★★★★★ 5
VERY IMPRESSED. ONE OF MY FAVORITE CREDIT CARDS
Style: Prime Visa
After reading through well over 150 customer reviews, I was extremely hesitant about applying for the Chase Amazon Prime Visa Rewards card. I have been an avid Amazon customer for over 15 years... So, I am definitely a person that would greatly benefit from having/using an Amazon credit card that offers 5% cash back and interest free payment plans on Amazon.com purchases. Even so, and even though I knew that my credit score was more than high enough; I still chose to hold off on applying for the card for several years.
The main reason I hesitated was because there were so many negative reviews on here. Specifically, the ones written by people (who claimed to have good credit) stating that the only reason they got denied was because they had more than 2 or 3 hard inquiries within the past year. Some of them even said that they were initially approved and then later received a denial letter. After reading countless reviews like that, I figured that there was no way I would qualify/get approved.
That was how I felt up until 2 months ago. On July 1st, I finally decided that the potential reward was worth the risk. So I applied and was instantly approved! The $200 promotional Amazon store credit was immediately added to my account! The card was also automatically added as my default method of payment as well. It was super exciting! I am so glad that I decided to take the risk and apply that day.
I honestly expected Chase to either deny me, require more time to make their decision, or change their mind after the fact... I expected this for 2 main reasons: #1 because my credit score was not the greatest at the time when I applied (due to my utilization rate=over 40%). #2 I knew that I had at least 5-6 recent hard inquiries that had all occurred within the last year.
POSITIVE ASPECTS THAT I FEEL ARE WORTH MENTIONING:
Chase was very generous with the amount of time that they automatically allowed me between the date of my initial purchase and the due date (when my first payment was due). For whatever reason, Chase allotted me a total of 54 days! My first purchase occurred on July 1st. My first payment was due on/by August 25th! 54 days is wayyyyy longer than I have ever had with any of my other credit cards. So much so, that it's caused me to wonder if Chase does this to ensure that the customer has received their physical card in time. (There were several negative reviews where people said that they were forced to pay their first statement after the initial due date (subject to late fees and derogatory remarks in their credit history) because of the fact that it took well over a month for them to finally receive their physical card.) I can only attest to my personal experience, which I fortunately received my physical card within 11 business days (which means that I actually received it 3 days earlier than what I was told to expect.)
Chase makes it simple and easy to understand/know how much of the total balance needs to be paid in order for you to avoid any interest charges/fees. I have felt burdened in the past anytime I've used a card to make both promotional period 0% interest purchases as well as regular purchases. That's because some card company's tend to be vague when it comes to letting you know the exact amount to pay to avoid paying interest (surprising, right? lol). Chase lists both the total statement balance as well as the minimum balance you have to pay to avoid any interest charges.
I am satisfied with the way the cash back balance rewards system works. It would be nice if Chase would allow customers to earn some level of cash back incentives on purchases that are classified as no interest special financing for a pre-determined promotional period purchases... Even if customers didn't receive the full 5% cash back percentage...
This card can be used anywhere that VISA is accepted! It even offers 3% cash back incentive for gas station purchases while also offering other cash back incentives as well. I think that this is such a great feature that I did not expect!
This is the longest review that I have ever written. I took the time to write all of this because I know that there are other people out there (who have read the reviews and thus are hesitant like I once was).
Thank you for taking the time to read my novel.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2022
