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Blue Cash American Express: As Good As Hyped?
Review of: Blue Cash Everyday
Our Verdict: 
4.89/5 Stars
Blue Cash Everyday is, in my opinion, one of the top cash back credit cards to get in the US if you have excellent credit. American Express Blue Cash has two versions – the Everyday version (no annual fee) and the Preferred version ($75 annual fee). Blue Cash Everyday is the card for you if you like to get cash rebates and enjoy the premium benefits of an American Express card without forking out any annual fee. What I find most attractive about this card is its straightforward cash rewards program – there’s no minimum spending required, no enrollment needed and there are no rotating categories (unlike most other cash back cards).
Here I will review American Express Blue Cash with no annual fee (the Everyday version), so that you’ll have a better idea of what this card offers, and I’ll also tell you what you should watch out for. Note that this card is only for US residents with good to excellent credit score.
Things We Like About This Card
No annual fee. Customer service at American Express is well-known for being the best in the credit card industry, so you get their great customer service and many other great benefits without having to pay anything.
Receive $100 bonus cash back within the first 3 months when you spend $1,000 on purchases. This is a new promotion which lets you earn a bonus of $100 when you spend $1,000 on purchases with your card in the first 3 months. This offer is only for new sign-ups!
0% APR introductory rate on purchases for up to 12 months. After the introductory period, the variable APR is between 17.24% and 22.24%, depending on your credit score. If you pay off your balance in full each month, you won’t have to worry about the relatively high APR.
Get up to 3% cash back on purchases. You earn 3% cash back on purchases in supermarkets, 2% cash back at gas stations and department stores, and 1% cash back on all other purchase. There is no minimum spending required for these cash rebates, and you don’t even need to enroll.
Redeem your Reward Dollars for statement credit, gift cards or merchandise. You can start redeeming when you have earned at least $25 Reward Dollars. I like that you can redeem your rewards anytime, whenever you accumulate $25 or more. This is the fine print: “Enjoy the flexibility of redeeming your cash back rewards for statement credits, gift cards and a wide array of merchandise anytime.”
Earn cash back faster by adding family or friends to your account. If you get a secondary card for your spouse or child on your account (which is at no extra charge), you’ll earn even more cash back.
No limit on the cash rewards you can earn. No limit means that you get even more cash back when you spend on big-ticket items. Over the course of a year, all your everyday purchases add up and you can get hundreds of dollars in cash back.
Enjoy exclusive savings with Blue Savings Program. You get discounts when staying at certain hotels with your card, renting a car, dining, booking cruises and more. You get discounts of up to 25% at Hertz car rental, and other discounts when you stay in JW Marriott hotels. When you stay at JW Marriott and Renaissance Hotels worldwide, you will get a free breakfast every time you stay at the hotel over the weekend, and you also get an additional $100 discount for the next time you stay at the hotel if there isn’t an available room upgrade and it is posted to your room not used for your next stay. When you book a cruise with Regent Seven Seas Cruises, you get a $250 on-board credit.
Purchase Protection Plan. This plan may protect you against any accidental damage or the theft of eligible purchases. American Express may refund, in the case of the store not doing so, up to $1,000 per occurrence, up to $50,000 per card account per policy year.
Free extended warranty. American Express may extend the original U.S. warranty of the items you purchase that have 5 years or less of warranty by up to one year.
Return Protection. Got a change of mind with your purchase, and can’t return it because you’ve lost the receipt or the store is giving you a hard time? No worries! If you try to return an eligible item purchased in the U.S. within 90 days from the date of purchase and the store won’t take it back, the purchase price may be refunded by American Express, up to $300 per item, excluding shipping and handling, up to $1,000 annually per card account.
Flexibility to pay your balances over a period of time. Blue Cash is a credit card, not a charge card, which means that you’ll be able to pay your balances over a period of time although doing that would incur interest charges.
No over-limit fee. American Express eliminated all over-limit fees effective October 1, 2009. This is especially useful for those of you who normally spend more than the limit the credit card has. As long as you pay your bills on time, there will be no other fee to accompany this over-limit spending.
$100,000 in travel accident insurance. Provides up to $100,000 in accidental death and dismemberment insurance. In addition to this travel insurance, Blue Cash card also provides up to $2,000 when traveling by plane if any of your baggage gets lost or stolen, or in the case of there being a delay of more than 3 hours, you will receive up to $500 for items that might need replacing during that time.
Receive 25 Reward Dollars as a referral bonus for each family member or friend who is approved for the Blue Cash Card.
Our Least Favorite Things About This Card
You forfeit your rebate for the entire rebate year if the minimum payment due is not paid for 3 or more billing periods in a row. This is standard for most credit cards.
No 0% intro APR for balance transfers. APR on balance transfers will be 17.24%, 20.24% or 22.24%, depending on your credit score.
Our Verdict: 4.89/5 Stars
Blue Cash (no annual fee) is one of the best cash back credit cards to get as you’ll earn 3% cash rebate on groceries, 2% on gas and department store purchases and 1% on all other everyday purchases. What I really like about this card is that unlike other cash back cards, you don’t need to spend any minimum amount in order to qualify for the cash back amounts, and you don’t even need to enroll for the cash back! So if you have good to excellent credit score, and pay your balance in full and on time each month, you will be able to maximize the full benefits of having this cash back card. This card provides many travel benefits, purchase protection, return protection, free extended warranty and many other premium services.
Blue Cash is the best choice of card for you if you want to earn up to 3% cash back without any minimum spending, and also want to enjoy the exclusive cardholder benefits of an American Express card. It even won a place in DailyMarkets.com’s Best Credit Cards 2012 list. Considering all the great benefits of this card, we highly recommend American Express Blue Cash. With their Express Approval system, you can get a decision for your online application in 60 seconds.
Click here to go to the official American Express website to apply online for Blue Cash now.
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.
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Broker Reviews
I have relitively good credit. Do you need excellent credit to get this card?
Hi John,
If you have good to excellent credit, you are likely to be approved for the card.
I have this card. I thought the $6500 limit in order to start earning 5% cash back accumulates year after year, but mine reset at the beginning of the following year so I have to start over from zero and still earn only a meager 1% on select categories.
this card is overrated, you want bonus points use a discovercard,
You have the old blue Cash. Call American Express and ask them to change your card to the NEW Blue Cash Everyday.
Be aware that if you currently have the “old” Amex Blue card (not Everyday and not Preferred), you are getting Membership Rewards points for your purchases (1 for each dollar), assuming you’ve signed up for Membership Rewards and attached the card to it.
If you ask them to convert to either Blue Everyday or Blue Preferred, you will stop getting points. Instead, you’ll get the cash back.
I almost converted until I learned of this, and for me the points are preferable.
i have 713 credit score but i applied this card and they dont aprouved me yet .they reqiured me a copy of irs or to provide them prove of my job i send them my last check is that works like that?
Hi Katrina,
Could you do a comparison between blue cash everyday & preferred in terms of cash back for an entire year?
Some statistical info. would be useful since the preferred card has an $75 annual fee.
They didn’t approve you because you sound like an illiterate uneducated idiot. You cant spell and you cant even put a sentence together in its proper structure. Congrats on your 713 score, but lay off the drink or take some grammar courses before getting on these forums and making us all dumber for listening to you.
@ ZACH
Wow, was that even necessary? What a douche bag.
If you want to get technical with your idiotic sentence; “making us all dumber for listening to you.” I am not hearing anything…I am seeing and READING his words.
This world is full of AS*holes…You might be the biggest of all.
Oh I so agree with Jason!
After reading some of the fine print I notice that the 6% cash back offered by the Blue Cash Preferred Card doesn’t apply to Super Stores such as Target and Wal-Mart. However, Wal-Mart does have neighborhood grocery stores. If you purchase grocery from the Wal-Mart Neighborhood stores (NOT Super Wal-Mart) are these purchases eligible for the 6% cash back?
IS IT POSSIBLE TO APPLY MY CASH REBATE TO MY STATEMENT ON LINE?
ROY
Zach,
Allow me to correct the spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure in your post. It seems that you, too, need some courses in proper English.
Your pointless little rant should have been written as follows:
They didn’t approve you because you sound like an illiterate, uneducated idiot. You can’t spell and you can’t even properly construct a sentence. Congratulations on your 713 score, but lay off the drink or take some grammar courses before getting on these forums and making us all dumber for listening to you.
It appears that English may not be Papa Mouhamadou Lamine Diop’s native language. What’s YOUR excuse?
Hi, I’m looking for a cc from a company that wants my business, didn’t take bailout, can be used worldwide and will reward me by treating me like a person, realize I pay my bill every month, don’t carry a balance and will provide a 20K limit. I don’t care about rewards such as a new toaster, set of yard ornaments or bed sheets. I want an honest company that cares about the folks it supports.
Capital One seems to not care about the 10 year commitment I made to them
papa mouhamadou lamine diop DOESN’T sound like an “illiterate uneducated idiot.” He actually sounds like English isn’t his first language – which makes him pretty damned educated. Most Americans only speak one (language).
On the other hand, Zach, you are an embarrassment to humankind – one who is so busy being a colossal a——- that you can’t even understand why papa’s grammar is not perfect.
does blue cash american express automatically cancel itself if you are inactive(no purchase) for awhile?
@zach: You are a rude person. My guess is that “papa” speaks english as a second language, and I am also guessing that is one more language than a narrow-minded, judgemental jerk such as yourself speaks.
The internet is not a place to unload your hatred. Would you have said this if you were face to face with this person? There ARE a real live PEOPLE who you are responding to on the internet. Please try to remember this in your words to them. We need more kindness, not sarcasm and hurtful words. It would be good if you could think about what you are contributing to the world with your words.
Conan,
I’m no expert, but I am pretty sure you do not use a comma unless you have a series. It should be “an illiterate and uneducated idiot.” A series would require at least three items such as “an illiterate, uneducated, and arrogant idiot.” The comma after uneducated is optional.
I’m no expert either, but I had pretty good scores in my writing classes in college. I think Conan’s comma is used correctly in that sentence.
lol :)
I agree, Zach is an asshole. But no one has answered Mamadou’s question. It’s because he’s most likely NOT an American citizen so they need more info.
Yes, sometimes Credit Card companies need additional information to approve. You should call them and speak. Alternatively you can send those required documents (Job details – salary slip). You should probably get the card with 713 score. But if you had too many Hard inquiries you may be denied.
i have a 710 credit score and I have been denied. Would anyone know the reason why? I really want this card.
American Express is a personable company and in my experience over the last 15 years with them, never treats you like a number. Good service, superior choice of card options (cash back; revolving, pay in full, travel points, reward options, etc.) and excellent customer relations. I’ll say is your best bet! -Ang
For those of you interested in getting this card, let me share my experience with you.
I’ll give you a brief background of myself first. I am 21 years old and have never had a credit card. I have a Macy’s store card, but that’s as close to a credit card as I had. Although I don’t have any debt, I didn’t think I had enough of an established credit to get approved. However, I thought I’d try to shoot high for my first credit card and try to get this card. If I didn’t get this card, my next choice was the Discover student credit card.
To my absolutely surprise, I GOT APPROVED! The letter I got showed that my FICO score was 779.
I don’t even know how I have a credit score that high! I’m just a college student, working part time, with only minor bills to pay (such as phone bills and my Macy’s card bill). I’ve even been late on paying those bills on time, so I thought that my credit would be poor.
Anywho, there you have it. A credit score of 779 with no previous credit cards landed me this card!