Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express Review

If a good portion of your budget goes toward everyday errands like buying groceries at the supermarket or filling up your gas tank, you can maximize your cash-back earnings with the Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express, a Credit Cards House advertiser.

Note: Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Visit AmericanExpress.com to learn more.

Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express

As a new Blue Cash Preferred cardmember, you’ll earn $250 in the form of a statement credit after spending $3,000 within the first six months of opening your account (see offer terms). New cardholders also get an introductory offer of 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 12 months from the date of account opening — then a variable rate, currently 18.49% to 29.49%, based on your creditworthiness (see rates and fees).

With the Blue Cash Preferred card, you can enjoy up to 6% cash back on U.S. supermarket purchases, 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and 1% cash back on everything else you purchase (see benefit terms).

A cap limits the 6% cash back on qualified supermarket purchases to $6,000 a year, but any amount you spend over that amount will still yield 1% cash back. Your earnings are rewarded in the form of a statement credit that can be applied to your account at your discretion.

Cardholders can now earn more cash back with 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions and 3% cash back on a range of transit purchases — including taxis, rideshare, trains, buses, parking, tolls and more).

Features

The 6% cash back earnings for purchases spent at participating U.S. supermarkets is one of the highest-paying credit card rewards available, so if you’re a family or couple who spends a lot of money at the supermarket, then the Blue Cash Preferred is a great choice.

As long as the market is located within the U.S. (does not include superstores or warehouse clubs), your purchases are eligible for up to 6% cash back earnings. This also means that you can purchase gift cards for other retailers, like Starbucks or Subway, when going through the checkout line at your local supermarket. Just make sure it’s part of your supermarket receipt.

The card now has Buy Now, Pay Later: For the first 12 months, cardmembers have $0 plan fees when they use Plan It^® if they want to split up large their purchases into monthly installments. New cardmembers pay $0 introductory plan fees on plans created during the first 12 months from the date of account opening. Any plans created after that will have a fixed monthly plan fee up to 1.33% of each purchase amount moved into a plan based on the plan duration, the APR that would otherwise apply to the purchase, and other factors (see rates and fees).

Cardholders can also receive a Disney Bundle credit and earn $7 back each month after using the Blue Cash Preferred Card to spend $12.99 or more each month on an eligible subscription to the Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ (enrollment required; see benefit terms).

Features include:

• No rolling bonus categories or enrollment periods
• 6% cash back on the first $6,000 spent at U.S. supermarkets annually (then 1%)
• 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming services
• 3% cash back on transit (including taxis, rideshare, trains, buses, parking, tolls and more)
• Unlimited 3% back at U.S. gas stations and 1% on everything else
• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95 annually after that (see rates and fees)
• 0% intro APR on purchases and on balance transfers for 12 months from the date of account opening; after that a variable rate, currently 18.49% to 29.49% based on your creditworthiness, applies (see rates and fees)
• Earn rewards faster when requesting additional cards for family members

On top of the $250 statement credit, the additional cash-back categories can help you offset the annual $95 fee (after the $0 introductory annual fee for the first year; see rates and fees). If you simply spend at least $35 at the supermarket every week (where you earn 6% cash back), you can easily cover the $95 fee ($35 x 4 weeks each month x 12 months in a year = $1,680 spent at the supermarket x 0.06 = $100.80 cash back earned).

Member Benefits

The Blue Cash Preferred card comes with additional benefits such as travel perks and purchase protection. For example, cardmembers get access to a 24/7 global hotline for emergencies and insurance that covers car rentals.

Some other member benefits include:

• Car rental loss and damage insurance
• Global assistance hotline
• Extended warranty and purchase protection
• Return protection and dispute resolutions
• Member-only entertainment access

Drawbacks

While this card has many benefits, it does have a few drawbacks. You must pay $95 annually, and spending past the $6,000 annual cap on supermarket purchases only yields 1% in cash-back earnings.

Although the Blue Cash Preferred card does come with a global travel assistance hotline, there’s also a 2.7% foreign transaction fee, which doesn’t make this card appealing to international travelers (see rates and fees).

Here is a summary of the card's drawbacks:

• $95 annual fee after the first year
• Spending more than $6,000 annually at the supermarket only yields 1% cash back
• Cash-back earnings are only redeemable as a statement credit
• 2.7% foreign transaction fee

Bottom Line

If you have a larger-than-average supermarket budget every month, the Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express can be especially beneficial for you. This card is still a nice fit for the large family or couple who enjoys trying new foods and experimenting with different recipes.

_{For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express, click here.}

_{Editorial Note: This content is not provided by American Express. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express.}

First published July 6, 2016, last updated January 27, 2023

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Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

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