The co-branded credit card can be used by eligible account holders to earn rewards on everyday spending, which can then be redeemed for gift cards on Amazon.co.uk.
It can be used everywhere that accepts Visa.
Here’s a summary of what it offers:
- No monthly or annual fee
- 0% APR on all purchases for the first six months (representative APR of 28.9% variable afterwards)
- £20 Amazon.co.uk gift card once approved
- 1% rewards on all Amazon purchases
- 0.5% rewards on everyday spending outside of Amazon for the first 12 months, and 0.25% after
- Amazon Prime members also get 2% back from all spending with Amazon during designated shopping event days, including Black Friday, Cyber Money and Prime Day
Elsewhere, cardholders will also have access to Barclaycard’s entertainment perks, including advance pre-sales for selected UK events, and 10% off pre-sale tickets when using the Amazon Barclaycard to pay.
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Amazon Barclaycard customers also get 10% off food and drink at selected venues.
How good is the Amazon Barclaycard credit card?
Amazon has delved back into the UK consumer credit market after pulling out of a previous partnership with provider NewDay in 2022.
One major term and condition you need to know is that the Amazon Barclaycard is currently available to new Barclaycard customers only, so you can’t have held a Barclaycard in the past six months.
This means existing Barclaycard customers cannot get this now, but the firms say they’re aiming to open applications to this group “in the coming months”.
The only exception is if you hold a Barclaycard Corporate card and don’t hold a personal Barclaycard – then you’re eligible to apply for the Amazon Barclaycard.
The other points to note are that you can’t use this card with Apple Pay, though you can still use your card via contactless, or on Google Pay if you have an Android device.
This is an app-only account, so you need the Barclays or Barclaycard app to manage and use your account.
But the good thing is that you can check your eligibility for the Amazon Barclaycard first to find out how likely you are to be approved without affecting your credit rating.
The firms say you’re more likely to be accepted if you always make payments on time, have at least four years’ experience of managing credit, have a personal income of more than £20,000 per year and pass a ‘soft’ (eligibility) credit check.
And once approved, the digital card is ready to be used on Amazon.co.uk after activation, while the plastic card arrives within seven working days.
When it comes to accessing rewards, once you’ve earned £5, you can transfer an Amazon gift card to your linked Amazon account. You can only do this in multiples of £5, so if you have a rewards balance of £17.50, you could transfer £15 as gift cards, leaving £2.50 in your rewards balance.
According to Head for Points, a frequent flyer website, this is a decent card “in terms of benefits”, particularly for non-traveller users looking for a free non-Amex credit card.
Rhys Jones from Head for Points wrote: “The 0.5% return in year one makes the card more valuable than major ‘non-travel’ reward cards such as the Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and John Lewis products. These tend to pay you just 0.1% to 0.25% of your spending. Even after year one, 0.25% is at the top end of what you could expect to earn from a consumer card like this.”
He also warned that getting this card would block people from the Barclaycard Avios credit cards “and their generous sign-up bonuses”, as well as the chance to earn one Avios per £1.
You may want to compare the Amazon Barclaycard with the Chase debit card, which pays a flat 1% on eligible spends, though it is capped at £15 per month and you need to pay in £1,500 per month.
According to MoneySavingExpert, “Chase beats the Amazon Barclaycard in a few key areas”. This includes paying more on non-Amazon spends, as well as simple cashback instead of Amazon gift cards, and you also don’t need to pass a full credit check, as Chase is a debit card, rather than a credit card.
But a valuable part of the Amazon Barclaycard is that it comes with a nice, free £20 Amazon voucher, and as it’s a credit card, you have more protection if there’s an issue with your purchase for something costing between £100 and £30,000.
