Our experts answer readers' credit card questions and write unbiased product reviews (here's how we assess credit cards). In some cases, we receive a commission from our partners; however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.
The Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card is a solid cash-back card with no annual fee. It's an especially valuable choice for purchases at US supermarkets, gas stations, and online retail purchases, thanks to its bonus earning categories.
Amex Blue Cash Everyday Review: Is It the Best Cash-Back Card for You?
Grocery stores, gas stations, and online shopping are big chunks of most people's budgets, so using one of the best credit cards for these categories is a good way to maximize rewards. And an even better way to combat some of your highest expenses is by getting cash back in all three of these categories from a single card.
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express earns cash back on every purchase, with no annual fee. It's an especially good choice for purchases in its bonus categories. You'll earn 3% cash back on the first $6,000 spent at U.S. supermarkets each calendar year (then 1% back), 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations on up to $6,000 per year on purchases (then 1% back), 3% cash back on U.S. online retail purchases on up to $6,000 per year (then 1% back), and 1% cash back on other purchases (cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as statement credits).
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express offers cash back in lieu of miles or points, but the upside of earning cash back is that you can use it for travel expenses that aren't covered by travel rewards points, or of course for any type of expense.
-
Discover it® Cash Back
-
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
-
Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
Amex Blue Cash Everyday Rewards
Welcome Bonus
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express comes with a welcome bonus of $200 statement credit after you spend $2,000 in purchases on your new card in the first six months of card membership. Though it's not the highest intro bonus out there, it's a generous amount considering the relatively low minimum spending requirement, and it's a nice kickstart to earning cash back on your ongoing spending.
How to Earn Rewards
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express has a handful of bonus categories, so you can maximize your cash back on certain purchases. You'll earn:
- 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 spent per year (then 1% back)
- 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations on up to $6,000 spent per year (then 1% back)
- 3% cash back on U.S. online retail purchases on up to $6,000 spent per year (then 1% back)
- 1% cash back on all other eligible purchases
Online retail purchases is a particularly useful (and broad!) category — Amex defines these as purchases made on a website or a digital application (an app) from a U.S. retail merchant that sells physical goods or merchandise directly to consumers. This includes major retailers like Amazon.com and Walmart.com, and merchants like online bookstores, pet stores, department stores, shoe stores, and the like.
However, these online purchases will not earn bonus rewards:
- Airline tickets
- Concert ticket purchases
- Food delivery platforms
- Online grocery orders
- Rideshare services
- Streaming services
- Wireless cellular providers
How to Redeem Rewards
The fact that the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express earns cash back instead of points is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing if you're looking for a simple rewards program. Because you're just getting cash back, there is no such thing as a "bad" redemption — the value of cash never changes.
The flip side of that is that there is not really a "good" redemption, either. All redemptions are just statement credits that are redeemed at the same value no matter what.
You can redeem your reward dollars for statement credits in any amount with no redemption minimum, but you can't use the cash back to pay your minimum balance due.
Blue Cash Everyday Card Benefits and Features
Because the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express is fairly basic, there aren't a lot of the ancillary benefits that come with some other cards. Beyond the 3% bonus categories and no annual fee, there are a few benefits.
Intro APR Offer
One benefit that might be of use to some people is the introductory 0% APR rate. You get a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months from account opening, then a 19.24% - 29.99% Variable APR will kick in, putting it on our list of best balance transfer cards. This could save you a lot of money if you have large purchases (like holiday shopping) you want to pay for over a longer period of time, or if you have high-interest debt on other credit cards you want to consolidate.
Disney Bundle Statement Credit
As part of an update last year, the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card added a statement credit toward the Disney Bundle for streaming service, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. If you enroll your card for this benefit and pay $12.99 or more each month for the bundle with your card, you'll get $7 back each month in the form of a statement credit posted in your account. Annually, this gets you up to $84 back in statement credits.
Home Chef Statement Credit
Another new statement credit benefit is for the Home Chef meal-kit service. If you use the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card to make Home Chef purchases, you'll get up to $15 back as a statement credit each month (up to $180 in credit each year). As with the Disney Bundle benefit, you need to enroll your card to be eligible for this perk.
Car Rental Insurance
When you use your Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card to pay for an eligible car rental and decline the rental company's collision damage waiver, you can receive car rental coverage for damage and theft. A few restrictions apply, so be sure to read the limitations. And keep in mind this is secondary coverage, not primary car rental insurance, so it only covers what your own personal car insurance policy doesn't.
Purchase Protection
Pay for an eligible item with the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card and if it's stolen or damaged up to 90 days from the purchase date, you can get reimbursed, up to $1,000 per purchase and up to $50,000 per calendar year.
Global Assist Hotline
Cardholders who need help while traveling can access Amex's Global Assist Hotline for help with lost luggage, emergency legal and medical referrals, lost passport assistance, translation services, and more. The service itself is free, but you're responsible for any third-party charges.
Amex Offers
Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card cardholders can take advantage of the Amex Offers** program. Amex Offers are targeted deals for cash back or bonus points when you shop with specific retailers and travel brands. Activate your available offers by logging into your card account and scrolling down. (Eligibility for these offers is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming).
Blue Cash Everyday Annual Fee and Costs
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express has no annual fee but does charge a variety of other fees.
The card charges a 19.24% - 29.99% Variable APR, based on your creditworthiness and other factors as determined at the time of account opening. The card does offer a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months from account opening, after which the 19.24% - 29.99% Variable rate takes effect.
As with most other cards, there are fees for late payments, cash advances, and returned payments.
Amex Everyday vs. Blue Cash Everyday
The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card is another no-annual-fee card, but unlike the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, it earns American Express Membership Rewards points instead of cash back. If you want to redeem rewards for travel, earning points is the best option, because you can often get more value from transferring points to a travel partner than by redeeming cash back as a statement credit, where 1% cash back will always equal 1% cash back.
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express earns 2x points on groceries at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year, then 1x, and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. If you make 20 or more purchases in a billing cycle, you'll also earn a 20% points bonus.
Read our Amex Everyday card review.
Amex Blue Cash Everyday vs. Blue Cash Preferred
If you're open to paying an annual fee, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is another option worth considering. It earns a higher rate of cash back on some of the same categories as the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express. You'll earn 6% back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year, then 1% back), 6% back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions, 3% back at U.S. gas stations and on transit, and 1% back on everything else.
The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express has an annual fee of $0 intro for the first year, then $95. Read our in-depth comparison of the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card vs. the Blue Cash Preferred for more details.
Read our Amex Blue Cash Preferred card review.
Amex Blue Cash Everyday vs. Amex Cash Magnet Card
If you don't want to worry about maximizing certain cash-back categories and simply want to get a solid return on all your spending, the American Express Cash Magnet® Card is a solid pick. You'll earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases, with no limit. Like the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, it has no annual fee, and there's an intro APR of 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months from account opening, followed by 15.49% - 25.49% Variable.
Read our Amex Cash Magnet card review.
Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card Frequently Asked Questions
The Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card could be worth it, depending on where you spend the most money. If you spend a lot at U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations, and on U.S. online retail purchases, it's a great option because you can earn 3% cash back on the first $6,000 you spend in each of these categories on purchases each calendar year (then 1% back). If you don't make many purchases in these categories, though, you'll probably do better with another rewards or cash-back credit card.
To be considered for the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card, you'll generally need a credit score that's at least in the good range, which FICO defines at 670-739.
No. One of the selling points of the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card is that it has no annual fee, so there's no cost to carry this card, as long as you pay your balance in full every month so you don't get charged interest.
The Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card is a regular credit card, not a charge card, which means you don't have to pay it off in full each month. That said, you should still pay your statement balance in full each month to avoid incurring interest. The card does have an intro APR offer on purchases, but make sure you're in a position to pay off your balance by the time the intro period ends.
The lowest credit limit on the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card is generally $1,000, but depending on your credit score, you may be approved for a higher limit, possibly as much as $15,000.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card
We evaluate all the credit cards we review using our credit card rating methodology. This methodology prioritizes a credit card's annual fee, welcome bonus, ongoing rewards, other benefits and features, and ease of use. We rate a card from 1 to 5 on each of these factors, and each accounts for 20% of the card's overall rating.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, please click here.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards.
Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
**Enrollment required.
Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Trip Delay Insurance, Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance, and Cell Phone Protection Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. Global Assist Hotline Card Members are responsible for the costs charged by third-party service providers. If approved and coordinated by Premium Global Assist Hotline, emergency medical transportation assistance may be provided at no cost. In any other circumstance, Card Members may be responsible for the costs charged by third-party service providers. Extended Warranty, Purchase Protection, and Baggage Insurance Plan Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss & Damage Insurance Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.