Prime Visa Card vs. Capital One Walmart Rewards Card

Retail behemoths Walmart and Amazon are known for their low prices, convenience and wide product selection. Both also offer attractive credit cards that reward brand loyalty. The Prime Visa card entices Amazon Prime members with perks like rewards points, a valuable welcome bonus and exclusive cardholder discounts. The Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard®* takes the big-box store’s incredibly low prices to a new level, especially when you take advantage of the 5 percent cash back on online purchases. Curious to see how the Amazon versus Capital One card battle shapes up? We’re putting these two credit cards to the test to help you determine which one you should have in your wallet.

Main details

Both the Prime Visa card and Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard offer valuable rewards. Here’s a look at how these cards stack up against each other:

Amazon Prime Visa card vs. Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard highlights

Let’s take a closer look at how these two cards compare when it comes to welcome bonuses, rewards rates, annual fees and foreign transaction fees.

Welcome bonus winner: Prime Visa Card

New Prime Visa cardholders receive a $100 Amazon gift card instantly upon approval. The gift card can be used on any of the millions of products found on Amazon. It’s also one of the easiest welcome bonuses to earn considering most rewards credit cards require you to meet a spend requirement before claiming a sign-up bonus. The Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard offers a welcome bonus of an increase to 5 percent back on purchases made at Walmart stores with the Walmart Pay app for the first 12 months. After 12 months, the rewards rate for purchases made in Walmart stores reverts to 2 percent. (Note that Walmart.com purchases always earn 5 percent back.) If you take advantage of Walmart’s welcome bonus, you’d have to spend $2,000 in store with Walmart Pay to match the value of the $100 gift card you earn with Amazon’s welcome offer. Since you don’t have to spend any money to earn Amazon’s welcome bonus, it’s the winner in this category.

Rewards rate winner: Tie

The Prime Visa card earns an unlimited 5 percent rewards on Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market purchases and Chase travel purchases. Plus it earns rewards in several other categories. The Walmart card almost mirrors that, but with online Walmart purchases earning the top rewards. The two cards share similarities for the other rewards categories. To enjoy all the rewards with the Amazon card, you do have to be an Amazon Prime member, which means paying the $139 membership fee. To offset that fee with Amazon spending alone, you’d have to spend $2,780 on Amazon purchases. Meanwhile, there is no annual fee to offset with the Capital One Walmart Rewards card. The 5 percent back you can earn with the Capital One Walmart Rewards card on online Walmart purchases may be a better fit for budget shoppers. Walmart consistently ranks as one of the most affordable stores around. Meanwhile. Amazon’s Whole Foods is often considered one of the most overpriced grocery stores in America. If grocery rewards and convenience are important to you, then Walmart takes the top spot. But to get the most value, you need to have a Walmart Supercenter nearby for pickup and deliveries so you can take advantage of ordering online with Walmart and raking in the highest rewards rate.

Annual fee winner: Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard

Both the Prime Visa card and Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard offer the same attractive $0 annual fee, which means you don’t have to worry about making sure your rewards outweigh card costs. Although the Prime Visa card doesn’t have a fee, you still need to spend $139 on an annual Amazon Prime membership to earn 5 percent back on Amazon.com purchases. So you essentially have to pay to unlock the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa’s highest rewards tier. That’s why, compared to the Amazon credit card, the Capital One Walmart Rewards card is the winner when it comes to annual fees.

Foreign transaction fee winner: Tie

Neither card charges foreign transaction fees, making either a good choice when traveling abroad or making online purchases from e-commerce shops based abroad. If you don’t already have a separate travel card in your wallet, the Walmart Rewards Mastercard is a good choice for booking travel and making purchases abroad due to its 2 percent travel rewards rate and lack of foreign transaction fees.

Which card earns the most?

Both the Prime Visa card and Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard offer 5 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent back categories with similar structures. That means card earnings will depend on your spending habits and shopping preferences (for example, Amazon.com versus Walmart.com and online versus in-person shopping).

Prime Visa card vs. Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard spending example

Let’s say you spend $2,000 on online purchases, $8,000 in groceries, $500 at drugstores, $500 on travel and $1,000 on miscellaneous purchases in your first year. If you had the Prime Visa card and a Prime membership, you’d earn $100 back on online purchases made through Amazon.com, $400 on groceries from Whole Foods, 5$ at drugstores, $25 on travel (assume you used the Chase travel portal) and $10 on miscellaneous purchases, for a grand total of $540 back. With the Capital One Walmart Rewards card, you’d earn $100 back on online purchases made through Walmart.com, $400 on groceries bought at Walmart stores via Walmart Pay within the first 12 months (this falls to $160 after your first year), $5 at drugstores, $10 on travel and $10 on miscellaneous purchases, for a grand total of $525 back. After the welcome bonus has expired, this scenario would earn you $285 each subsequent year (as the rate drops down to 2 percent for in-store purchases). In this scenario, the cards would earn you similar rewards in the first year, though slightly more with the Prime card. In your second year of card membership, the Prime Visa card would be even more rewarding as long as you pay for the Prime membership. Even accounting for the $139 Prime membership, the Amazon card still nets $401 a year, well over that of the Walmart card. That said, if you alter your grocery shopping so that you’re doing it via Walmart online, you’d keep the Walmart card rewards on-pace with the Amazon card.

Why should you get the Prime Visa card?

Simply put, if you already have an Amazon Prime membership and frequently shop with Amazon, you’ll probably want to have the Prime Visa card in your wallet. The 5 percent back on Amazon.com and Whole Foods purchases make this card enticing and most certainly worth it.

Additional benefits

The Prime Visa card comes with additional benefits. On top of basic shopping protections, cardholders can take advantage of several travel protections. This includes auto rental collision damage waiver, baggage delay insurance, lost luggage reimbursement and travel accident insurance.

Redemption options

The Prime Visa card technically gives you points instead of cash back. Each point is worth 1 cent, which means you’ll earn $1 in rewards for every $20 you spend at Amazon or Whole Foods, every $50 you spend at gas stations, restaurants or drugstores or every $100 spent on other purchases. There are a number of ways to redeem points, including:

• Swapping them for a cash deposit into an eligible checking or savings account
• Redeeming a credit on your account
• Receiving Amazon.com credit
• Booking travel through Chase (note that these are not Ultimate Rewards points and can’t be transferred to travel partners or combined with other Ultimate Rewards points you earn with other cards)
• Trading them in for gift cards

Recommended credit score

You need good or excellent credit to qualify for the Prime Visa card, which means you’ll need a FICO score between 670 and 850.

Why should you get the Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard?

If you shop at Walmart frequently, then getting the Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard is a no-brainer. With a higher rewards rate when you shop at Walmart.com, this card encourages you to shop online instead of at Walmart stores.

Additional benefits

The Walmart Rewards card is light on additional benefits, especially compared to the Prime Visa card. The two standout features are an instant card number and no penalty APR. When you’re approved for this card, you’ll receive an instant card number so you can begin using it right away. There’s no need to wait for the card to arrive in the mail. The Walmart card also won’t hit you with a penalty APR if you fail to make a minimum payment on time. If you make a late payment with the Prime Visa card, you could face a penalty APR of up to 29.99 percent, which could stay in place indefinitely.

Redemption options

The Walmart Rewards Mastercard offers multiple ways to redeem your points, which never expire. As with the Prime Visa card, one point is worth 1 cent with Walmart’s card, which means you’ll need to rack up 100 points to earn $1 in rewards — that’s $20 spent on Walmart.com purchases, $50 at Walmart stores, restaurants or on travel or $100 on other purchases. You can redeem points:

• For cash, in the form of a check or statement credit
• To cover a purchase
• For gift cards from Walmart and other stores
• For travel via Capital One Travel

Recommended credit score

In order to qualify for the Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard, you’ll likely need fair-to-excellent credit, which typically falls in the 580 to 850 FICO score range.

The bottom line

These Amazon and Walmart cards are attractive options from a couple of the biggest names in retail. They offer similar tiers for points collection and, as with other co-branded cards, reward cardmembers for their loyalty. Since neither card has an annual fee and both retailers carry a staggering number of products, they’re both great options. But whether the Prime Visa card or the Capital One Walmart Rewards Mastercard is the best card for you depends on where you shop the most and which card will deliver the most value for your spending habits and lifestyle. *All information about the Capital One Walmart Rewards® Mastercard® has been collected independently by Bankrate and has not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.