Amazon Prime Rewards Review: Perhaps the Ultimate Store Card

If you're an Amazon Prime loyalist, it's hard to find fault with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card.

The card, issued by Chase, earns a stellar rewards rate at both Amazon.com and Whole Foods. And unlike a lot of other store-branded cards, you can use it — and earn rewards with it — anywhere that accepts Visa. You'll enjoy bonus rewards at restaurants, drugstores and gas stations, too. Plus, redemption options are quite flexible for a store card.

You get all this for an annual fee of $0, although you'll need to pay for an Amazon Prime membership first. Those who don't shop enough with Amazon to justify that membership fee will want to look elsewhere.

» MORE: Best credit cards to use at Amazon

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card: Basics

Card type: Store and rewards.

Annual fee: $0, but you must be an Amazon Prime member. Membership costs $139 annually ($69 a year for students). Note that in many states, a sales tax will apply to your membership fee, pushing the effective cost higher.

Sign-up bonus: Amazon occasionally offers gift cards of varying amounts upon approval.

Rewards:

• 5% back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market.

• 2% back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores.

• 1% back on all other purchases.

Rewards come as points that are worth a penny each. They can be redeemed toward eligible Amazon.com purchases, with no minimum redemption required. But you can also redeem points through Chase for cash back, either as a statement credit or a deposit into an eligible checking or savings account, also with no minimum required. Other redemption options include travel and gift cards. Note that points earned on the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card cannot be combined with Chase Ultimate Rewards® points.

APR: The ongoing APR is 18.74%-26.74%, Variable.

Foreign transaction fees: None.

Other benefits:

• Travel protections: Travel accident insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, travel and emergency assistance, auto rental collision damage waiver, roadside dispatch.

• Shopping protections: Extended warranty, purchase protection.

• Plus: Visa Signature concierge service and access to booking hotels in the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection.

High ongoing rewards

If you spend a lot at Amazon.com or Whole Foods Market, no other card can offer such consistently high rewards for your loyalty as the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card. A few other cards do come close, like the Discover it® Cash Back. It earns up to 5% cash back in rotating bonus categories that change each quarter, up to a $1,500 quarterly spending cap. (Activation is required; all other purchases earn 1% back.) And in the past, Amazon.com has been among that card's 5% bonus categories — but, again, only for a three-month period, and only up to that combined quarterly $1,500 cap.

» MORE: Best credit cards for grocery store spending

Rewards flexibility

The only thing more fun than earning rewards is redeeming them, and your earnings on the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card can be used in a variety of ways (which isn't always the case with store-branded credit cards). Use rewards toward your next Amazon purchase, or redeem them through Chase to buy gift cards, to book travel or to get straight-up cash back. Points are worth one cent each any way you use them.

Packed with extras

Even if the farthest you travel is from your bed to your couch, the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card is jam-packed with juicy Visa Signature extras that nearly anyone can benefit from. Serious online shoppers can take advantage of the purchase and warranty protections on qualifying items. And for those who do travel frequently, the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card doesn't come with any foreign transaction fees, making it ideal for use internationally. Domestic and international travelers alike can find value in the included auto rental collision damage waiver coverage, baggage delay insurance, and travel and emergency assistance.

The value is mostly at Amazon and Whole Foods

Unless you're doing a significant amount of shopping through Amazon or at Whole Foods, it doesn't make sense to apply for the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card. For starters, Amazon isn't always the cheapest option — especially when you factor in the cost of a Prime membership — and Whole Foods didn't earn the nickname "Whole Paycheck" for carrying budget-minded fare. If you aren't into membership fees and you're looking for low prices, consider applying for a different co-branded credit card from a different ubiquitous retail behemoth: namely, the Capital One® Walmart Rewards™ Mastercard®. The card offers similarly generous rewards for shopping under the Walmart umbrella: 5% back on purchases at Walmart.com; 2% back on in-store purchases at Walmart (including at Murphy USA and Walmart gas stations), as well as on travel and restaurant expenses; and 1% back on all other purchases. And like Amazon, Walmart also carries just about any item you can think of. The difference? No annual membership fee is required to hold the card.

» MORE: How the Capital One® Walmart Rewards™ Mastercard® stacks up vs. the competition

The 'everything else' rate is lackluster

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card offers elevated rewards in several categories — but not on every purchase you make. If you want a simpler option that can reward you well no matter where you buy, a better choice might be the Citi® Double Cash Card. It has the potential to earn a fantastic 2% cash back on all purchases: 1% when you buy, plus another 1% when you pay, with no category tracking or pricey membership required. The annual fee is $0.

And if that card doesn't make sense for you, check out a list of Nerdwallet's best rewards credit cards.

No 0% intro APR offer

If you spend big at Amazon, Whole Foods, or both, no other card can reward you as generously and consistently as the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card. But if you aren't doing most of your shopping at either place, there's little reason to get this card.