Our take: While The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express doesn’t offer a lot in terms of rewards and benefits, its $0 annual fee, long intro APR and access to the Membership Rewards® Program make it a good choice for a beginner travel credit card.

If you’re looking for an introduction into earning Membership Rewards points through American Express, The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express is a good place to start. While this card rewards you on purchases made at U.S. Supermarkets, the rewards you’ll earn on other purchases are lacking making this card better for beginners. You’ll earn 2x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1x), and 1x points on other purchases.

Although you can find higher rewards and a larger catalog of benefits with another card, the ability to start earning Membership Rewards® points with a $0 annual fee plus a long introductory APR is hard to find — not to mention you can earn 20% extra points when you make 20 or more purchases in a billing cycle. But if a higher rewards structure and additional benefits makes more sense for you, you may want to consider spending extra on a card with an annual fee.
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• Welcome offer

  New card members can earn 10,000 Membership Rewards® points after you use your new Card to make $2,000 in purchases in your first 6 months. Since we estimate the value of Amex Membership Rewards points to be around 2.2 cents, this welcome offer is worth about $220. This bonus is not bad for a $0 annual fee rewards credit card and can get you started on earning points with this card.

• Rewards at U.S. supermarkets

  The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card rewards you primarily at U.S. Supermarkets. You’ll earn 2x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1x), and 1x points on other purchases. You’ll earn rewards as Membership Rewards points, giving you flexibility with redemption options.

  You’ll earn an extra 20% points when you use your card 20 or more times on purchases in a billing period. Although this may seem high, using your card on everyday purchases or monthly bills can quickly get you to this number. However, if you plan to use your card exclusively at U.S. supermarkets, you’ll probably have a hard time reaching the threshold to earn this bonus rate.

• Intro APR on purchases and balance transfers

  The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express comes with a 0% introductory APR for the first 15 months from the date of account opening. After that, a regular APR of 17.24% to 28.24% variable applies. This intro period is longer than average, making this card a good option for financing a large purchase at 0%.

• $0 annual fee

  The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express charges a $0 annual fee. Not having to worry about an additional cost will allow you to take full advantage of building Membership Rewards® points.

• Access to the Membership Rewards® program

  One of the major advantages of this card is access to the Membership Rewards® Program. You’ll receive the same benefits through this program as those with American Express cards that come with a high annual fee. With access to this program you can use Pay with Points to pay for your travel purchase and book your flight with over 100 airlines through amextravel.com. Plus, you’ll earn 2X Membership Rewards® Points on eligible travel purchases.

  Membership Rewards® points can be redeemed for flights through the Amex travel portal at the highest value, but you can also redeem points for hotel stays, gift cards, statement credits and more at anywhere from 0.5 to 1 cent per point. Redemption options include:

  • Book flights through American Express Travel: 1 cent per point
  • Book hotels, car rentals, vacations and more through American Express Travel: 0.7 cent per point
  • Pay with points at checkout at a number of online retailers: 0.7 cent per point (for most retailers)
  • Redeem points for gift cards: up to 1 cent per point
  • Shop with points directly at an American Express merchant partner: 0.5 cent per point
  • Turn points into cash back: 0.6 cent per point

  You can also transfer points to qualifying airline and hotel partners usually at a 1:1 ratio. Transfer partners include:

  • Delta SkyMiles® (1:1)
  • Emirates Skywards (1:1)
  • Marriott Bonvoy™ (1:1)
  • Hilton Honors (1:2)
  • JetBlue TrueBlue (2.5:1)

• Modest rewards rate on general purchases

  Although The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express offers a decent rewards rate at U.S. supermarkets up to the yearly max, all other purchases only earn 1 point per dollar spent. There are other cards — including other no annual fee cards — that offer more in terms of rewards like higher rewards rates and more spending categories.

• Spending cap on rewards

  The rewards you can earn at U.S. Supermarkets do come with a cap of $6,000. After you hit this spending cap, the value of rewards is cut in half. This is something to keep in mind if you think you’ll easily surpass this number.

• Foreign transaction fees

  If you use The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express to make purchases outside of the U.S, you will be subject to foreign transaction fees of 2.7% of each transaction after conversion to U.S. dollars.

• Few additional benefits

  This card does offer a few travel benefits like car rental loss and damage insurance, Global Assist® Hotline and fraud protection. However, if you’re looking for a more extensive list of additional benefits, you may instead want to look at another card. The Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express for example, offers added benefits like access to ticket presales and exclusive events, trip insurance, baggage insurance and more at the cost of an annual fee after the first year of owning the card.

• Limited redemption value

  Unless you plan to use your points to book airfare through amextravel.com, you won’t find much value in the redemption options offered with The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express. While some gift card options can also be a valuable way to redeem points, other redemption options are worth under 1 cent per point. You’ll also get a poor value for cash back at only around 0.6 cents per point.

Compare it to the Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express

The Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express is a better rewards card all around, offering a higher earning rate and simple rewards that you can redeem for cash back statement credits. It has a few things in common with The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express: It comes with a similar welcome offer and introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers, all for no annual fee.

However, when it comes to rewards rate, the Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express offers a higher rewards rate at U.S. supermarkets, as well as an elevated rate at U.S. gas stations and on U.S. online retail purchases. You’ll earn 3% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%. 3% Cash Back on U.S. online retail purchases, on up to $6,000 per year, then 1%. 3% Cash Back at U.S. gas stations, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%. 1% cash back on other purchases. Terms apply.

When looking at rewards alone, the Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express is the clear winner. However, if you want to try building points towards travel, you may still opt for The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express.

If you’re looking for a generous intro APR period, to finance a large purchase for a $0 annual fee and access to the American Express Membership Rewards® program, then The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express can help you start earning valuable points towards travel.

However, The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express is a modest rewards card, since you can get a higher rewards rate for supermarket and everyday spending with other cards. For example, with a rewards card like the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, you’ll automatically earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.