Everything you need to know about the Amex Blue Cash Preference Credit Card

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Amex! The Amex Blue cash Preference card gives you 6% back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 a year in spending, plus 6% back on select U.S. streaming services and 3% back at U.S. gas stations and eligible transit. Sounds good? But the catch here are the whopping annual fees. Should you get it?

Supermarket rewards
You get 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 a year in spending. After you hit the cap, supermarket spending earns 1%. Consumer Expenditure Survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average U.S. household of four spends about $6,200 on food at home annually and hundreds more on housekeeping supplies and personal care products. So a family of four could easily max out their 6% rewards, which alone is worth $360 in cash back.

Streaming services that stream in rewards
Streaming services rewards have no cap on the 6% cash back. If you have subscribed to services like Hulu, Netflix, Pandora or Spotify, you'll save money if you pay with the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express.

Transit rewards
The 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations is also among the highest you can get anywhere. What’s more? These rewards aren’t capped either.

Bonus offer for new cardholders
The Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express offers a welcome bonus, something that not all of its cash-back competitors do: Earn a $350 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months. Terms Apply.

This sounds all cool. But what about the downside of getting this card?

High annual fee
This card comes with a $95 Annual Fee. While if you max out your rewards, lounge accesses, cash backs etc. might seem worth it, in case you’re someone who doesn’t, this might be a price that might pinch the pocket.

Bonus rewards cap
The rewards are capped at $6,000 each calendar year on U.S. supermarket spending eligible for the 6% reward. That means the most you could earn back at that level is $360 before additional supermarket purchases net you a mundane 1% back. So if you’re looking at using this primarily for the supermarket spends, you might want to rethink this through.

No doubt that the Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express is a superior cash-back card and gives you benefits like no other, but its priorities are simple - gas, groceries, streaming services. If these align with your needs as well, and the annual fee seems like an amount you are willing to absorb, this might be a good option to explore. Repaying cards is just as important as getting them. After all that’s a large chunk of your credit score. Which is why we have Gauss. You can manage all your credit cards, lower APR on outstanding balances and much more!