PlayStation Visa Credit Card Review: Up to 5x Points on Consoles, Games, and More

With so many credit cards out there, it seems odd that gamers are often left out. But there simply aren't that many credit cards for gamers. The exception? PlayStation fans. If you spend your console time on a PlayStation, you may want to look at the PlayStation Visa Credit Card. Not only does it offer bonus rewards for eligible PlayStation and Sony purchases, but you can even get extra points for cable and internet bills. Your rewards can vary a lot in value, however, and you won't want to use it while you travel. Read our full review for all the details.

This credit card is a good fit for: PlayStation gamers who want to earn rewards on console games and hardware.

Top perks

This card has limited perks, but they're likely to appeal to PlayStation fans.

Earn up to 5x points per dollar on purchases

The biggest draw of the PlayStation Visa Credit Card is the purchase rewards, which cover most aspects of the gaming experience. Cardholders earn 1x point per dollar on purchases, plus:

• 5x points per dollar on PlayStation and Sony products in the PlayStation™Store
• 3x points per dollar on cable and internet bill payments
• 2x points per dollar on restaurant purchases, including take-out and dine-in

Cardholders can also earn 5x points per dollar on PlayStation and Sony products purchased through authorized sellers -- but it's a bit more complicated than just swiping your card. When you make the purchase, you'll earn 1x point per dollar. To get the other 4x points per dollar, you'll need to fill out the Sony Rewards Bonus points form found in the My Account section of the Sony Rewards app.

Get a free game when you spend $500

The PlayStation Visa Credit Card, like most rewards credit cards, comes with a sign-up bonus. You'll get a $75 game coupon when you spend $500 on your card on purchases outside PlayStation or Sony. That coupon should cover most PlayStation games. Considering the PlayStation Visa Credit Card earns bonus rewards on internet and cable purchases, as well as restaurants, it shouldn't be too hard to hit that spending requirement without straying too far from the card's bonus categories.

While a nice perk, it's worth pointing out that this sign-up bonus isn't particularly competitive. Some of the best sign-up bonus credit cards have bonuses worth $500 or more. Even many no annual fee credit cards have sign-up bonuses worth at least $200.

No annual card fee

Another perk of the PlayStation Visa Credit Card is that it has no annual card fee. This is an almost necessary benefit considering it is so limited in scope. No annual fee means you can keep this card specifically for your PlayStation and Sony purchases -- and maybe internet and cable if you don't have a better card for that -- while still maximizing your rewards on other purchases. For example, you can pair this card with a grocery rewards card to keep you fueled up during long gaming sessions.

Game-inspired card art

This perk is something you don't see with a lot of credit cards: personalized card art. Your PlayStation Visa Credit Card can be a reflection of you with card art inspired by a variety of popular PlayStation games, including:

• God of War
• Sly Cooper
• Gran Turismo
• Ratchet and Clank
• The Last of Us
• Uncharted
• LittleBigPlanet

There are more than a dozen options to choose from, giving you the option to represent your favorite game every time you swipe your card.

What could be improved

Once you get into the card's fine print, some serious downsides are revealed.

Rewards redemption rate is low

At first glance, earning up to 5x points per dollar sounds pretty awesome. Well, you'll want to press pause on your excitement long enough to take a look at what your points actually get you.

When it comes time to redeem your rewards, you'll be taken to the Sony Rewards catalog. There, you can choose from everything from Sony gear to gift cards. How much your points are worth will depend on what you get.

At best, your points can be worth $0.01 each if you redeem them for a PlayStation store gift card. Pretty much everything else we saw resulted in a points value below $0.01 per point; in fact, it was often half that. For example, a $5 Starbucks gift card costs 1,000 points, which equals $0.005 per point.

This low redemption rate means your 5x points per dollar could really be 2.5% back -- which is a lot less impressive. And the 2x points per dollar on restaurant purchases becomes 1% back, which is the base rewards rate for nearly every rewards card we've reviewed.

3% foreign transaction fees

The PlayStation Visa Credit Card has a 3% foreign transaction fee. This fee is tacked onto any purchase made in a foreign currency or that routes through a foreign bank. In other words, if you've ever thought about traveling to Sony's home country of Japan -- don't take your PlayStation Visa Credit Card with you! You should also be very careful about using it for online purchases from retailers that might not be U.S.-based. (Yep, that includes purchasing the special edition Japanese version of that game from the overseas Ebay seller.)

High APR and fee for balance transfers

Sure, you probably aren't getting the PlayStation Visa Credit Card with balance transfers in mind -- there are cards specifically for balance transfers -- but you may want to actively avoid them. Not only does the card have no intro APR offer for balance transfers, but it has a very high ongoing APR on those balances. In fact, the balance transfer APR is higher even than the cash advance APR, which is unusual to say the least. You'll also be hit with a high balance transfer fee for each transfer. Just say no.

Having a good to excellent credit score will give you the best chance of getting approved for a PlayStation Visa Credit Card. This means a FICO® Score of 670 or higher. However, you could be approved with a lower score. The card is issued by Comenity Bank, and they will look at your entire credit history when evaluating your application.

If the PlayStation is your console of choice every time, the PlayStation Visa Credit Card could be a good addition to your card lineup. The bonus rewards on PlayStation purchases can be valuable when redeemed for PlayStation gift cards, and you'll get a free game for meeting the spending requirement. But if you tend to make purchases from overseas retailers or want to travel abroad, choose a different card.

See more: Best Credit Cards

Our credit card methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how The Ascent rates credit cards.