New Card: 5% Back at Amazon, Rewards Everywhere Else

Online superstore Amazon is rolling outa new credit card that combines the best features of the Amazon Prime Store Card and the existingAmazon Credit Card. Available only to Amazon Prime members, the new Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card offers:

– 5% back on Amazon purchases.
– 2% back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores.
– 1% back everywhere else.

Rewards never expire and are redeemable at Amazon. Your rewards balance appears on thecheckout screen when you make a purchase, and you can apply rewards to a purchase in any amount, with no minimum redemption. The new card has no annual fee, but it requiresmembership in Amazon Prime, which costs $99 a year and provides such perks as free two-day shipping and unlimited access to streaming media. The card has no foreign transaction fees.

Amazon Prime customers who already have the existing Amazon Credit Card, also known as the “Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card,” will be upgraded to the new Prime product automatically. Their existing accounts will start earning the new benefits immediately, and their new card should arrive soon, Amazon said. The new card will be made of metal rather than plastic, latching on to the craze that surrounded the 2016 release of the metal Chase Sapphire Reserve℠.

How does the new card stack up against other Amazon cards? Take a look:

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa SignatureAmazon Credit Card Amazon Prime Store Card Where can you use it?Anywhere that accepts VisaAnywhere that accepts VisaOnly at AmazonRewards on Amazon purchases 5%3% 5% Rewards at restaurants, drugstores, gas stations2% 2% N/ARewards on all other purchases1%1%N/AAnnual fee for card $0 (but requires $99 Prime membership)$0$0 (but requires $99 Prime membership)

» MORE: Amazon Prime Store Card: Is it right for you?

“The upgraded Amazon Prime card took the best of both worlds and is really a fantastic product for regular Amazon shoppers,” NerdWallet credit cards expert Sean McQuay says.

For Prime members who already have the existing Amazon Credit Card, upgrading to the new card will mean higher rewards at no additional cost.For cardholders who might have been on the fence about ponying up the $99 for Prime membership, the new rewards rate for Amazon purchases — a 67% increase — might be just the push they’re looking for. And for holders of the Amazon Prime Store Card, the fact that they can get the same 5% back at Amazon plus additional rewards elsewhere makes the new card an enticingupgrade.

The biggest drawback, aswith any store credit card, is that the rewards can be used at only one place. But in this case, that one place is Amazon, which carries so many different kinds of products that you won’t lack for opportunities to redeem rewards, whether on Cartier watches, Angel Soft toilet paper or anything in between.

“Think of the card as a 5% discount on every Amazon purchase, no coupons needed,” McQuay says.

Information related to the Amazon Credit Card and the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Cardhas been collected by NerdWalletand has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.

Paul Soucy is an editor at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: paul@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @paulsoucy.

The article New Card: 5% Back at Amazon, Rewards Everywhere Else originally appeared on NerdWallet.