If you haven’t heard American Express recently launched their new EveryDay cards (EveryDay Preferred & EveryDay Regular). These cards allow you to earn Membership Rewards points which can be transferred to airline and hotel partners.
They are remarkably similar to the Bluecash cards that AmEx offers (Blue Cash Everyday & Blue Cash Preferred). So I decided to compare the four cards and let you know which card is better and in what circumstances.
| EveryDay Regular | Blue Cash EveryDay | EveryDay Preferred | Blue Cash Preferred | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee: | None | None | $95.00 | $75.00 |
| Sign Up Bonus*: | 10,000 points | $50 + One Year Of Prime ($99) | 15,000 points | $100 + One Year Of Prime |
| % on grocery purchases | 2.4x MR points | 3% cash back | 4.5x MR points | 6% cash back |
| % on gas purchases | 1.2x MR points | 2% cash back | 3x MR points | 3% cash back |
| % on department stores^ | 1.2x MR points | 2% cash back | 1.5x MR points | 3% cash back |
| All other purchases | 1.2x MR points | 1% cash back | 1.5x MR points | 1% cash back |
*All four sign up bonuses require you to make $1,000 in purchases within the first three months.
^ Only on selected department stores, visit americanexpress.com/rewards-info to see the full list.
All cards come with a 15 month 0% introductory APR and the regular APR will be 12.99% to 21.99% based on your credit worthiness. All cards also have a limit of $6,000 in purchases for grocery stores before you earn the regular rate.
The above chart assumes that the 20 and 30 purchases required to trigger the extra bonuses are completed for the EveryDay & EveryDay preferred cards. If this is not trigger then the points offered will be 20% less for the regular version and 50% less for the preferred version.
[Read: How to reach the purchase requirements for the EveryDay cards.]
Which Card Is Going To Be Best?
The best card is really going to depend on how much you value membership rewards points. At bare minimum they should be worth 1¢ each as you can redeem them for a variety of gift cards at that price. If you transfer them to airlines or hotels you’ll likely get a much better value out of them. We don’t think it’s too unreasonable to get 1.5¢ per point on average.
Annual Fee
Both of the regular cards have no annual fee, but the Blue Cash preferred has a slightly annual fee of $75, so you’ll save $20 when compared to the EveryDay preferred.
Sign Up Bonus
The Blue cards have a better sign up bonus if you value Amazon prime at $50 or more and membership rewards points at only 1¢. If you value the points at 1.5¢ or higher then the EveryDay cards win out.
Spend
- All purchases not in a bonus category, the new EveryDay cards will win because they provide you with 1.2/1.5 back depending on the card, whereas the Blue cards only offer a flat 1% back. This is true whether you value the points at 1.5¢ or 1¢.
- For department store purchases the blue cards will win out, even if you value points at 1.5¢ a piece
- For gas purchases the EveryDay preferred is the clear winner compared to the Blue Preferred, as they both provide you with 3x back, but the EveryDay card has the additional flexibility. You need to value MR points at 1.67¢ per point for EveryDay no annual fee card for it to beat out it’s Blue Cash counterpart.
- For grocery purchases you’d need to value MR points at 1.25¢ or more for the EveryDay card to get more value. You’d need to value the points at 1.34¢ for the EveryDay preferred card to win out.
Our Verdict
It’s pretty simply really, if you like cash back then you should be going for the Blue range of cards. If you like airline miles and hotel points then the new EveryDay cards will provide better value. As long as you value MR points at 1.4x per point or higher you’re going to be clearly better off with the EveryDay card than when compared to the Blue Cash card.
Read our full reviews of each card: