AMAZON PLATINUM CREDIT CARD – Is it worth it for the Prime Day deals?

The Amazon Platinum Mastercard comes with perks designed to reward Amazon Prime customers above all others. New users receive a £25 gift card as a sign-up bonus, plus £10 gift cards for every 1,000 reward points you accumulate – you also get additional points for every £2 spent on Amazon.co.uk if you have a Prime subscription.

With Amazon Prime Day fast approaching (June 21st), and thousands of Brits expected to splash out on a discount or deal of some kind, anyone with a Platinum card has the potential to rack up a large number of reward points if you shop smartly.

However, according to personal finance experts at money.co.uk, the Platinum card falls short when compared to the industry leading brands – even with the Prime Day deals thrown into the mix.

James Andrews, senior personal finance expert at money.co.uk, said: “When you’re picking a rewards credit card, you need to look beyond the initial deal and see if the card is a good match to your overall spending habits.

“With the Amazon Platinum card, you receive a £25 signup bonus and extra reward points – three points for every £2 spent on Amazon. This might make the card seem an attractive proposition initially, but what about the rest of the year?

“The card does come with a 0% interest deal, but it’s only for the first three months, which isn’t long at all when you compare it to other credit card providers. Other leading reward credit cards on the market give you up to twenty months interest free, at the same underlying rate of 21.0% APR after the 0% period ends.

“The benefit of a long 0% deal is that you can spread the cost of large purchases, such as electronics and other household appliances typically discounted on Prime Day, over the course of the year.

“It also won’t change the fact that you still need to pay off the full amount, and you should never use a credit card to spend beyond your means. Nevertheless, if you go with another provider, you’ll have much more breathing room to manage each purchase than you would with Amazon’s own card.

“If you do decide to stick with the Platinum card, you should be aware that once the first three months have expired, you will start paying interest on your transactions, and no amount of vouchers or points will make that easier to bear. Therefore, it is usually better to pay your monthly bill off as quickly as financially possible, to avoid a huge interest fee.

“Even if you intend to rack up a massive number of points by spending big on Prime Day next Monday, the extra vouchers and other benefits will struggle to be as rewarding in the long term as some of the other providers.

“Fundamentally, this card is good for one thing only – using it instead of a debit card on Amazon purchases, then clearing it in full each month. Against that is the potential harm you could be doing your credit report by either applying for it to be turned down or simply increasing the total amount of available credit you have.

“As such, unless you have a good credit history, only use it for Amazon purchases and plan to clear it in full each month, there’s probably something better for you elsewhere.