American Express Blue Cash Preferred Amazon Credit Card Review

The American Express Blue Cash Preferred Amazon Credit Card is a popular choice for those who want to earn cash back on their daily purchases, especially on groceries, gas, and streaming services. It offers a generous 6% cash back on groceries, 3% on gas, and 1% on other purchases.

With a $0 annual fee for the first year and then $95, this card is a great option for those who want to earn cash back without paying an annual fee upfront. The card also offers a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 in the first 6 months.

The card's rewards rate is one of its standout features, with 6% cash back on groceries, making it a great choice for families or individuals who do a lot of grocery shopping. This means that for every dollar spent on groceries, you'll earn $0.06 in cash back.

The Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express is a popular choice for those who want to earn cashback rewards on their everyday purchases.

You can earn 6% cashback on purchases at U.S. supermarkets, but there's a spending limit of $6,000 per year, after which you'll earn 1%.

Here are the key rewards rates:

The card's welcome offer is a statement credit of $250 after spending $3,000 in the first six months.

The annual fee is $0 for the first year, but it's $95 after that.

The Blue Cash Preferred card from American Express offers a range of benefits that make it a compelling choice for everyday spending. The card's cashback rewards program is one of the top 10 cash back rewards offerings on the market.

You can earn 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, up to $6,000 per year, then 1%. This is a great incentive for frequent grocery shoppers. The cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or on Amazon.com at checkout.

The card also offers secondary car insurance, providing car rental loss and damage insurance when you decline the collision damage waiver. This can save you money on car rentals and cover theft or damage to a rental vehicle.

Additional benefits include consumer protections, such as purchase protection, extended warranty, and return protection. These features can give you peace of mind when making purchases.

Here are some of the key benefits of the Blue Cash Preferred card:

These benefits make the Blue Cash Preferred card a great choice for everyday spending, especially for those who frequent supermarkets, use streaming services, or take public transportation.

The Blue Cash Preferred card offers a tiered cash back rewards program, with high cash back rates on popular spending categories. You'll earn 6% cash back on up to $6,000 in spending per calendar year at U.S. supermarkets, and then 1% after that.

Here are the cash back rates in summary:

You can also earn 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming services, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Netflix, among others. To earn the maximum 6% rewards at U.S. supermarkets, you'd need to spend $500 per month, which is easy to do for most families.

The Blue Cash Preferred card offers a tiered cash back rewards program with high cash back on popular spending categories. You can earn 6% cash back on U.S. supermarkets, up to $6,000 per year, then 1%.

You can also earn 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions, such as Netflix, Disney+, Apple Music, and YouTube Premium, among others. The full list of qualifying providers is available on Amex's website.

To earn the maximum 6% rewards at U.S. supermarkets, you'd need to spend $500 per month, which is easy to do for most families. This would result in $360 in cash back per year.

In addition to the above categories, you can earn 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on transit purchases, including ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft, parking, taxi cabs, and train fares.

Here are the specific categories with their corresponding cash back rates:

The Blue Cash Preferred card offers 1% cash back on other purchases outside of its bonus categories. This rate is somewhat disappointing, especially when compared to other cards that offer 2%+ cash back on all your spending.

For example, if you spend $10,000 on non-bonus category purchases in a year, you'll earn $100 in cash back. This may not be a bad return, but it's not the most impressive one either.

The Amex Offers program, which is available to Blue Cash Preferred cardholders, can help offset some of the lower cash back rate on other purchases. By taking advantage of these offers, you can save hundreds of dollars per year.

The Blue Cash Preferred offers a $250 statement credit welcome offer after spending $3,000 in eligible purchases within the first 6 months.

However, this spending requirement is a bit high compared to other cash back cards, which often offer a $200 welcome bonus for $1,000 or less of spending.

You can earn the $250 statement credit welcome offer by applying for the Blue Cash Preferred and meeting the spending requirement within the first 6 months.

The current language on the American Express website is "Apply and find out your welcome offer", suggesting that the offer may vary.

The Blue Cash Preferred also offers a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months from account opening, but the regular variable APR of 18.24% to 29.24% variable applies after that.

The Blue Cash Preferred card has a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95 (Rates & Fees). This is a relatively high annual fee, but it may be worth it for the rewards and benefits.

You can estimate the value of the cash back you could earn with the Blue Cash Preferred to see if the annual fee would be worth it. The card offers 6% cash back on U.S. supermarkets up to $6,000 per year, 3% cash back on U.S. gas stations and U.S. online retailers, and 1% on all other purchases.

Here's a breakdown of the fees associated with the Blue Cash Preferred card:

The Blue Cash Preferred card also offers a welcome bonus of a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases within the first six months.

The annual fee is a significant consideration when evaluating the Blue Cash Preferred card. The card has a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.

This fee is not the only cost associated with the card. You'll also need to factor in the potential for late fees, penalty APRs, and foreign transaction fees. The late payment fee can be up to $40, and the foreign transaction fee is 2.7% of each transaction after conversion to U.S. dollars.

To put the annual fee into perspective, consider the following fee schedule:

If you're concerned about the annual fee, you might consider downgrading to the no-fee Blue Cash Everyday card and upgrading later to the Blue Cash Preferred card. This strategy can help you manage the annual fee while still enjoying the benefits of the Blue Cash Preferred card.

The Blue Cash Preferred card offers a decent welcome bonus, but it's not the most impressive. You can earn a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 in eligible purchases within the first 6 months.

The spending requirement for the bonus is a bit high, especially compared to other cash back cards that offer a $200 welcome bonus for $1,000 or less of spending. We've even seen a $300 statement credit offer via the Amex website, but the current language on the website is "Apply and find out your welcome offer."

The card also offers a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months from account opening. This can be a great perk, but it's not the best in the market.

The regular variable APR of 18.24% to 29.24% variable applies after the intro period, which is higher than some other cards. We rate the intro purchase APR offer a 2 out of 5 and the balance transfer offer a 2.8 out of 5, considering the impact of balance transfer fees and the annual fee.

The Blue Cash Preferred offers 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations with no caps.

However, gas purchased from superstores, supermarkets, and warehouse clubs that sell fuel is not included in this offer.

You can earn 3% cash back on gas station purchases, but only at traditional gas stations, not at superstores or warehouse clubs.

This makes the Blue Cash Preferred one of the better cards for gas station purchases.