American Express EveryDay and EveryDay Preferred Review
Updated August 12, 2024.
The Facts
Amex introduced these two new cards in March 2014. Both earn membership rewards points:
American Express EveryDay
American Express EveryDay Preferred
The Facts
Amex introduced these two new cards in March 2014. Both earn membership rewards points:
- Best Use of Membership Rewards points: Normally, Amex Membership Rewards (MR) points can be redeemed at up to 1 cent per point (cpp) for the following categories: statement credit (0.6 cpp), gift cards (0.7~1 cpp), flights (1 cpp), other travel (0.7 cpp), shopping with partners at checkout (0.7 cpp), merchandise through Amex shopping portal (0.5 cpp), etc. However, both EveryDay and EveryDay Preferred, along with certain other Amex cards, are eligible for the transfer feature that allows points to be transferred to frequent flyer miles or frequent guest points. Please see our featured review for the major programs that have the transfer feature - Marriott vs. MR. vs. UR vs. TY vs. C1 vs. CR. Traditionally only Amex charge cards with an annual fee such as Green, Gold, and Platinum are eligible, and Amex EveryDay was the first card to offer this feature without an annual fee.
American Express EveryDay
- Annual Fee: none
- Signup Bonus: 10,000 points after you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months of new account opening.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 2x U.S. groceries, up to $6,000 per year in purchases, and 1x everywhere else. In addition, earn 20% bonus on purchases if you use your card 20 or more times in a statement period. Note that the 20% bonus applies to both base points as well as category bonus points.
- Other Benefits: (1) Amex Offers - you receive savings in form of statement credit or earn bonus MR points on select merchants when using your Amex card; you need to manually add an offer to your Amex card to be eligible for savings or bonus, and unlike other savings/bonus programs, you don't need to shop through a certain portal. (2) ShopRunner membership for free 2-day shipping with select merchants. (3) Entertainment Access (a.k.a. Membership Experiences) including American Express Presale and Premium Access (Dining Access).
American Express EveryDay Preferred
- Annual Fee: $95
- Signup Bonus: 30,000 points when you spend $2,000 within the first 3 months of new account opening.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 3x U.S. groceries, up to $6,000 per year in purchases, 2x U.S. gas stations, and 1x everywhere else. In addition, earn 50% bonus on purchases if you use your card 30 or more times in a statement period. Note that the 50% bonus works on both base points as well as category bonus points.
- Other Benefits: the same as Amex EveryDay (see above).
The Math
While the non-fee EveryDay is already very attractive with 2-1 rewards structure, 20% monthly bonus, and the ability to transfer points to frequent traveler miles/points, we think most people will find paying $95 to upgrade to EveryDay Preferred makes more sense due to the 3x category, and an extra 30% monthly bonus. Thus here we will focus on EveryDay Preferred (EDP).
EDP's 50% monthly bonus is not too hard to achieve if you plan to use it on daily basis. With the 50% bonus and a $95 annual fee, this card returns 4.5x, 3x, and 1.5x on groceries, gas, and general spending, respectively. To achieve excellent rewards power of the card, you need to use the miles/points transfer feature and know how to leverage Amex transfer partners' programs, which can be very rewarding and challenging at the same time. For example, if you happen to value MR points at 1.5 cents a piece with the miles/points transfer feature as we do, EDP returns impressive 6.75%, 4.5%, and 2.25% on groceries, gas, and general spending, respectively.
Amex EDP vs. Amex Blue Cash Preferred (BCP): They have the same $95 annual fees. They also have similar bonus categories: groceries as the primary (4.5x for EDP and 6% for BCP; both have a $6K annual spending cap) and gas (3x for EDP and 3% for BCP) as the secondary. One difference is that BCP has additional bonus categories - streaming services as 6% and transit as 3%. If you prefer cashback over EDP's miles/points transfer option, BCP is an easy pick; however, if you are comfortable with the miles/points transfer, EDP might actually return higher rewards, for example, 6.75%, 4.5%, and 2.25%, for groceries, gas, and general spending, based on our current valuation.
Amex EDP vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred: They have the same $95 annual fees. Assuming that you have at least 30 transactions per month, EDP's earning rate is 4.5-3-1.5, while Sapphire Preferred's earning rate is 5.1-3.1-2.1-1.1. Both offer impressive rewards; in addition, since their bonus categories (Sapphire Preferred has travel & dining & streaming, while EDP has groceries & gas) and their transfer partners are so different, we actually think they are not direct competitors. As a matter of fact, they can be complementary to each other and be a great combo in your wallet.
Amex EDP vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited (CFU): CFU is another card that could return 1.5x frequent flyer miles for general spending, and there are several differences between the two beyond the annual fees. First of all, EDP only return 1.5x miles when you have at least 30 transactions per month, and CFU only returns 1.5x miles when you have a premium UR card which costs at least $95 a year. Secondly, CFU returns 5x points for travel through UR and 3x for dining & drugstores, while EDP offers up to 4.5x for groceries and 3x for gas. Lastly, while our current valuation of Chase UR and Amex MR points are similar, they have some different transfer partners: Chase has United, Southwest, Hyatt, etc., while Amex has ANA, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Hawaiian, etc.
Amex EDP vs. Citi Strata Premier: The annual fees are the same, and our current valuation for Amex MR and Citi ThankYou points is the same at 1.5 cents per point. Assuming that you have at least 30 transactions per month, EDP's earning rate is 4.5-3-1.5, while Strata Premier's is 10-3-1; based on our valuation, while both return 4.5% for gas, EDP returns extra 2.25% for grocery (with a $6K annual cap) and extra 0.75% for general spending, and Strata Premier returns extra 2.25% for dining & most travel categories. Again, as their bonus categories and transfer partners are mostly different, we actually think they can be complementary to each other and form a great combo.
The Conclusion
Amex EveryDay was the first non-fee card that allows points transfer to multiple frequent traveler partners and can be quite valuable to many. Amex EveryDay Preferred is even better with a reasonable annual fee and an easy-to-achieve 4.5-3-1.5 earning structure, and if you value the miles/points transfer option, could be an impressive powerhouse for rewards. It is not surprising that EveryDay Preferred had been rated the #1 Best Credit Card for Rewards since its introduction, until recently been dethroned by the revamped Citi Premier.
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While the non-fee EveryDay is already very attractive with 2-1 rewards structure, 20% monthly bonus, and the ability to transfer points to frequent traveler miles/points, we think most people will find paying $95 to upgrade to EveryDay Preferred makes more sense due to the 3x category, and an extra 30% monthly bonus. Thus here we will focus on EveryDay Preferred (EDP).
EDP's 50% monthly bonus is not too hard to achieve if you plan to use it on daily basis. With the 50% bonus and a $95 annual fee, this card returns 4.5x, 3x, and 1.5x on groceries, gas, and general spending, respectively. To achieve excellent rewards power of the card, you need to use the miles/points transfer feature and know how to leverage Amex transfer partners' programs, which can be very rewarding and challenging at the same time. For example, if you happen to value MR points at 1.5 cents a piece with the miles/points transfer feature as we do, EDP returns impressive 6.75%, 4.5%, and 2.25% on groceries, gas, and general spending, respectively.
Amex EDP vs. Amex Blue Cash Preferred (BCP): They have the same $95 annual fees. They also have similar bonus categories: groceries as the primary (4.5x for EDP and 6% for BCP; both have a $6K annual spending cap) and gas (3x for EDP and 3% for BCP) as the secondary. One difference is that BCP has additional bonus categories - streaming services as 6% and transit as 3%. If you prefer cashback over EDP's miles/points transfer option, BCP is an easy pick; however, if you are comfortable with the miles/points transfer, EDP might actually return higher rewards, for example, 6.75%, 4.5%, and 2.25%, for groceries, gas, and general spending, based on our current valuation.
Amex EDP vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred: They have the same $95 annual fees. Assuming that you have at least 30 transactions per month, EDP's earning rate is 4.5-3-1.5, while Sapphire Preferred's earning rate is 5.1-3.1-2.1-1.1. Both offer impressive rewards; in addition, since their bonus categories (Sapphire Preferred has travel & dining & streaming, while EDP has groceries & gas) and their transfer partners are so different, we actually think they are not direct competitors. As a matter of fact, they can be complementary to each other and be a great combo in your wallet.
Amex EDP vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited (CFU): CFU is another card that could return 1.5x frequent flyer miles for general spending, and there are several differences between the two beyond the annual fees. First of all, EDP only return 1.5x miles when you have at least 30 transactions per month, and CFU only returns 1.5x miles when you have a premium UR card which costs at least $95 a year. Secondly, CFU returns 5x points for travel through UR and 3x for dining & drugstores, while EDP offers up to 4.5x for groceries and 3x for gas. Lastly, while our current valuation of Chase UR and Amex MR points are similar, they have some different transfer partners: Chase has United, Southwest, Hyatt, etc., while Amex has ANA, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Hawaiian, etc.
Amex EDP vs. Citi Strata Premier: The annual fees are the same, and our current valuation for Amex MR and Citi ThankYou points is the same at 1.5 cents per point. Assuming that you have at least 30 transactions per month, EDP's earning rate is 4.5-3-1.5, while Strata Premier's is 10-3-1; based on our valuation, while both return 4.5% for gas, EDP returns extra 2.25% for grocery (with a $6K annual cap) and extra 0.75% for general spending, and Strata Premier returns extra 2.25% for dining & most travel categories. Again, as their bonus categories and transfer partners are mostly different, we actually think they can be complementary to each other and form a great combo.
The Conclusion
Amex EveryDay was the first non-fee card that allows points transfer to multiple frequent traveler partners and can be quite valuable to many. Amex EveryDay Preferred is even better with a reasonable annual fee and an easy-to-achieve 4.5-3-1.5 earning structure, and if you value the miles/points transfer option, could be an impressive powerhouse for rewards. It is not surprising that EveryDay Preferred had been rated the #1 Best Credit Card for Rewards since its introduction, until recently been dethroned by the revamped Citi Premier.
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