Update 4/10/26: Back to $200.
Update on 2/13/26: It increased back to $200 after spending $2,000. (hat tip to Morgan and failure)
Update on 12/17/25: Today alone the signup bonus has increased up to $200 (or 20,000 Bilt/AmEx points).
Update 10/16/25: The bonus is now $100 after you spend $1000 within 90 days.
Original post 7/22/25:
Rakuten announced today their new credit card which works on the American Express network and is issued by fintech Imprint and their banking partner First Electronic Bank.
- Direct card link
- No annual fee
$25 signup bonus spending $500$100 after you spend $1000 within 90 days- There appears to be no foreign transaction fee
- Earnings from the card:
- Earn an extra 4% cashback on top of what you already earn when shopping on the Rakuten platform with more than 3,500 stores (in-store or online). This is it limited to first $7,000 on credit card spending each calendar year. Then 1%.
- Earn 5% extra cash on top of the 5% you can earn with Rakuten Dining at more than 22,000 partner restaurants. That’s a total of 10% cashback at Rakuten Dining.
- Earn 2% cashback on food and restaurants.
- Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases.
The movement comes years after their termination Synchrony Bank issued credit card which earned 3% back for Rakuten merchants without limit.
Our verdict
4% on online purchases is nice, but given the $7,000 cap, I don’t see much value there. Not sure how helpful the Rakuten Dining program it is and how it compares in other similar programs. This might be something to watch.
One positive factor to consider is that the “cashback” apparently joins your Rakuten balance. And so, if you have Rakuten assigned to Membership Rewards points, you will receive them as points that some value significantly more.
I suppose there might be some people for whom this card might make sense. It’s probably more of a case, as it would mostly be for someone who does a lot of Rakuten shopping and uses Rakuten Dining a lot.
