Ironically, many of the best value credit cards have no annual fee. In this article, I wanted to take a look at the Amex EveryDay Credit Card, which is a great card if you’re looking to earn Amex Membership Rewards points. In fact, I consider it the best personal Amex card with no annual fee.
Amex EveryDay Card Details for January 2022
The Amex EveryDay Card is the only personal credit card with no annual fee that earns Amex Membership Rewards points that can be transferred to airline and hotel partners. The card offers a welcome bonus, helpful spending bonus categories and potentially valuable perks.
Amex Daily Welcome Bonus
The standard welcome bonus on the Amex EveryDay credit card offers 10,000 Membership Rewards points as a bonus after spending $1,000 within three months. I value Amex points at 1.7 cents each, so for me that bonus is worth $170, which isn’t bad for a card with no annual fee.
Note that for the purposes of earning the bonus and being approved, this is considered a separate product from the Amex EveryDay Preferred card.
All typical Amex application rules apply, including the fact that you can have no more than five Amex credit cards at any one time. Anecdotally, I find that for those with excellent credit, Amex cards are among the easiest to approve.
Amex EveryDay No annual fee
The Amex EveryDay Card has no annual fee for the primary cardholder and additional users. There are many reasons why this is potentially useful:
Amex EveryDay Points Earning Structure
The Amex EveryDay Card may not have an annual fee, but it still offers a great rewards structure. The card offers the following rewards on spending:
- 2x points in US supermarkets, on the first $6,000 spent annually
- 20% bonus points when you make 20 or more purchases per billing cycle
In other words, assuming you have at least 20 transactions per billing cycle, you earn:
- 2.4x Membership Rewards points at US supermarkets
- 1.2x Membership Rewards points on all other purchases
Based on my point assessment, this amounts to earning a return of around 4.1% on US supermarket spend and a return of more than 2% on daily spend. That’s very competitive for a card with no annual fee.
Is the Amex EveryDay card worth it?
The Amex EveryDay Card is a phenomenal no-annual-fee card for earning Amex Membership Rewards points, and it’s ideal for anyone who wants to earn miles and points without paying an annual fee.
While credit card superusers might not have this card in the front of their wallet, the card has a welcome bonus and is potentially useful for groceries and day-to-day expenses. Having cards with no annual fee can also be great for your credit score and offer a lot of long-term value, which is all the more reason to get it.
To help people decide if this card makes sense, I wanted to briefly compare it to the Amex EveryDay Preferred, talk about a similar Amex business card, and also discuss the best card alternative with no annual fee.
Amex Daily Vs. Amex EveryDay Preferred
The Amex EveryDay Preferred Card (Review) is the premium version of the Amex EveryDay Card, so how do the two cards compare?
- The EveryDay has no annual fee, while the EveryDay Preferred has a $95 annual fee
- The EveryDay offers 2x points in US supermarkets (up to $6,000) and a 20% points bonus with 20 transactions per billing cycle, while the EveryDay Preferred offers 3x points in US supermarkets (up to 6 $000), 2x points at US gas stations and a 50% points bonus with 30 transactions per billing cycle
- Aside from point earning structures, most other card benefits overlap, from Amex offers to the Amex referral program to point redemption opportunities.
Which card is best for you depends entirely on how much you would spend on these cards in the categories of US Supermarkets, US Gas Stations, and Everyday Spending.
The Best Alternative to Amex Business Cards
The most comparable business credit card to the Amex EveryDay card is the Blue Business® Plus credit card from American Express (review). The card has no annual fees (rates and fees) and offers 2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent each calendar year (1x thereafter).
That’s amazing, considering it’s one of the best cards for day-to-day spending. These Amex points can also be transferred to airline and hotel partners.
Citi Double Cash: the best alternative
If you’re looking for an extremely rewarding no-annual-fee card, I think the Citi® Double Cash Card (review) is the other card to consider. Although it’s completely different (in the sense that it doesn’t earn Amex points):
Conclusion
For someone who wants a card with no annual fee that offers generous rewards, the Amex EveryDay Card is one of the most lucrative personal cards on the market. The card earns Membership Rewards points that can be transferred to airline and hotel partners, and is one of only two cards with no annual fee to earn “full” Membership Rewards points.
Even better, the card earns up to 1.2x Membership Rewards points on daily spend, which is better than most Amex cards with an annual fee.
When you consider all the other benefits of not having annual fee cards, along with the limited downsides, I think this is a card that a lot more people should have. At a minimum, keep this card in mind as a potential downgrade option if you have another Amex card but no longer want to pay an annual fee.
The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for the American Express cards mentioned. These include: The Blue Business® Plus credit card from American Express (rates and fees).
