Amazon Allowance: Minimum is now $5

We’ve written about an awesome way of automating debit and credit card transactions by creating an Amazon Allowance for yourself. The system automatically charges the chosen card at the intervals you choose. And it was possible to make loads as low as $.50.

They’ve now lowered the minimum load amount to $5. 

I don’t have any standing Amazon Allowance setup and I’m not sure if this change affects existing scheduled allowance loads. Let us know in the comments.

You can still purchase Amazon gift cards in $.50 (just don’t overdo it), but that needs to be done manually and can’t be automated. And of course, you can decide to just do a $5 load amount in order to automate the transactions. For someone who spends a lot on Amazon, it’s really not a big deal. We’ve also noted that for the purposes of getting the bonus on the Better Balance Rewards card, it’s smart to put $5 transactions, in any case, so as not to run into the small balance waiver issue.

See also FreequentFlyer about some possible automation with Evolve and Serve.

HT: reader Rafi
    Chuck
  • On August 4, 2015, 19:35

View Comments (14)

  • My existing allowances that were before $5 both failed this month because of "payment error." I think they're enforcing the $5 min to those who were previously grandfathered in.

  • While one of my two allowance plans continues to chug along, the other failed because the credit card got reissued after a breach, so it isn't working anymore. Would have to do the current $5 minimum to get it going again.

  • Any pointers to opening and funding a citi business checking account? The credit card funding # you have listed is only for personal account. I called citi business line to see if business accounts could be funded using credit cards, they said yes but only in the branch. I don't trust people in the branch, they are usually clueless about things out of the ordinary.

  • Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come, would suck if the minimum gift card requirement was also bumped to $5.

  • I haven't had any issue with "small balance" waivers on my 5 BBR cards. $1 per month on each, just my own data point. Monthly autopay for $1 goes through each month, and have gotten the reward every 3 months.

    I do Amazon allowance for all 5 cards and do another 10 x $1 allowances on the same day to meet Wells Fargo checking fee waiver - 10 debit transactions. Last auto allowances done on 8/1. Have not received any notification (yet) from Amazon that $1 transactions will not be allowed. Hopefully ones already scheduled in the system will not be subject to new rules but who knows.

    • That's correct. As pointed out elsewhere on this site, BoA never issues small balance waivers. I've had 14 cent statement balances!

      • Just read other post. That is crazy! Wonder what recourse we have.

        I really don't want to spend 15 bucks at Amazon each month...

      • Hi Vic,

        Alaska Air cards, easy to come by. Converted 5, me 3, wife 2 to BBR cards BEFORE they started saying no to converting. Can still do it but apparently it takes multiple efforts and persistence. Have 2 more Alaska cards but have not been successful at converting. Will keep trying. I know others are still reporting success.

  • Interesting. I've set up three allowances for less than $5. They are still there under "Your Allowances." They're set for the end of the month though, so it'll be interesting to see if they go through.

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