By Marlene Polywka | Jul 26, 2023 at 2:29 p.m
Amazon is ending its previous collaboration with Landesbank Berlin (LBB), which will also result in the end of the provider’s Visa card. However, there should be a successor. TECHBOOK gives an overview of the conditions.
What had already become apparent in the past few months is now reality: the Amazon.de Visa Card will be discontinued. Affected customers are currently being informed step by step by LBB. With the so-called “Visa Card Extra”, this is planning a direct successor; Amazon is also working on a new product of its own. TECHBOOK checks the new offer and provides an overview.
Amazon is discontinuing Visa Card – customers need to know that
First of all, it should be emphasized that all Amazon Visa Cards, including partner cards, are affected by the discontinuation. It is not yet known why the cooperation is being terminated in this regard. From the official side it says only: “The cooperation between Landesbank Berlin AG and Amazon.de has been terminated. Therefore, the Amazon.de VISA card cannot be continued as before. For this reason, the conditions will be changed on March 27th, 2024.” A spokeswoman for Berliner Sparkasse also confirmed to TECHBOOK that the cooperation was ended by mutual agreement.
However, the stated deadline at the end of March only applies if you agree to the conditions of the newly announced Visa Card Extra. Anyone who does not want to switch to the successor must expect an earlier deadline. LBB will then inform customers step by step of the exact date. “Anyone who agrees to the changed conditions for the Visa Card Extra can still use the Amazon.de Visa card until March 26th, 2024. Without consent, the Amazon.de card account will be closed on the date communicated, in the current e-mail this is September 30th, 2023. If the Amazon.de VISA card account has a credit balance, this will be paid out to the deposited checking account,” the company spokeswoman told TECHBOOK.
Customers should therefore note that they can only transfer their credit and the points they have collected to the new card to a limited extent. This is primarily because Amazon is not involved in the new Visa Card Extra. Any credit will be transferred to the deposited current account. The Amazon points, on the other hand, expire if they are not redeemed by the individual end of the contract period. Alternatively, you can also convert the points into an Amazon voucher by the specified deadline and redeem it later.
Anyone who agrees to the new conditions for the Visa Card Extra will be sent a new card. Attention: The changeover does not take place automatically! There is no precise information about the time frame. According to the LBB, the cards will not be sent out until November 2023 at the earliest. They apply seamlessly from the end of the Visa card, i.e. from March 27, 2024. The credit limit and functions remain largely identical to the Visa card. However, payment via Google Pay will no longer be possible in the future and you will have to register again for the Visa Secure security procedure.
Customers should also note that to activate the “contactless payment” function with the new card, they must first pay at a card reader. Since the card number also changes, you also have to store the new data as a means of payment. The transfer is not automatic. Incidentally, Amazon is now also offering the prospect of a follow-up product, which is still in development.
As already mentioned, collecting points for Amazon is no longer necessary. Amazon Prime customers no longer get any discounts. In return, the Visa Card Extra offers 0.75 percent cashback on sales of up to EUR 5,000 per year; the ticket price is also 19.99 euros per year. The account associated with the credit card is managed exclusively as an installment account with a monthly fixed or percentage rate.
TECHBOOK meint
“The fact that there is a successor naturally makes it easier for affected customers to switch to the new Visa Card Extra. However, one should consider that one of the great advantages of the credit card was the cooperation with Amazon. Prime customers in particular were able to save in this way and also collect discount points for further orders.
With the end of the cooperation, this will of course no longer apply, which fundamentally changes the target group of the card. All in all, the conditions of the Visa Card Extra are okay, but in my opinion not nearly as appealing as those of the Amazon.de Visa Card before. Above all, the partial payment model has its pitfalls, because the account has to be loaded manually in order to pay bills in full and avoid interest if necessary. Marlene Polywka, editor
Sources
Golem (accessed 2023-07-26) LBB (accessed 2023-07-26)