Recently I made an Amazon account and started a free prime trial and was prompted with the opportunity to get approved for an Amazon credit card receiving a $150 gift card as a reward. Now as a college student who doesn’t own a credit card and doesn’t intend on using one as of right now or even keeping my prime subscription after the free trial ends, would it be worth it to still try and get it solely for the gift card and then never use it or potentially close it or could that negatively affect my credit score? Any advice?
It’s a no-no to close a card within the first year if you got a SUB for it, so yeah this would be fine and then just keep the card open and just don’t use it. Make sure to log in once a month or so and/or turn on account text alerts so you know if a fraud charge shows up.
as a college student who doesn’t own a credit card and doesn’t intend on using one
Unsolicited advice: you should absolutely reconsider this mentality unless you’re highly fiscally irresponsible (and if that’s the case, don’t open a card for a SUB).
With that said, if you want to put in zero effort, sure, there’s little downside in signing up for the $150 and canceling in a year. That $150, though, is one of the absolute worst SUB values out there (especially if you don’t ever plan to continue using Amazon); virtually any other card out there will offer a higher cash value, even if you’re redeeming points for 60 cents on the dollar.
@Noe
If OP doesn’t have a credit history, I’d be shocked if Chase allowed them to get said CC.
Fintan said:
@Noe
If OP doesn’t have a credit history, I’d be shocked if Chase allowed them to get said CC.
The Amazon prime visa was my second CC, but I had been using the student discover card for a year or so prior to that.
@Noe
IMHO, it’s not “one of the absolute worst SUB values out there.” Among popular cards, some usually have what is essentially a $0 SUB (Apple Card, Citi Double Cash), while others seem to get by with lower SUBs (AAA cards at $100).
And the card actually has the most generous SUB for a $0 spend requirement. The only one I’m aware of that sort of compares in that regard is the Barclays AAviator Red Mastercard, which gives 60,000 AA miles after the first purchase, which theoretically could be for as low as a penny (assuming you don’t include the cost of the separate $99 AF).
Having said that, I doubt OP could get approved for any of those cards as their first credit card.
Id wait for black friday / prime day. The sub is $200.
No, because there’s equivalent sign up bonuses out there for cards you might actually use for general purposes. Someone more knowledgeable can chime in whether you’d get approved for the CO Savor or WF autograph with no cards. There’s also the discover it student, but no sign up bonus.
It’s a good card and free. Just keep it. Check the app for offers, chase gives good cash back offers regularly that don’t have anything to do with Amazon.
pennies in front of freight trains…