Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card – Full Review [2023]

Great Card If

• You spend heavily at U.S. supermarkets and eat at home a lot
• You commute often or go on a lot of road trips
• You use a lot of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu
• You’re a routine-type person and will continually use the card (ensuring you reach the redemption minimums)

Don’t Get If

• You eat out more than you cook
• You do all of your shopping at warehouse clubs or big-box stores like Target
• You won’t use the card frequently enough to pay off the annual fee

Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card – Is It Worth It?

If you’re someone who highly values earning cash-back, then the Amex Blue Cash Preferred card is likely to be well worth it to you.

Sure, the card does have a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95, which might feel counterintuitive for a cash-back card, but when you factor in the earning potential, you’re likely to come out way ahead.

Considering that you’ll earn 6% cash-back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 in spend each year, this cash-back alone would be $360 if you hit the $6,000 threshold.

When you then account for the cash-back you’d earn on your streaming subscriptions, transit purchases, U.S. gas station purchases, and your other monthly bills and utilities, you can easily see how you can rake in the cash-back with this card.

Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card Top Benefits

Cash-Back Opportunities

The primary benefit is the numerous bonus categories that the card offers. Cardholders will earn between 3% to 6% back on their purchases that fall within the U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, select streaming subscriptions, and transit categories, plus the 1% back you’ll earn on all other purchases.

Return Protection

When you purchase a product with your card, return protection covers you if the seller won’t accept a return for the item, up to 90 days from the date of purchase.

Return protection covers you for up to $300 per item, and up to a maximum of $1,000 per calendar year.

Car Rental Coverage

When you pay for your rental car with your Amex Blue Cash Preferred card, it comes with complimentary secondary car rental insurance. This insurance covers any damage or theft to the rental car. Keep in mind that this is secondary coverage, so you’ll need to file a claim with your primary insurance first.

Best Way To Earn and Redeem Cash-Back Rewards

As we’ve outlined, earning cash-back with your Amex Blue Cash Preferred card on all of your purchases is easy.

However, if you want to make sure you’re earning as much cash-back as possible, you must make certain to use the card on purchases in its 4 bonus categories: U.S. supermarkets, select streaming services, U.S. gas stations, and select transit purchases.

When you make purchases with your card, you’ll accrue your cash-back month to month which can be redeemed as a statement credit to offset purchases on your card when the bill comes due.

One caveat, though, is that you must have accrued at least $25 in cash-back in order to redeem it, meaning if your cash-back balance at the end of 1 month is $23.50, you’ll need to wait until you surpass $25 to redeem those funds.

Alternative Cards to the Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card

Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express

If you want a similar card that doesn’t charge an annual fee, then the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is the perfect option. With the card, you’ll earn:

• 3% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%
• 3% Cash Back on U.S. online retail purchases, on up to $6,000 per year, then 1%
• 3% Cash Back at U.S. gas stations, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%

See how these 2 cards stack head-to-head in our comparison of the Amex Blue Cash Preferred card vs. Amex Blue Cash Everyday card.

Chase Freedom Flex℠ Credit Card

If you like the idea of a no-annual-fee, cash-back card, but prefer different bonus categories, the Freedom Flex card is a great option to consider. You’ll earn 5% back on a quarterly rotation bonus category and travel purchases through Chase, 3% back on dining and drugstores, and 1% back on all other purchases.

See how these cards compare here: Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card vs. Freedom Flex Card.

We’ve also compared the Amex Blue Cash Preferred card against other popular rewards cards:

• Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card vs. American Express® Gold Card
• Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card vs. The Platinum Card® from American Express

The information regarding the Chase Freedom Flex℠ was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® from American Express, click here.