How LendingTree Rates Credit Cards?
Our experts rate credit cards based on several factors including card benefits, bonus offers and independent research. Credit card issuers do not influence or have a say in our card ratings. Read our credit card methodology here.If groceries, gas and online shopping in the U.S. are your major expenses, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express is a great option for earning elevated cash back*. But if these aren’t your biggest spending categories, or if your purchases vary from month to month, a similar $0-annual-fee card might be a better choice.
Imagine getting cash back rewards* after everyday purchases at the grocery store, gas station and online. That’s exactly what you get with the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.
The $0-annual-fee card lets you earn a higher-than-average cash back rate* on purchases from U.S. supermarkets, gas stations and online. Plus, new cardholders can earn a good welcome offer. The card also includes a generous intro APR offer, Disney Bundle credit (enrollment required) and car rental loss and damage insurance1.
There are downsides to this card as well. Only purchases within the U.S. qualify for bonus cash back*, and there’s a cap on the highest earning rates each year. In addition, the card charges foreign transaction fees, so you should think twice about bringing it with you when traveling abroad.
| Credit Cards | Our Ratings | Welcome Offer | Rewards Rate | Annual Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
|
$200 statement credit
Earn a $200 statement credit after you spend $2,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months.
| 1% - 3% cash back
| $0 | ||
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
|
$250 statement credit
Earn a $250 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months.
| 1% - 6% cash back
| $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95. | ||
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card
 Apply Now
on Bank Of America's secure site |
$200 cash rewards
$200 online cash rewards bonus after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening
| 1% - 6% cash back
| $0 |
Apply Now
on Bank Of America's secure site |
|
Citi Custom Cash® Card*
|
$200 cash back
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.
| 1% - 5% cash back
| $0 |
Elevated rewards on everyday purchases
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express offers bonus cash back* on purchases that most households make on a regular basis. 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.
This is one of the highest rewards rates you’ll find on these everyday purchases for a $0-annual-fee card. However, if you’re willing to pay an annual fee, you can find even more rewarding cards, like the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express.
See how Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express rewards compare to those of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express:
| Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express (see rates & fees) | Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (see rates & fees) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Rewards rates |
|
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Solid welcome offer
With the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, you can earn a $200 statement credit after you spend $2,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months. This is a solid offer with a relatively easy spending hurdle – you only need to spend approximately $333 per month for six months to earn it.
That said, the amount of this bonus is pretty on par with similar $0-annual-fee credit cards, like the Citi Custom Cash® Card.
Relatively long intro APR
A long intro APR offer provides extra time to repay your balance before being charged interest. With this card, you’ll get more than a year to pay off new purchases and transferred balances without incurring interest charges. That’s longer than the average introductory period, which we’ve found to be around 12 months.
Cardholders receive an intro APR of 0% on purchases for 15 months, then a regular 20.24%-29.24% Variable APR will apply to any unpaid portion of the balance. You also get an intro APR of 0% on balance transfers for 15 months, then the regular 20.24%-29.24% Variable APR applies to the remainder of the balance.
$0 annual fee
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express has a $0 annual fee. If you pay your credit card statement balance in full every month and avoid interest charges, it’s possible that you won’t pay a cent to carry this card in your wallet. While no-annual-fee credit cards are common, this one does have a few more benefits than most.
→ See more credit cards with no annual fee.
Up to an $84 annual Disney Bundle credit
Cut your Disney Bundle subscription costs dramatically with this $7 monthly entertainment credit. Your credit will be applied in the form of a statement credit after you spend $9.99 or more each month on an eligible subscription (subject to auto-renewal) that’s charged to your Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express. The credit is valid with DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com or Plus.espn.com in the United States. Note that enrollment is required.
Car rental loss and damage insurance
Rental insurance is a rare benefit among cards with no annual fees, so if you use rental vehicles, this benefit adds both protection and peace of mind as you drive off the lot. When you use your Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express to reserve and pay for the entire rental and decline the collision damage waiver, you are covered for damage to or theft of a rental vehicle in a covered territory1.
→ See additional credit cards that offer car rental protection.
Limit on higher rewards rate
The card’s bonus categories are capped at $6,000 spent per year in each category: U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations and U.S. online retail purchases. That amounts to $500 in spending per month per category. Keep in mind, though, that this is still a generous limit — you can earn $180 per category and $540 in total by reaching the cap on each category. That’s a huge amount of cash back* from a $0-annual-fee card.
Nonetheless, if you spend a lot of money online, buying groceries or filling up on gas, you could hit the category maximums quickly. So if you have a significant grocery budget, you might be better off with the American Express® Gold Card, which offers a $25,000 annual limit on its bonus for U.S. supermarket purchases, for a value of $1,000 in rewards. Just know that the card also comes with a $325 annual fee.
Tip: To leverage their credit cards for additional savings, some Reddit users note that they use both the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express and Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express.
After maxing out the higher rewards rate at U.S. supermarkets with the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, they can still get a higher-than-average earning rate at U.S. supermarkets with the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express. They can also use the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express to earn a higher rewards rate on U.S. online retail purchases, and the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express to get elevated rewards on qualifying transit purchases and U.S. streaming subscriptions (up to the annual maximum).
Bonus categories apply to U.S. purchases only
Another downside to the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express is that the elevated rewards rates only apply to purchases made with U.S. supermarkets, gas stations and online retailers.
For travelers planning to go overseas, the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card is a $0 annual fee card with a foreign transaction fee of none. It earns a flat rate of 1.5 points per $1 spent on all purchases. 3 points per $1 spent on travel purchases booked through the Bank of America Travel Center.
Foreign transaction fees
You should leave your Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express at home when traveling outside the U.S. because you’ll be subject to a foreign transaction fee of
2.7% of each transaction after conversion to US dollars.
If, however, you’re hoping to earn rewards on gas purchases abroad, the Wells Fargo Autograph® Card is a good $0-annual-fee credit card that charges a foreign transaction fee of none. The card’s elevated rewards rates also apply to travel, restaurants, transit, popular streaming services and phone plans.
Similar to the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, this card offers a Disney Bundle statement credit and car rental loss and damage insurance1. But it also offers purchase protection2, return protection2 and extended warranty protection2.
On the downside, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express charges a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95. But even with the annual fee, it’s still the better option for cardholders who spend a large amount on groceries, since spending more than $3,010 per year on groceries (only around $250 per month) at U.S. supermarkets earns more than you can get with the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.
This could be a good card for someone who spends heavily on groceries, since it includes wholesale clubs, which often have great pricing on food. Plus, it has a $10,000 annual cap, so if your annual grocery spending does reach that amount, you would receive more cash back with this card than the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.
This card also lets you earn a $200 online cash rewards bonus after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening. Plus, it’s a good option for financing a purchase or transferring a balance, since it offers a long intro APR on purchases and balance transfers.
The Citi Custom Cash® Card offers robust cash back rewards on the highest eligible spending category each month. You’ll earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, 1% cash back thereafter. Also, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases. The 5% category includes grocery and gas purchases, beating the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express‘s bonus on these two categories.
There’s also a sign-up bonus that lets you 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. And cardholders can take advantage of a similar intro APR offer on purchases and balance transfers to the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.
Like the other cards, a big downside is the cap on elevated rewards. The 5% bonus is limited to $500 monthly ($6,000 per year total), and you only earn 1% on most other purchases. If you’re searching for a card that you can earn elevated rewards on for a variety of everyday purchases, you’re better off with the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express. But if you plan to pair the Citi Custom Cash® Card with another card, it can be useful, especially with the home improvement and live entertainment spending categories.
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express is a good option if you want to maximize your cash back* earning potential at supermarkets and gas stations in the U.S.
But if you want to earn an even higher cash back* rate at U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations, as well as on select U.S. streaming services and transit purchases, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express may be a better fit. This is especially true if you plan to earn enough to cover the annual fee each year, which you can easily do if you spend at least $140 just on groceries every month.
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express is generally intended for those with good / excellent credit for approval. A good credit score is one between 670 and 799, and an excellent credit is a score from 800 to 850. If your score is below 670, you should take steps to improve your credit score before you apply.
Yes, if you make purchases while traveling outside the U.S., American Express charges a foreign transaction fee of 2.7% of each transaction after conversion to US dollars. This fee can also apply to purchases from foreign websites, even if you’re inside the U.S. when you make that purchase of an item that’s sold in a foreign currency.
No, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express is a credit card with a 20.24%-29.24% Variable APR, based on your creditworthiness and other factors as determined at the time you open your account. You can carry a balance from one month to the next. However, you’ll owe interest on the unpaid balance each month once your intro APR on purchases expires.
To see rates & fees for American Express cards mentioned on this page, visit the links provided below:
The information related to the Citi Custom Cash® Card and Wells Fargo Autograph® Card has been independently collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.
The content above is not provided by any issuer. Any opinions expressed are those of LendingTree alone and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any issuer. The offers and/or promotions mentioned above may have changed, expired, or are no longer available. Check the issuer's website for more details.
