothing to calculate.
Version 2 — you would buy Prime specifically to unlock the 5%
This is the version worth doing arithmetic on, and the fair comparison is not a generic cashback card. It is the Amazon Visa — the same issuer, the same $0 annual fee, no membership required, earning 3% back (Chase — Amazon Visa, verified 2026-08-11) at Amazon. Choosing the Prime Visa over it buys you two extra percentage points and costs you the Prime fee.
The math
- Prime Visa rate at Amazon (with Prime)
- 5%
- Amazon Visa rate at Amazon (no Prime)
- 3%
- Extra return the Prime Visa buys
- 2 percentage points
- Annual Prime membership
- $139
- Extra earnings = annual Amazon spend x 0.02
- You break even when extra earnings = $139
- $139 / 0.02 = $6,950
You need roughly $6,950 a year at Amazon, Whole Foods and Chase Travel before paying for Prime purely to unlock the 5% pays for itself.
Against a plain 2% cashback card instead of the Amazon Visa, the edge is 3 points and the threshold falls to $139 / 0.03 = about $4,633 a year.
Two honest caveats. This compares Amazon-category spending only — both cards earn the same 2% and 1% elsewhere, so those rows cancel out and leave the threshold unchanged. And it ignores the value of Prime itself. If you would use the delivery, the video or the Whole Foods discounts, the membership is not a cost the card has to justify on its own, and the honest place to work that out is our Prime break-even page.
One more input that only applies once. Chase currently advertises a $150 Amazon Gift Card loaded into your Amazon Gift Card balance on approval (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-11) for new cardmembers. In the first year that offer more than covers the membership fee at any spending level — but it is a one-time amount, it is subject to approval, and welcome offers change without notice, so we would not build a multi-year decision on it. Check what is actually being offered before you apply.
The catch
What the reviews tend to skip
The 5% is rented, not owned
Most write-ups lead with “5% back at Amazon” and mention the membership requirement in a footnote. It belongs in the headline. The rate is conditional on an active, eligible Prime membership, so the card’s value is tied to a recurring fee you can stop paying at any time — and if you do stop, what happens next is worth knowing before you are in that position.
Points are worth exactly one cent, forever
100 points = $1 (each $1 in % back rewards earned is equal to 100 points) (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-11). There is no transfer partner, no redemption sweet spot, and no way to make a point worth more than a penny. That is not a criticism — a fixed rate is simple and it never devalues — but it does mean the 5% is genuinely 5%, not “5% that might be worth more later”. We go through the redemption routes on the rewards page.
Approval is not a formality
This is a Chase-issued Visa, not a store card, and it is not designed for thin or rebuilding credit. Chase does not publish a score cutoff and neither will we — the application page explains what is genuinely knowable and what is not, and what the realistic fallback is if the answer comes back no.
Where the answer is no
Skip this if…
You do not have Prime and do not want it
The 5% is conditional on the membership. Paying $139 per year to unlock a rate you will use on a few hundred dollars of Amazon spending is a straightforward loss. Get the Amazon Visa instead and take the 3% with no membership attached.
You carry a balance from month to month
At 18.74%–29.99% variable, interest overtakes 5% rewards almost immediately. A rewards card is the wrong tool for borrowing; a lower-rate card or a plan to clear the balance first will leave you better off than any cashback rate.
You want one card that earns well everywhere
Outside Amazon this card is ordinary: 2% on a short list of categories and 1% on everything else. A single flat 2% card beats it on every purchase that is not at Amazon, Whole Foods or Chase Travel.
You are close to Chase's application limits
Chase is widely reported to decline applicants who have opened several new card accounts in the past two years. Chase does not publish that rule, so we will not state it as fact — but if it applies to you, an application here may be a hard credit check for nothing.
#ad New cardmembers only. Chase decides approval, the 5% rate needs an eligible Prime membership, and terms can change at any time. We earn a flat fee if you sign up through this link, at no cost to you. How we’re paid.
Go deeper
Prime Visa, in more detail
Benefits
Every earning rate and benefit, sourced to Chase and dated, plus the ones that do not exist.
How to apply
The application steps, the Prime prerequisite, and what is genuinely unknowable about approval odds.
Denied or under review
What a denial or a pending decision means, what to do next, and the fallback card if the answer stays no.
Without Prime
What the card earns when Prime lapses, and why the Amazon Visa is usually the right card instead.
Common questions
Common questions
- Does the Prime Visa have an annual fee?
- The card itself has no annual fee. The Prime membership that unlocks its 5% rate does cost money, so the honest answer is that the card is free and the rate is not.
- Do I need Amazon Prime to get the Prime Visa?
- You need an eligible Prime membership to earn the 5% rate. Without one the card still works, but the Amazon rate drops. If you do not want Prime, the Amazon Visa is the card built for that case.
- What happens to the card if I cancel Prime?
- The account stays open. What changes is the earn rate: the 5% at Amazon and on Chase Travel is conditional on an eligible Prime membership, so canceling Prime removes the main reason to carry the card.
- Does the Prime Visa charge foreign transaction fees?
- No. Chase states you pay no foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside the United States, which makes it a reasonable card to take abroad even though its headline rate is domestic.
- Is the Prime Visa a regular credit card?
- Yes. It is a Visa issued by Chase and works anywhere Visa is accepted. That is the main structural difference between it and the Amazon Store Card, which only works at Amazon.
- What are the downsides of the Prime Visa?
- Three: the 5% is conditional on a paid membership, points are worth a flat one cent with no way to increase that, and the purchase APR is high enough that carrying a balance for a couple of months wipes out a year of rewards.
- Is Amazon Prime free if you have the card?
- No. The card does not include or discount a Prime membership. You pay for Prime separately, and that fee is what the break-even arithmetic on this page is measured against.
Related
Read next
- Prime Visa vs Amazon Store Card — the head-to-head, if you are choosing between the two Amazon cards
- Is Amazon Prime worth it? — the membership fee is the real cost of this card, so it deserves its own arithmetic
- The best way to redeem Amazon points — earning is only half of it; one redemption route quietly costs you
Written by Stephen V. — An enthusiast who's genuinely into this. I read the terms, compile the published rates, and do the math. No lab coat, no credentials, no test lab.
About this site · How we research · How we’re paid
Last verified: 2026-08-11