Amazon Prime Visa vs Chase Freedom Flex for Cashback

[Beast26]

Which card should I get?  I'm not a points person and I don't travel.  I only seek cashback.  My delimma is that If I get the Chase Freedom Flex I would have to wait about 2 years to get the Chase Amazon Prime.  I spend about $150+ per month on Amazon.  

For groceries I primarily shop at Walmart, so the 5% groceries wouldn't help much.  I may spend about $50 at Publix per month.  I could maybe buy Amazon gift cards from Publix on the chase but I heard that is seen as shady in the credit card world.  I would make more money in the first year with the Chase Freedom Flex due to the $200 signups bonus over the Amazon $100 gift card bonus.  But it's so uncertain how much I would make with chase freedom flex due to rotating categories I wouldn't know how to predict what I can make.  

Or I could get the Freedom Flex and settle for the Amazon Prime Store Card from synchrony and call it a day.  

[ccquest]

If you have a good stable of others cards with benefits, I'd say the Flex and store card route gets the most obvious benefit. You get two bonuses, the Flex benefits including rotating categories, and the fixed % back on Amazon all the time.

[coldfusion]

The Freedom Flex and then the Amazon store card is the winning strategy unless holding a Visa card is an absolute must or you find the thought of adding 2 additional cards repugnant.  You wouldn't be settling.

[Yankee2]

Are you a Amazon prime member?

I'm not familiar with the store card, but if your not a prime member what percentage do you get back? It says 5% if your a Prime member but reading the fine print, I can't see what you get if you don't. 1% or 0%?

Chase gets you 3% if your not.

Not sure what you have for other cards or where your other spend goes, but seems other than the $200 bonus the Flex doesn't do much for you. If you really want a Chase card, the Chase Amazon might be the better long term fit. (and get a second 2% everything card instead)

[Beast26]

It's not adding 2 cards that bothered me it's just that the Amazon store card is from synchrony.  But I guess at the end of the day 5% is 5% right?  Seems like everyone keeps making it seem like somehow the chase Amazon Prime Visa is better, but at the end of the day I'm using the Amazon card only for shopping on Amazon.

[coldfusion]

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@Beast26 wrote:

It's not adding 2 cards that bothered me it's just that the Amazon store card is from synchrony.  But I guess at the end of the day 5% is 5% right?  Seems like everyone keeps making it seem like somehow the chase Amazon Prime Visa is better, but at the end of the day I'm using the Amazon card only for shopping on Amazon.

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Synchrony can be a bit rough around the edges but if you don't push the envelope and maintain good credit hygiene they are generally straighforward to deal with.   The vast majority of members here recently reporting issues with Synchrony card closures and clean histories had several Synchrony cards, usually with fairly significant aggregate credit limits across all of them. 

[longtimelurker]

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@coldfusion wrote:

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@Beast26 wrote:

It's not adding 2 cards that bothered me it's just that the Amazon store card is from synchrony.  But I guess at the end of the day 5% is 5% right?  Seems like everyone keeps making it seem like somehow the chase Amazon Prime Visa is better, but at the end of the day I'm using the Amazon card only for shopping on Amazon.

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Synchrony can be a bit rough around the edges but if you don't push the envelope and maintain good credit hygiene they are generally straighforward to deal with.   The vast majority of members here recently reporting issues with Synchrony card closures and clean histories had several Synchrony cards, usually with fairly significant aggregate credit limits across all of them. 

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Yes, and Chase is not immune from closures, just less common here as more people have lots of Sync rather than lots of Chase.   The Chase card has one major benefit for some (and since you didn't mention it, I guess not for you!): it can be used for 5% uncapped at Whole Foods.

[Beast26]

Yes I'm an amazon prime member.  I have been for years.  I'm early in the credit game so all my cards are in my signature.  In the future I will get a second discover it Miles for another year with 3% general spend, us Bank Cash plus, pnc Cash plus(unless a new 5% gas card comes out) and a permanent general spend card like Penfed power cash.

[Anonymous]

I have the Amazon Prime Store Card and it's one of my most used cards. Amazon will give you 5% off of gift cards too which is a nice added benefit. I haven't heard of anyone getting shut down for store gift cards, it's usually the V/M/AX cards that people buy that get them in trouble.

Synchrony has been unreliable for a number of people but I haven't had any issues with them as of yet. My two year anniversary with this card is 12/30 and I have a $10K limit on it. 

[Loquat]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@coldfusion wrote:

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@Beast26 wrote:

It's not adding 2 cards that bothered me it's just that the Amazon store card is from synchrony.  But I guess at the end of the day 5% is 5% right?  Seems like everyone keeps making it seem like somehow the chase Amazon Prime Visa is better, but at the end of the day I'm using the Amazon card only for shopping on Amazon.

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Synchrony can be a bit rough around the edges but if you don't push the envelope and maintain good credit hygiene they are generally straighforward to deal with.   The vast majority of members here recently reporting issues with Synchrony card closures and clean histories had several Synchrony cards, usually with fairly significant aggregate credit limits across all of them. 

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Yes, and Chase is not immune from closures, just less common here as more people have lots of Sync rather than lots of Chase.   The Chase card has one major benefit for some (and since you didn't mention it, I guess not for you!): it can be used for 5% uncapped at Whole Foods.

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@longtimelurker I agree.  Folks don't have the same experience with Chase because they know better than to continuously request credit limit increases with them.  Sure, most folks would have to call Chase due to lack of an increase button, but even still, if a button did exist they still wouldn't smash it within 1% of the amount of times they do with Synchrony because they are well aware that Chase would whack them in the same manner as Synchrony...only Chase would do it at a much faster rate.