The New Amex EveryDay℠ Card
A little earlier than anticipated, American Express has just released a new card that eschews its classic approach to card holders. The new card is a combination of both the newer direction Amex has been going in with the Blue Cash cards and also the traditional membership rewards program that it is famous and well regarded for.
So is the card worth it for everyday spending? For churning? Paying attention to at all when it comes to JetBlue? The answer isn't so simple.
What is great about this card is that since it is targeted to a wider audience, there is not just a first year annual fee waived - there is no annual fee at all. That puts getting this card in a super low risk category, and since any Amex card will date back to your first American Express card on your credit history, this is a great candidate to keep your credit score high.
What is groundbreaking about the EveryDay℠ is that as a no-fee card it allows holders to earn Membership Rewards, which transfer to over 17 different air and hotel partners extremely easily. Additionally, it gives a 10,000 point bonus for the first $1,000 spent in three months. While this is small as far as bonuses go, it's the only Membership Reward bonus you're ever going to see with an extremely small spend requirement and never a yearly fee. Finally, it's the only Membership Rewards card that will let you keep a balance.
To make it even more appetizing, the card nets 2x points on groceries for up to $6,000 per year and has a bonus 20% on all reward points when you make 20 or more separate transactions with the card per month. Again, there are better point earners out there, but not any that are free to keep in your wallet and will get you Membership Reward points, possibly the most flexible points around.
Of course, this flexibility translates to TrueBlue points. If you were able to spend the minimum $1k at grocery stores in the first three months and also make more than 20 purchases per month, you could net a total of 12,400 Membership Reward points, which means 12,400 TrueBlue points, or 2.5 flights (at 5,000 points per flight).
There are very few chances to get good transfers to TrueBlue points via signup bonuses, so while small, this bonus total over half of the signup points for the JetBlue by Amex card. Relatively speaking it's a great new opportunity for grabbing TrueBlue points.
The EveryDay℠ Preferred is very similar to the basic, although it comes with a yearly fee attached. As with most other Amex cards it is not waived the first year, so the $95 you pay right off the bat really cuts down into points.
The spend bonus is 15,000 Membership Rewards points for $1,000 and allows an additional point for grocery store purchases, bringing it up to 3x which is extremely good.
The monthly spend bonus is increased to 50%, but requires at least 30 or more purchases to be reached.
This makes the card definitely a bit harder to use, but if it fits your spending styles, it could be a lot more lucrative than the free version. It probably isn't worth the trouble to go out of your way to meet the 30 purchases each month and load up at grocery stores (with a max of $6,000/yr).
There aren't a ton of downsides here aside from the relatively small bounty. The card is worth having just to have the Amex card benefits, membership reward program, and to use for grocery spending.
I was holding off on my next round of credit card applications to see about this card, and today I signed up for it. The 10,000 points and no fee were the real sellers for me. I'll probably transfer the points straight to JetBlue to get closer to some longer free flights, and will probably use the card for groceries and automated bill pays to hit the 20 purchases a month. I'm still debating whether or not it will kick out my Barclary Arrival as my everyday spend card, but I think that's what Amex hopes I will do.
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| Amazing 20% bonus for 20+ purchases per month. |
To make it even more appetizing, the card nets 2x points on groceries for up to $6,000 per year and has a bonus 20% on all reward points when you make 20 or more separate transactions with the card per month. Again, there are better point earners out there, but not any that are free to keep in your wallet and will get you Membership Reward points, possibly the most flexible points around.
Of course, this flexibility translates to TrueBlue points. If you were able to spend the minimum $1k at grocery stores in the first three months and also make more than 20 purchases per month, you could net a total of 12,400 Membership Reward points, which means 12,400 TrueBlue points, or 2.5 flights (at 5,000 points per flight).
There are very few chances to get good transfers to TrueBlue points via signup bonuses, so while small, this bonus total over half of the signup points for the JetBlue by Amex card. Relatively speaking it's a great new opportunity for grabbing TrueBlue points.
The Benefits - Preferred Card
The EveryDay℠ Preferred is very similar to the basic, although it comes with a yearly fee attached. As with most other Amex cards it is not waived the first year, so the $95 you pay right off the bat really cuts down into points.
The spend bonus is 15,000 Membership Rewards points for $1,000 and allows an additional point for grocery store purchases, bringing it up to 3x which is extremely good.
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| The Preferred has 15,000 bonus points versus the 10,000 of the normal card. |
The monthly spend bonus is increased to 50%, but requires at least 30 or more purchases to be reached.
This makes the card definitely a bit harder to use, but if it fits your spending styles, it could be a lot more lucrative than the free version. It probably isn't worth the trouble to go out of your way to meet the 30 purchases each month and load up at grocery stores (with a max of $6,000/yr).
The Downsides
There aren't a ton of downsides here aside from the relatively small bounty. The card is worth having just to have the Amex card benefits, membership reward program, and to use for grocery spending.
The Verdict
I was holding off on my next round of credit card applications to see about this card, and today I signed up for it. The 10,000 points and no fee were the real sellers for me. I'll probably transfer the points straight to JetBlue to get closer to some longer free flights, and will probably use the card for groceries and automated bill pays to hit the 20 purchases a month. I'm still debating whether or not it will kick out my Barclary Arrival as my everyday spend card, but I think that's what Amex hopes I will do.
- John
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