Sony Credit Card Review - Earn 5 Points For Sony Purchases

Sony Card^SM Visa® Review

Summary - The Sony credit card used to be issued by Chase. But right now, Capital One is the issuer, but the rewards remain much the same. Here is how the card works.

How You Can Rack Up Sony Points - If you are a cardholder, you can earn 5 points per dollar spent on Sony purchases at Sony stores, Sony.com and Sony authorized retailers. You can also earn 3 Points per dollar spent on all dining out and movies. For other normal purchases, you earn the usual one point per dollar. Points can be redeemed for Sony products from their catalog here.

5,000 Sign Up Bonus - New cardholders will also get a 5,000 sign up bonus after the first purchase made on the card.

Annual Fee and APR - There is no annual fee.

As part of the evaluation of this card, it is also worth noting that the Discover More Card cardholders can earn 5% rebates when they shop at Sony.com through their Discover Card account after they login. I would treat the 5% rebates as a discount since you do get cash back (without having to fill in surveys or calling any numbers!). The only fine print is that you will not earn 5% rebates for playstation products. Below are screen shots showing you how it looks like in your Discover account (I am doing this because Discover does not show you who their merchant partners are until you have the card!)


 

Verdict - When we compare Sony to other retail credit cards, it ranks at the top of its peers in terms of its points earning capabilities. Earning 5 points is at the top end of the range. You can also earn triple points for dining or movies purchases. The card will appeal to those who really spend a lot on Sony products. Or it could appeal to those who intend to make a big Sony product purchase like a 3D Plasma TV and want to use reward points instead. You probably have to get the card for one year and rack up your spending to earn the points you need.

For those of us who might occasionally buy a Sony product, then there is really no need for this card. Instead a card like the Discover More Card might be a better fit because you can get 5% rebates (more like discount) at Sony.com. You cannot get the rebates at physical Sony stores or at Sony authorized dealers. You also cannot get the 5% rebates for Playstation products. But if these do not concern you, then you are probably better off getting the Discover Card since you can earn rebates not just from Sony, but from over 150 retailers.

You might also want to take note that other Discover Cards like the Discover Open Road Card and the Discover More Student Card also has the same shopping portal shopdiscover.com, which has Sony as their partner.