American Express Clear

The American Express Clear promises no fees: the $0 and it has no balance transfer fee, over-limit fee, cash-advance fee or late fee. You’ll also earn 1% on rewards, and American Express will put that cash back on a gift card for every $2,500 you spend. All in all, you might as well just apply, if only to keep your credit score up.

It’s true that the rewards rate isn’t special, but the no-fee part is a plus. Because the annual fee is $0, you can keep the card open at no cost to you and boost your credit score simultaneously. This is because the credit bureaus evaluate you for the following: the average length of your accounts, your overall credit limit, and the number of your accounts in good standing.

In other words, with the American Express Clear, you can keep your card open for a long time, boost your credit limit and have one more account to boast about to your credit scorers – assuming you do indeed make repayments on time.

While we do recommend this card for its credit-score boost, we can’t say the same about its no-fee policy: it’s a little gimmicky.

The value of no annual fee and no late fee is pretty obvious. But what about those other fees that American Express forgives: the balance transfer, over-limit and cash advance fees, which are discussed much less often in card reviews?

No balance transfer fee

When you make a balance transfer, you transfer the amount you owe from one card to another, most often to a card with a lower balance-transfer APR; the goal is to consolidate and, eventually, eradicate debt at the lowest interest rate possible.

The balance transfer fee is something else entirely: it’s a one-time fee that most card companies charge simply to process the transaction. Usually, the rate is about 3% of your balance. The American Express Clear may give you a break on that fee, but you still face charges on APR – The ongoing APR is 17.99% - 22.99% Variable – which is of much greater concern anyway. That rate will grow your balance rather quickly: after just 2 months, the charges you’ve incurred with APR will outweigh the benefit of no transfer fee.

Clearly, for someone who really does need debt relief, this card offers small comfort. Look to a card like the Citi Simplicity® Card instead, which gives you 0% Intro APR for 21 months on Balance Transfers and 12 months on Purchases, and then the ongoing APR of 19.24%-29.99% Variable APR.

No over-limit fee

This feature may have helped out card carriers in the past, but now it’s irrelevant. Since the CARD Act was passed in 2009, no card company is allowed to charge an over-limit fee. The Act does have a provision that allows you to opt for that over-limit fee if you so choose, but I don’t know why you would.

No cash advance fee

Like American Express's policy on balance transfers, this relief on cash advance fees is small comfort. You may not pay to make the cash advance happen, but you will pay 25.24% APR on your cash-advance balance.