Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

Card Details

Card Features

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Signing Promotion

Earn 150 Reward Dollars after you make $1,000 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership.

Reward Rate

1.00%*

Annual Fee

$75

APR, Variable

APR: 12.99% - 21.99% Variable
Default APR: 27.24%
Cash Advance APR: 25.24%

Intro APR Promotions

0% on Purchases for 12 months

Earn 150 Reward Dollars after you make $1,000 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership.
Earn Cash Back: 6% US supermarkets up to $6,000 per year in purchases, 3% US gas stations & select US dept stores, 1% other purchases. Terms and limitations apply.
Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit.
Simple and Straightforward: With the Blue Cash Preferred Card, you can start earning cash back. No rotating reward categories. No enrollment required.
Terms and Restrictions Apply.

Pros

Bonus cash back categories

Cons

Has annual fee
Needs excellent credit

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 the American Express Affiliate Program.

Editor's Review

Author: NerdWallet
The Blue Cash Preferred is one of the two cards American Express released to replace the old version of the Amex Blue Cash card that we all know and love.

The old version had a $6,500 spending threshold that you had to meet before you could earn the maximum rewards, but then it paid a great 5% rate on gas, groceries, and drugstores. This new version will be a nice improvement for those that didn't spend quite enough annually to fully take advantage, since the threshold has now been eliminated, but the lower rewards rate on gas will probably be disappointing to a number of road warriors.

The $75 annual fee will probably annoy quite a few users too, which is why American Express also offers another version, called the Blue Cash Everyday, which pays lower bonus rewards rates and has no annual fee. This version pays 2% on gas and department store purchases, rather than 3%, and only 3% on groceries instead of 6%.

For most cardholders, however, I suspect that the addition of bonus rewards on department stores in lieue of drugstores, and the improved 6% reward rate on groceries will be a welcome change. A family really only needs to spend $50 a week on groceries to make up for the annual fee, and that doesn't count the higher rewards on other categories.

Another improvement over the old Blue Cash, is that it previously only paid out the cash back rewards once a year, as a statement credit. The new Preferred and Everyday versions offer more flexibility, allowing users to redeem their rewards whenever they want, in increments of $25 or more.

The only issue to be aware of is that gas and grocery purchases don't earn the higher bonus reward rates at Wholesalers. So if you buy your gas and groceries primarily from Costco, you won't earn the full 3-6%. So if that's your main reason for considering a card like this, you may want to look into the Costco American Express Card, where you will earn 3% on the gas instead of just 1% with Blue Cash, and you'll earn the same 1% base rate on all other Costco purchases.

*Disclaimer: We try to keep information accurate and up to date, however we cannot make warranties regarding the accuracy of our information. Please verify FDIC Insurance / NCUA Insurance status, credit card information, and interest rates during the application process. Please note that NerdWallet has financial relationships with some of the merchants mentioned here. NerdWallet may be compensated if consumers choose to utilize the links located throughout the content on this site and generate sales for the said merchant.

* See the online credit card application for details about terms and conditions. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on the "Apply Now" button, you can review the credit card terms and conditions on the issuer's website

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.