Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express review

Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express review

Updated: September 20, 2024
Updated: September 20, 2024
Ratings Policy
Low Interest Rating:
3.8 rating
3.8 rating
3.8 / 5
Rates, Fees, Penalties:3.7
Rewards:2.6
Features:2.0
Issuer Customer Experience4.6

In a Nutshell:

With a reasonable regular APR and a long introductory period for balance transfers and new purchases, the American Express Everyday card can save you a considerable amount of cash. This offer is no longer available on our site.

Information about this card has been collected independently by CreditCards.com. The issuer did not provide the content, nor is it responsible for its accuracy. See similar low interest credit cards.

Regular APR

17.74% – 28.74% variable APR

Poor

Introductory Purchase APR

0% for 15 months

Excellent

Introductory Balance Transfer APR

None

Poor

Fees

  • No annual fee
  • 2.7% foreign transaction fee
  • 5% cash advance fee (or $10, whichever is larger)
Very Good

Penalties

  • Up to $40 late payment fee
  • 29.99% variable penalty APR
  • Up to $40 returned payment fee
Fair

American Express Customer Service Ratings

  • J. D. Power 2020 customer satisfaction rating: 838 (no issuers in this category ranked higher)
  • 24/7 customer service?: Yes
  • Online chat available?: Yes
  • Google Play Store mobile app rating: 4.3/5
  • Apple Store mobile app rating: 4.9/5
Excellent

Other Notable Features: Car rental insurance, purchase protection

Ratings Policy
Rewards Rating:
2.9 rating
2.9 rating
2.9 / 5
Rewards Value:2.0
Annual Percentage Rate:3.6
Rewards Flexibility:3.9
Features:2.0
Issuer Customer Experience4.6

In a Nutshell:

If you pay close attention to your card usage, the American Express Everyday card can deliver a great bonus rate on U.S. supermarket purchases, but there are many cards that offer better overall rewards for a lot less work. This offer is no longer available on our site.

Information about this card has been collected independently by CreditCards.com. The issuer did not provide the content, nor is it responsible for its accuracy. See similar rewards credit cards.

Rewards Rate

  • 2 points per dollar on U.S. supermarket purchases ($6,000 limit on purchases per year, 1% thereafter)
  • 1 point per dollar other purchases
  • 20% bonus when you make 20+ purchases in a billing cycle
  • Terms apply
Average

Introductory Bonus

10,000 points if you spend $2,000 in first 3 months (Terms apply)

Fair

Annual Fee

$0  

Excellent

APR

17.74% – 28.74% variable APR

Average

Rewards Redemption
Pros

  • Points don’t expire
  • No blackout dates
  • Wide variety of redemption categories, including travel, gift cards, merchandise and entertainment
  • Redeem points for cash back (statement credits) on some purchases
  • Pay for travel with points + cash
  • Can transfer points at 1:1 ratio to 22 travel partners

Cons

  • $6,000 annual limit on U.S. supermarket bonus
  • Statement credits only apply to some purchase categories
  • Fees on some point transfers
Very Good

American Express Customer Service Ratings

  • J. D. Power 2020 customer satisfaction rating: 838 (no issuers in this category ranked higher)
  • 24/7 customer service?: Yes
  • Online chat available?: Yes
  • Google Play Store mobile app rating: 4.3/5
  • Apple Store mobile app rating: 4.9/5
Excellent

Other Notable Features: Car rental insurance, purchase protection

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For shoppers who are thrilled at the opportunity to earn rewards on their grocery store purchases, American Express cards are some of the most coveted grocery cards in existence. While few cards without an annual fee can beat the 3% U.S. supermarket bonus (on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%) on American Express’s most popular grocery card – the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express – the American Express Everyday card offers a good alternative for card members who prefer to collect American Express rewards points over cash back.

See related: American Express Rewards guide: The best ways to earn and use Membership Rewards points

The American Express Everyday card offers 2 points per dollar on U.S. supermarket purchases (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year, then 1 point per dollar) and gives that bonus a 20% boost anytime you make 20 purchases in a billing period. Essentially, you have the chance to earn a 2.4% bonus rate on U.S. supermarket purchases. For cardholders who rely on a single card for most of their purchases, this is a pretty good deal, since they can easily trigger the bonus.

However, if you are in the game of collecting American Express rewards points, you are likely juggling multiple cards at once, which makes the Everyday card trickier to manage. You need to use the card often, early in the month to get the most out of the card’s bonuses, all while trying to figure out which purchases you can apply the card to that don’t get in the way of your bonus earnings on your other cards. In other words, if you are planning to use this card to pool rewards points, you should be prepared to do some extra maintenance.

Solid rewards rate

For a no-annual-fee card, the American Express Everyday card offers a good rewards rate. The base rate is two points for U.S. supermarket purchases and one point on everything else. (Note: Superstores such as Target and Walmart are not included in the supermarket category.) Once you exceed 20 purchases in a single month, a 20% bonus kicks in, boosting your rate to 2.4 points on groceries and 1.2 points on everything else. There are only a handful of no-annual-fee cards that offer a better rewards rate. However, if you are purely searching for the highest rewards rate on a no-fee card, you can do better: Some no-fee cards offer a general rewards rate as high as 2%.

Great rewards for U.S. supermarket purchases

The American Express Everyday card really shines as a grocery store card. The 2.4 point-per-dollar rate that you can potentially earn on purchases at U.S. supermarkets is bested only by a handful of other cards, including the American Express Blue Cash Everyday and Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. However, it takes quite a bit of card usage to reap the full bonus on the American Express Everyday card and – unless you save all of your grocery shopping till later in the month – it may be difficult to put 20 purchases on your card early enough in the month to activate the bonus for most of your grocery store purchases.

See related: Best credit cards for grocery shopping

In the meantime, there are plenty of cards that can match the Everyday card’s 2 point-per-dollar bonus rate on U.S. supermarket purchases, and many of these cards don’t put a cap on this bonus (the Everyday card limits the bonus rate to the first $6,000 in grocery purchases per year). Thus, the card only makes sense as a grocery card if you are able to modify your spending habits to get the most out of its rewards rate.

Mediocre introductory bonus

The American Express Everyday card offers a 10,000-point bonus to new cardholders who manage to spend $2,000 on the card in the first three months. While a $100 worth of points is a nice bonus for signing up for the card, there are a plethora of cards – including many no-annual-fee cards – that offer much larger introductory bonuses. On the plus side, the $1,000 spending requirement is very modest compared to the requirements for other introductory bonuses.

Amex Everyday vs. Amex Everyday Preferred card

The Amex Everyday is not the only American Express card that earns Membership Rewards on U.S. supermarket spending. Cardholders who don’t mind paying an annual fee can also opt for the American Express Everyday Preferred card. Unlike the Everyday, the Everyday Preferred card charges a $95 annual fee. But for the fee, you unlock a higher rewards rate of 3 points per dollar on U.S. supermarket purchases (up to $6,000 in purchases per year, then 1 point per dollar). You’ll also earn 2 points per dollar at U.S. gas stations and 1 point per dollar on everything else.

The Everyday Preferred also comes with a rewards boost for heavy spenders, offering 50% more points any month you make at least 30 purchases. This is a pretty hard threshold to reach, especially if you juggle spending on multiple cards, but the resulting rewards rate is top-notch. This means that the Everyday Preferred card is best suited for those who prefer to put all their spend on one card and spend heavily in the card’s bonus categories.

Fairly flexible rewards program

The American Express Everyday card allows you to redeem rewards points on a wide variety of categories – including travel, merchandise, gift cards, entertainment and cash back (i.e., statement credits) – and does not impose restrictions, blackout dates or expiration dates on its rewards. Also, it is one of the few cards that allows you to transfer your points to travel partners at a 1:1 ratio.

The rewards program does have a couple of major drawbacks, however. One is the $6,000 limit on the bonus for grocery purchases, which is probably easily reached by many cardholders. The other problem is the extreme restrictiveness of the statement credit option. Unlike most point-based rewards cards, which usually allow you to apply statement credits to any purchase, and even sometimes allow you to deposit your cash back into a bank account, the American Express Everyday card only allows you to apply statement credits to purchases in some spending categories. Also, the value of points for cash back is low. While the average travel reward gives you 1 cent per point, you only get 0.6 cents per point for statement credits.

Point transfers offer the best value

Transferring points through the American Express Everyday card is a very good deal. American Express has a large number of travel partners, including several major airlines, that you can transfer points to at a high 1:1 ratio. While the average travel reward redeemed through the American Express rewards website gives you a value of 1 cent per point, you can get values much higher than 1 cent per point through some of these travel partners. The Everyday card is thus a good card to pair with other cards, if you are trying to collect airline rewards points.

See related: American Express transfer partners

Other card benefits

The American Express Everyday card comes with a smattering of standard travel and purchase protections.

  • Car rental insurance – When you use the Amex Everyday card to book and pay for a rental car, you can qualify for secondary coverage in case of damage or theft. 
  • Purchase protection – For qualifying items purchased on your Amex Everyday card, you can be reimbursed up to $1,000 per covered item ($50,000 cap per year) if the item is lost or damaged in the first 90 days. 

While these features probably suffice for a card for grocery store purchases, you can find better frills with a premium rewards card.

For low interest

If you’re anticipating a large purchase in the future, the Amex Everyday card could come in handy: In addition to having no annual fee, the Amex Everyday card offers a 0% intro APR offer on new purchases that runs a lengthy 15 months (17.74% – 28.74% variable APR thereafter). Its low-end ongoing APR is also much lower than the average credit card interest rate.

The Amex Everyday has traditionally been a great option for balance transfers as well, but the card is not currently offering an intro APR on balance transfers. If you need to pay off existing debt, consider a dedicated balance transfer card.

See related: Balance transfer credit cards with no transfer fee

How does the Amex Everyday compare to other low interest cards?

The Amex Everyday card is a great option for low intro APR, especially if you are looking for a card with ongoing value. Nevertheless, other low interest cards might make more sense for different kinds of spenders.

 

Wells Fargo Platinum card

Wells Fargo Platinum card*

Citi Simplicity® Card

Citi Simplicity® Card

Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card

Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card

Rewards rate

  • None
Rewards rate

  • None
Rewards rate

  • None
Intro period (balance transfers)

  • 0% intro APR for 18 months on qualifying balance transfers
Intro period (balance transfers)

  • 0% for 21 months on Balance Transfers
Intro period (balance transfers)

  • 0% for 21 months on Balance Transfers
Intro period (new purchases)

  • 0% intro APR for 18 months from account opening
Intro period (new purchases)

  • 0% for 12 months on Purchases
Intro period (new purchases)

  • 0% for 12 months on Purchases
Regular APR

16.49%-24.49% (Variable)

Regular APR

18.49% - 29.24% (Variable)

Regular APR

17.49% - 28.24% (Variable)

See if you prequalify for the Amex Everyday on CardMatch™

The Amex Everyday card is designed for cardholders with good credit (above 670), so make sure you meet those qualifications before you apply. If you’re worried about filling out an application only to be denied for the card – you can also see if you prequalify via the CardMatch tool. That way, you can see if you meet the requirements for the card without a hard pull to your credit. Just keep in mind that while a prequalified offer means you have a very good chance of being approved for a card, it is not a guarantee.

Why get the American Express Everyday card?

  • You are likely to use the card more than 20 times a month.
  • You spend a lot on grocery store purchases.
  • You are looking for a good grocery card to juggle with your other cards. (Note: You will probably have to put other kinds of spending on the card in order to qualify for the 20% bonus.)
  • You want to collect and pool American Express rewards points.
  • You want a no-annual-fee card that earns a high rewards rate.
  • You want to collect rewards points rather than cash back (since cash back has a lower value).

How to use the American Express Everyday card:

  • Spend at least $2,000 in the first three months to earn the 10,000 point introductory bonus.
  • Since the sweet spot on this card comes once the 20% bonus rate kicks in, plan to use the card as often as possible early in the month.
  • Read the fine print in your card agreement to understand what counts as a separate purchase – sometimes retailers can lump your purchases together and submit them all as one purchase.
  • Since the bonus rate on grocery store purchases is high, this is a great grocery card to juggle with other rewards cards, but it requires some extra planning – you’ll need to figure out the best kinds of purchases to put on it early in the month to trigger the 20% bonus, while also maximizing your rewards earnings on your other cards.
  • Keep a backup grocery card to use once you reach this card’s $6,000 purchase limit on groceries.
  • Transfer your points to American Express airline partners to get the best value on your rewards points.

*The information about Wells Fargo Platinum card has been collected independently by CreditCards.com.  The Wells Fargo Platinum card is no longer available.

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Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

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