Amex everyday preferred credit card review

 

Amex everyday preferred credit card review

Starting with the welcome offer once again we're reviewing the everyday preferred credit card from American express the welcome offer as of March 2022 is to earn 15 000 points after spending 2 dollars on purchases in the first six months it also comes with a zero percent promotional apr opportunity on purchases for the first 12 months 

Then a variable ap or after that the approximate value of the points portion of this welcome offer is anywhere from about 90 up to 270 potentially a bit more depending on how you redeem them once you've earned that initial offer 

You'll then be able to continue earning points long-term in the following categories triple points on groceries at u.s supermarkets on the first six thousand dollars spent per year if you spend more than that  

You'll just earn one point per dollar going forward until it resets the following year back to triple points so if you've got massive groceries spent throughout the year they may want to consider getting a card 

Number two to continue spending and earning rewards beyond that six thousand dollar cap you'll also earn double points on gas at us gas stations and double points on travel 

But there are some restrictions to be aware of with this one here you'll earn those double points only on travel via ms's travel portal that is ametstravel.com or through your account after you log in the same thing there 

This will include airfare prepaid hotels prepaid car rentals vacation packages and cruises it does not include non-prepaid car rentals non-prepaid hotels ticketing service fees or other fees or interest charges 

Finally, you earn one point per dollar on all other purchases the annual fee on this card is a dollar cool 

So now you've got a bunch of points but what can you do with them and what's their value once you go to redeem them well here are three main redemption options here on the screen the first one is travel via transfer partners 

Where you take your mate's membership rewards points and transfer them out to another program for example airlines and hotels and then redeem the points on that end the value you can obtain while doing this is an average value 

Because it can vary widely from one program and one itinerary to another but it's usually around 1.8 cents when you factor in the low redemptions versus the high ones and everything in between 

So as an example 15 000 points could be worth around 270 dollars option number two is to redeem for travel via the amet's travel portal directly and this usually gives 

Your two flat rate set values 0.7 cents per point for hotels car rentals cruises and vacations or one cent per point for flights therefore 15 000 points will be worth 105 or 150 and option 

Number three is cash back as a statement credit where you get 0.6 cents per point meaning 15 000 points would be worth 90 so if that illustration did not make it clear Emeth's membership awards points are best used for travel and not cash back and it's usually those transfer partners that can get you the highest value 

When you use them strategically so here is the current list of the optional airlines that you can put your points out to as well as the different hotel programs feel free to pause this screen 

If you'd like to look over these partnerships in more detail now as we move on to the perks and benefits of this card you'll probably realize that well there aren't really very many of them however the first benefit is where this card really shines and gives 

It a lot of value to put a lot more points in your pocket and therefore more free travel more often the first main benefit is called 50 extra points and here's how that works 

you'll earn 50 more points minus returns you make or any credits that are issued when you use your card 30 times or more in a billing cycle stated differently take your card and make 30 or more transactions on it within a billing cycle which is usually around 30 days 

Then ms will take all of your points earned and then extend you an additional 50 bonus on top of that and the cool thing is there's no requirement for how much those transactions have to be 

So if you take your tarp and put 30 transactions of you know five bucks that will still unlock the ability for that 50 bonus heck you could even buy a few packs of gum 

If you wanted to benefit number two is a complimentary shop runner membership that gets you to access to free two-day shipping and returns at over a hundred different merchants enrollment is required for this by the way and lastly ameth offers 

These are individual offers you can add to your card because once you link them then when you swap your card at those merchants you may get additional savings statement credits rewards bonus points etc all math cards do come with the ms offers a program 

So while it's not unique to this card it's good to be aware of so while this card doesn't shine so much on a bunch of benefits it really does come to life in terms of helping you earn a lot of points very quickly on useful at home categories in fact that 50 bonus point opportunity is massive and to illustrate that check this out on the left-hand side of your screen is the regular rewards category that comes on 

This card by default but once you've made your 30 or more transactions in a billion cycle you'll then unlock that 50 extra points boost and here's what that new category will look like your grocery category becomes 4.5 points per dollar gas will earn you triple points 

So will travel via the ams portal and then 1.5 points per dollar in all other purchases so once again if you have a high transaction volume per month then this feature could give you a lot of additional value moving on to the insurance and protections on the cart 

You'll get car rental loss and damage insurance purchase protection return protection extended warranty and the global assist hotline feel free to pause the screen to look it over in more depth so should you add this card to your wallet or not well let's run through a few scenarios to help 

You make a more informed decision you should consider getting this card if you spend frequently at supermarkets and gas stations will use the card 30 or more times in a month that is in a billing cycle 

If you want a good card for non-bonus spending that is purchases that do not fall into a specific category that would earn double triple or more points per dollar because this card gives you a minimum of 1.5 fs on all purchases once 

You unlock it with that 50 extra points feature this card may also be a good fit for you if you value travel rewards instead of cash back because that tends to give you higher value than cash back ever would 

If you also want a simple card with strong rewards and without a lot of credits or benefits to manage because there are plenty of other cards out there that require management and keeping track of those types of things to extract good value out of them that said you probably want to avoid this cart 

If you don't spend often at supermarkets and gas stations including if you buy your groceries at superstores department stores or wholesale clubs because those will not be eligible for the elevated rewards category also avoid this card 

If you cannot use it 30 or more times in a billing cycle or a month if you prefer cash back rewards over travel points this would not be a good fit for you because when you redeem your points for cash back as a statement credit again you'll lose at least 40 percent of your value and lastly of course 

If you can't justify the annual fee meaning you don't earn enough rewards to cover the cost of that 95 and still have a lot of profit left over and I'll also add that this could be a great card to add in addition to other amet's cards that also earn membership awards points 

If you want to build a 2 3 or multi-card setup to earn travel points especially if you have other mx cards that have non-overlapping categories with this one because a huge part of this game is to get the right cards for the right rewards categories to help you earn at the fastest rate possible that we can get on your way to some really cool trips at a very low cost

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