American Express is known for its fantastic lineup of travel credit cards that earn valuable Membership Rewards points. But Amex also offers a few great cash back options if that’s more your speed. Two of those cards now have elevated welcome bonuses to help you maximize earning on your new card.
The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express now earns a $300 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in purchases in the first six months. The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express now earns a $200 statement credit after you spend $1,000 in the first three months.
Want more credit card news and advice delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the TPG newsletter!
Blue Cash Preferred Credit Card
(Photo by The Points Guy)
Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for one year, then $95. Offer Expires 12/10/2020 (see rates and fees)
Welcome offer: $300 statement credit after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 6 months. Offer Expires 12/10/2020
Rewards rate: 6% U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 annually; then 1%) and U.S. streaming services, 3% back on transit and U.S. gas stations, and 1% on everything else.
Is the card worth it?
The Blue Cash Preferred is one of the best cash-back credit cards available, with industry-high multipliers on popular spending categories. And this welcome offer is not only an upgrade in value (from the previous $250 offer), but you also have six months to earn the bonus. Plus, the card now offers your first year with no annual fee ($95 after). All in all, this is a great offer for this card. If you’ve been eying the Blue Cash Preferred, now is a great time to hit apply.
Check out our full card review.
APPLY HERE: Blue Cash Preferred Credit Card
Blue Cash Everyday Credit Card
(Photo by Eric Helgas/The Points Guy.)
Annual fee: $0 (see rates and fees)
Welcome bonus: $200 statement credit after you spend $1,000 in purchases in the first three months
Rewards rate: 3% U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 annually; then 1%), 2% back on transit and U.S. gas stations and department stores, and 1% on everything else.
Is the card worth it?
The Blue Cash Preferred’s no-annual-fee sibling card offers a solid array of bonus categories as well, but at lower multipliers. And instead of earning on streaming services, you can earn on U.S. department stores. This welcome offer is technically less valuable than the previous offer — which allowed you to earn up to $300 back (20% back on Amazon.com within the first six months and $100 back after you spent $1,000 in the first six months). The Blue Cash Preferred is the more valuable option (especially since it currently waives the annual fee in the first year), but there are benefits to the Blue Cash Everyday if you are adamant about avoiding an annual fee long-term.
Check out our full card review.
APPLY HERE: Blue Cash Everyday Credit Card
Amex’s October Refer-A-Friend offer
American Express is currently running a limited-time refer-a-friend offer until Oct. 28, 2020. If you refer a friend for an American Express credit card, you could get an elevated referral bonus and a heightened rewards rate in the first three months.
For example, I am an American Express® Gold Card holder. If I refer someone to any Amex credit card and they apply before Oct. 28, 2020, I’ll get a 25,000-point bonus after my friend is approved. Plus (and here’s the most exciting bit, in my opinion), I’ll get 3x more on my card for three months, on top of my existing bonus categories. You read that right — I’ll earn 7x on U.S. supermarkets and worldwide dining, 6x on eligible flights and 3x on non-bonus purchases.
(Screenshot courtesy of Amex)
If you get the Blue Cash Preferred with this elevated bonus and then refer your friend to an Amex card once you get it, you could earn the elevated $300 bonus, earn an additional referral bonus and get 9% back on U.S. supermarkets and streaming services, 6% on U.S. gas stations and transit, and 3% back on everything else for three months following your friend’s approval — all without paying an annual fee in the first year.
Bottom line
You should always strive to earn the best bonus possible no matter what, but this is especially important for American Express credit cards. Amex has a policy that you can only earn one welcome offer per card per lifetime. This means you have one shot to earn a welcome offer for each of Amex’s credit cards. If you apply for a card now with a less-than-stellar bonus, you won’t be able to apply for it again in the future to earn a better bonus.
The current welcome offers on these cards are both valuable and easy to earn, which makes it a great time to apply. If you then turn around and refer a friend, you could really capitalize your earnings for the rest of 2020 with these cards.
Featured image by John Gribben for The Points Guy
For rates and fees of the Amex Blue Cash Preferred, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Amex Blue Cash Everyday, please click here.
#BlueCashEveryday®CardFromAmericanExpress #CreditCards #AmericanExpressMembershipRewards #News #BlueCashPreferred®CardFromAmericanExpress
