Rakuten American Express® Card
- Best for: Rakuten members who start most of their online shopping there
- What Sets It Apart: 4% more cash back stacked on Rakuten’s own rate, on up to $10,000 of Rakuten purchases a year
- Cost: $0 annual fee; no foreign transaction fee; 19.99% to 34.24% variable APR
- Rewards: Extra 4% on Rakuten purchases, then 1% past $10,000 a year; 10% at Rakuten Dining restaurants, counting Rakuten’s 5%; 2% at grocery stores and restaurants; 1% on all other purchases
- Welcome Offer: $100 after $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days
- Pros: Pays out with your Rakuten cash back by PayPal, check, or Membership Rewards points, which require another Amex card that earns them; offer and credit limit shown before a hard credit check; Amex Offers and 90-day protection against theft and damage
- Cons: 1% on most spending outside Rakuten; no extra 4% on most travel, coupon-only stores, or buy now, pay later; Rakuten rewards usually take 3 to 14 weeks to confirm
Get the Rakuten American Express® Card if you already start your online shopping at Rakuten. It adds 4% to the cash back Rakuten pays you, on up to $10,000 of those purchases a year, and has no annual fee. Put everything else on a no-fee 2% card, since this one pays 1% on most other spending.
Rakuten offers it to members who start their online shopping there, and First Electronic Bank issues it through the fintech company Imprint, which runs your account. It launched in July 2025, after Rakuten discontinued its earlier card, the Rakuten Cash Back Visa.
Key Features
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fee, and a 19.99% to 34.24% variable APR, the interest rate on balances you carry
- An extra 4% on top of Rakuten’s cash back for purchases you start there, online or in store, on up to $10,000 a calendar year, then 1%
- 10% at restaurants in the Rakuten Dining program, counting Rakuten’s own 5%
- 2% at grocery stores and restaurants and 1% on all other purchases
- $100 bonus after $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days
Pros
- Stacks with what Rakuten pays as a cash back shopping portal, so a $100 order at a store paying 5% earns $5 from Rakuten and $4 from the card
- Pays out with your Rakuten cash back every three months, by PayPal, check, or Amex Membership Rewards points, which require another Amex card that earns them
- See your offer and credit limit before the hard credit check, which may affect your score and happens only if you accept
- Amex Offers, merchant deals you add to the card, plus protection for eligible purchases stolen or damaged in their first 90 days
Cons
- Only 1% on most purchases outside Rakuten, so it works best paired with a no-fee 2% card for the rest
- No extra 4% on travel other than flights bought from the airline and prepaid hotel stays, at stores offering only coupons through Rakuten, or on buy now, pay later purchases
- Rewards on Rakuten purchases usually take 3 to 14 weeks to confirm
A member who puts $3,000 a year of Rakuten purchases on it earns $120 from the extra 4%, twice the $60 a no-fee 2% card pays on them, since Rakuten’s own cash back comes with either card. Shoppers who rarely start at Rakuten do better with a no-fee 2% card for everything.
Learn more about the Rakuten American Express® Card or see how it compares to the best cash back credit cards.
Editorial & Advertiser Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided, commissioned, reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser. Opinions expressed here are ours alone, not those of any advertiser. The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. That compensation may influence which products we cover and where and how they appear on a page – including the order in which they appear – but it does not influence our evaluations, ratings, or opinions. We do not include every company or offer available in the marketplace.
Related:
