Amegy Bank® Premier Visa® Credit Card

Amegy Bank® Premier Credit Card Review

If you’re looking for Texas-sized rewards you won’t find them here, but that’s not to say you won’t find any at all with the Premier Credit Card from Amegy Bank of Texas. You’ll earn modest rewards on all purchases, including extra on travel expenses and an introductory bonus.

Hook ‘Em Points

The Amegy Bank Premier Credit Card guarantees at least 1.5X points, which is half a point higher than the base rewards rate for most rewards credit cards. At the same time, it also allows you to collect 2.5 points per dollar on a variety of travel purchases, including those made with:

• Travel agencies
• Cruise lines
• Hotels
• Car rental companies
• Airlines

Premier Credit Card Bonus

On top of the regular rewards rate, Amegy Bank also employs a signup bonus of 15,000 points, or $150. The catch is, you have to spend at least $4,000 within the first 90 days of the account opening. While this isn’t an uncommon spending requirement for a “premium” rewards card, it is pretty high in relation to the reward amount. You would have to spend over $1,300 a month for three months to earn the bonus, which may not even amount to much. Amegy Bank, like many smaller banks today, keeps a lot of information about its rewards system under wraps. This makes it difficult to determine if meeting the spending requirement for the bonus is worth it in the first place.

Limited Reward Redemption

There’s no cap on the amount of points you can earn, but there is a limit to how you can redeem your rewards. Rather than browsing a catalog to redeem your points for merchandise, travel and other rewards, you can choose to redeem for either cash or reimbursement. With reimbursement, your points will be used to repay yourself for a purchase you made. However, the purchase chosen must be from within the last 90 days, so older purchases don’t qualify. On the positive side, this means that your points have the same value whether you reimburse yourself for travel, gas, or a meal at your favorite restaurant. However, it also means you miss out on additional discounts that other travel cards award to specific categories, like airline tickets. If you’re no aiming for the maximum savings in any particular category, then the Visa Premier Credit Card may do just fine.

Balance Transfer Features

Aside from rewards, this card also comes with a 0% intro APR, but only on balance transfers made within the first 60 days of the account opening. After that, the card will return to a regular variable APR. However, those transferring a balance from another Zions Bancorp bank, such as The Commerce Bank of Oregon or Vectra Bank Colorado, receive a fixed APR of 7%. This means if you have a balance to transfer, you can benefit more if you’re already a member of another Zions subsidiary.

Annual Fee vs Visa Signature Perks

One of the most curious aspects of this credit card is the fact that it’s described as a “low annual fee” card. Perhaps this is true when compared to other Amegy Bank credit cards, but in reality, a $95 fee is fairly average for a low-to-mid tier travel card. The real question to consider is whether or not the Visa Signature® perks included with this card make up for this annual fee, even if it is waived for the first year.  This Premier card does provide certain perks through Visa, like travel cancellation insurance, VIP status and access to exclusive events. The benefit with the most draw is likely the VIP status and automatic upgrades with select luxury hotels. When you use your card to stay at a hotel in the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection, you can earn perks like:

• Complimentary breakfast
• Late checkout
• Discounted rates
• Automatic upgrades
• A $25 dining credit

Whether or not these perks make up for the annual fee depends on how often you plan to take advantage of them. The lack of foreign transaction fees also helps out with the yearly cost, though again, only if you take advantage.

Should You Apply for the Amegy Bank® Premier Visa® Credit Card?

In the face of an annual fee with no statement credits to offset it, you’ll need to examine the other benefits the Premier Credit Card from Amegy provides to decide if it’s worth your trouble. As previously noted, the 2.5X/1.5X rewards are just slightly above average. If you don’t mind redeeming for cash or rebates, and you plan to stay with Visa Luxury properties often enough, this card could provide a decent way to earn rewards for travel and still feel like a VIP. Meanwhile, if you’re more focused on earning points and this annual fee is just too high, there are plenty of alternatives to consider. The Union Bank Travel Rewards Visa Credit Card, for example, offers up to 3X points on travel, 2X points on dining and 1X points on everything else. Not to mention, it also comes with a much more accessible introductory bonus, a 0% intro APR for the first year, and the annual fee is nearly half the cost.

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