Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card – Full Review (2022)
the blue cash preferred card from american
express is a hidden gem among credit cards
unless you’re deep into the credit card world
you’ve probably never heard of this card
however it’s one of the most powerful cards out
there right now so let’s talk about it i’m going
to be going over the signup bonus the rewards and
every other important aspect of this card let’s
start off with the sign up bonus the blue cash
preferred card will give you 300 after you spend
three thousand dollars within the first three
months this is not really that impressive other
cards such as the chase sapphire preferred will
give you hundred and fifty dollars after you spend
four thousand dollars within the first three
months so this sign up bonus is not really
something to write home about however it’s
the rewards where this card really shines
there are really three rewards that this card
offers that are better than all the other cards
and the first one is that you get six percent back
on groceries up to six thousand dollars in spend
per year this means that every time you go grocery
shopping you’ll earn six dollars for every 100
that you spend this is one of the highest grocery
cash backs we
chase freedom flex which held the previous record
at five percent back on groceries this is really
where the card makes itself worth it having the
highest cash back on groceries is a phenomenal
benefit because well everyone needs groceries
many families spend thousands of dollars per
year buying food at a grocery store so this
card can put hundreds of dollars back in your
pocket for credit card connoisseurs this card has
a designated spot in your wallet as a grocery card
i know we’ve all felt lost after the chase freedom
flex discontinued their five percent back on
groceries so this is a great replacement for that
the second major benefit of this card is that you
get six percent back on select streaming services
now this perk isn’t crazy but it is really nice
you most likely won’t be spending thousands of
dollars a year on streaming services however
this six percent back can offset netflix raising
their prices every couple months yes netflix i’m
talking to you the last main perk of the blue cash
preferred card is that you get three percent back
on gas stations and transportation including taxis
trains buses parking and tolls the three percent
back on gas stations is a nice perk however if
you have more than a couple credit cards you
most likely have the chase freedom flex which
means that you’ll be able to get five percent
back on gas stations if this is the case you most
likely won’t be using this card at gas stations
however you can still take advantage of it when
ordering taxis or buying train tickets whatever
transportation costs that you have one kind of
hidden benefit within this transportation cost is
3x back on parking if you live in a big city like
new york then you might have to pay a significant
amount per year on parking and this card can allow
you to get 3x back on that parking if this is your
only car then having 3x back on gas stations
is a great benefit to have especially with gas
prices rising this can be a great way to get some
of your money back having the 3x back on taxis is
another great benefit as well a lot of cards offer
points back on uber however not many offer points
back on taxis so if you live in a city like new
york again where you take a lot of taxis then
this card could give you a significant amount of
cash back other than that the blue cash preferred
card gives you 1x back on all other purchases
which is pretty standard across the board there
is one last reward that could benefit you however
it does not benefit me and it probably won’t
benefit most people but if you have an equinox
membership then you get a ten dollars a month
credit towards your equinox membership so if you
have an equinox membership then every month you’ll
have ten dollars deducted back into your account
when you pay for your membership through this card
like i said i personally don’t use equinox and
i’m guessing most of you do not but if you do
then that can be a nice little bonus that helps
offset the annual fee okay now that we’ve gone
over the rewards of this card let’s take a look at
some of the important technical aspects behind it
the blue cash preferred card has an intro offer
of a zero dollar annual fee in the first year
and then after that it’s 95 when opening a new
credit card you should always do the math to make
sure the credit card works for you personally
so that means calculating how much the annual
fee is versus how much value you’ll actually get
from the card per year you want to make sure that
the card is offering you more value than you’re
paying for it and in the blue cash preferred case
the answer is not so simple there are no credits
unless you use equinox that offset the annual fee
so you have to rely on the cashback to make up for
that annual fee and the 6x back on groceries can
do that it just depends on how many groceries you
buy for example if you live outside the u.s and
you’re not buying that many groceries for example
i’m in turkey right now and because of inflation
all the groceries are extremely cheap so i’m
really not spending much at all on groceries
at most like 100 a month so for me personally
the grocery benefit would not affect me however
if you’re in the u.s you likely buy a lot
of groceries especially if you have a family
and you have to provide groceries for that entire
family and you also have to remember that the sign
up bonus is 300 which means that it’ll cover the
annual fee for the first four years so first year
free and then three hundred dollars ninety five
dollars a year four years in total and doing the
math on how much you have to spend on groceries
per year to make up for this annual fee you have
to spend around fifteen hundred dollars per year
on groceries if this number seems unachievable for
you then this card might not be for you and that
is completely okay if this is the case i would
recommend you take a look at the chase freedom
flex which offers similar rewards and you can find
that in the link in my description many people
will be able to justify this card through their
grocery spend and if this is the case for you then
it can make a powerful addition to your wallet
users of this card enjoy a zero percent intro
apr for the first 12 months and then 13.99 to
23.99 after that users of this card can also take
advantage of a service called buy now pay later
which lets you purchase items and pay them off
over installments maybe that’s one two or three
months so you’re basically paying the full price
of an item in smaller installments over a period
of time for example let’s say you bought an iphone
for a thousand dollars and you pay it off over
four months meaning you pay around 250 dollars per
month and what’s great about this is for the first
year the blue cash preferred card gives you a zero
percent interest rate on those buy now pay later
purchases however after that is a 1.33 interest
rate the last thing that’s unique about the blue
cash preferred card is that you get rewards in the
form of rewards dollars which means you can use it
towards your statement credit i know discover has
a similar cash back program as well so now that
we’ve gone over the benefits of this card let’s
take a look at some of the cons the blue cash
preferred card has three main cons that you need
to be aware of the first con is that this card is
a little bit hard to get approved for meaning that
when you apply you want to apply with a credit
score of at least 690. if you have a credit score
below that then you will likely not get accepted
however i still encourage you to apply if you do
not have this credit score yet i would recommend
that you apply to the discover it’s cured card
because pretty much anybody can get accepted to
that and it’s the perfect card for building your
credit if you want to find that it’ll be in the
link below the next con is that you can only spend
a certain amount on some of the rewards categories
for example you can only spend six thousand
dollars a year on groceries this means that the
maximum cash back you can earn from groceries
is only 360 dollars per year this perk would
be way better if the spending cap was a little
bit higher but if that were the case amex would
probably go broke also when shopping for groceries
some supermarkets do not apply for example you
can’t get six percent back at target or walmart
the final con of this card is that it does have
a foreign transaction fee which we don’t see that
often with credit cards anymore however this one
has a foreign transaction fee of 2.7 percent
which is pretty dang high this means that if
you’re somebody who travels a lot like me then
this card is pretty much out of the question
because i would have to pay a 2.7 fee every time
i used it overseas if you are living in the us
and do not have plans of travel though then
this does not affect you overall i think the
blue cash preferred card is a very interesting
card for people who spend a lot on groceries
for example if you have a family and are buying
groceries for all of them maybe you have a wife
and kids or maybe even just a wife then you will
likely spend a good amount on groceries per year
and this card could save you hundreds of dollars
on the other hand if you’re somebody who travels
a lot and works online like a digital nomad then
this card is not for you i hope this video was
able to bring you some value and give you a better
understanding of the blue cash preferred card
if you want to see more credit card content i
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to the channel thank you and have a great day
