Verizon now has its own co-branded credit card (with Synchrony): the Verizon Visa Card, which gives cardholders reward credits they can apply toward Verizon purchases or monthly cell phone bill credits.
It’s sort of an intriguing product, actually. Here’s a quick breakdown of the card.
Verizon Visa Card: Rewards
The Verizon Visa Card earns “Verizon Dollars” which, predictably can be spent at Verizon.
Verizon Dollars can help you buy new hardware (phone, tablet, etc) or be applied to your monthly Verizon Wireless bill.
Personally, I tend to favor cards with transferrable points that can be used for travel or cashback (i.e. Chase Ultimate Rewards®). On the other hand, the Verizon Visa Card essentially gives Verizon customers cashback that can help them save money on, say, their cell phone bills.
So that’s sort of intriguing — especially with the bonus categories.
Verizon Visa Card: Annual Fee
None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. No annual fee.
Verizon Visa Card: Bonus Categories
I’m pretty impressed with the Verizon Visa Card‘s bonuses.
- 4% on grocery store
- 4% on gas purchases
- 3% on dining purchases
- 2% on Verizon purchases
- 1% on all other purchases
4% back at grocery stores is right up there with the American Express® Gold Card‘s 4X Membership Rewards points. Though I think you can receive better value from the Membership Rewards points. Then again, the Amex Gold carries a $250 annual fee.
Verizon Visa Card: Welcome Offer
The current welcome offer is $100 in wireless credit over the course of 24 months (so about $4.16 a month) when you use your Verizon Visa Card to pay your monthly Verizon Wireless bill.
On the surface, that’s kinda meh.
But consider this: new enrollees to Verizon’s Auto Pay feature can get up to $10 a month off each eligible account or line (up to 10 lines max) on select plans. The Verizon Visa Card is the only credit card approved for the discount.
Verizon Visa Card: Other Benefits
Here’s a fun travel perk: the card comes with two free TravelPass days each calendar year. That’ll save you $20 on your international cell phone use (in select countries) when you travel outside the US.
Verizon Visa Card: Exclusions
Very much worth noting: Verizon wireless accounts with more than 10 phone lines and Prepaid accounts aren’t eligible to apply for the Verizon Visa Card.
So keep that in mind if you fall into either of those two categories.
Final Approach
For travel enthusiasts, I don’t think this is necessarily the best card. You might better value using Chase Ultimate Rewards® or American Express® Membership Rewards® products — which can be redeemed for values higher than one cent per point. But the Auto Pay benefit is very temping.
For the cashback folks who abhor cards with annual fees (and are Verizon customers), the Verizon Visa Card might be worth considering.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Three factors turn me off on this card. First Verizon can’t even offer 4% on their own products? Really? Second is that Verizon continues to have this mindset that “prepaid” customers are second rate. This isn’t true in that many folks that buy their phones upfront instead of being locked into a pay as you go model use the Verizon prepaid model as the service can be cheaper. I don’t know if Verizon fell into this habit years ago thinking that prepaid customers are losers with bad credit or what but they limit many services to them including credits for this card. I would argue that more regular contract customers are folks with less ability to pay for services in that rent-a-center model. This made me take my business away from Verizon and I am much happier with Google Fi. Google Fi is also a better service for international travel that gives you full use instead of a 2-day pass (except for prepaid folks of course). The third reason I avoid cards like this, Banana Republic, Kohl’s, etc. is that my personal theory is that store-branded cards have a slight negative impact on FICO scores in the USA.
Yeah, it’s like Verizon mimicked the patterns of many airline credit cards — like, you don’t want people buying airfare on your co-branded cards when they can get better earnings elsewhere.
One of my friends has a Verizon prepaid plan and absolutely loves it. He laughed when I told him about this card — because he’s still getting a better deal than he would if he hopped to a “regular” monthly plan and got the Verizon card.
Thanks for the comment!
I’ve been with Verizon for 20 years at least- I already use their auto pay with an AX on file… But I don’t qualify for the $10 a month credit? This is the way they reward long time customers! NO THANKS.
Big loss is no cell phone insurance!
I was considering getting the card only because of the $10 off per line per month. I have 4 lines thus $40 off a month x 12 = $480 a year for paying a bill I pay by credit card every month anyway. That’s the only purchase I would put on the card and I’d never even have to carry it in my wallet.