Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express review: Solid grocery rewards for no annual fee

The Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express is the Blue Cash Everyday card’s big brother and perhaps biggest competitor: It has one of the highest cash back rates on U.S. supermarket purchases and select U.S. streaming services. Paired with perks like the Disney+ bundle credit, the Blue Cash Preferred can give you a great chance at earning plenty of cash back on your streaming subscriptions. But the battle between the Blue Cash Preferred and the Blue Cash Everyday may come down to your spending habits and budget.

Both cards are great options, especially for popular household categories like groceries, gas stations and streaming services. The biggest difference between the two is that the Blue Cash Preferred has a $95 annual fee ($0 intro annual fee for the first year), but your cash back rate at U.S. supermarkets is twice as high as the Blue Cash Everyday. 

To offset this fee and still earn more cash back with the Blue Cash Preferred than you would with the Blue Cash Everyday, you’ll need to spend at least $3,200 at U.S. supermarkets annually. But if you don’t spend enough on groceries to justify an annual fee, the Blue Cash Everyday Card could be the clear winner.

Both the Blue Cash Everyday card and the Citi Double Cash Card are top cash back cards, but they appeal to different types of cardholders. The Everyday card’s rewards are ideal if you frequently spend in common household categories, including groceries. Additional features like the Disney+ Bundle credit stand out if you enjoy taking advantage of as many credit card perks as possible.

The Double Cash card’s unlimited 1 percent cash back when you make a purchase and 1 percent as you pay it back adds up to impressive earnings and one of the highest flat rates on the market. It’s an ideal choice if you spend a lot in categories the Blue Cash Everyday card doesn’t cover or if you spend in categories that change regularly. 

The Citi Custom Cash card is a great partner card if you like maximizing rewards and want a card to help fill in reward gaps. You can earn 5 percent back in one of 10 eligible categories (up to $500 in spending each billing cycle, then 1 percent).

Use this card as a backup for groceries if you think you’ll hit the Blue Cash Everyday’s yearly spending cap, or for other frequent purchases that are eligible for the Citi Custom Cash’s 5 percent rewards. 

Anyone who wants to hold only one card can find a lot of value in the Blue Cash Everyday card because it rewards purchases in common everyday categories. It can be the right choice if you keep your budget to the basics — U.S. supermarket purchases and U.S. gas stations, with occasional online purchases.

If you shop for a small family or yourself, the Blue Cash Everyday card offers accessible cash back on common essential purchases. Plus, it could be an excellent choice for the holidays if you do most of your shopping at U.S. online retailers.

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2022 was $72,967 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $5,700
• Dining out: $3,600
• Entertainment: $2,400
• Gas: $3,100
• Apparel and services: $1,900

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 22 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

Your monthly Plan It fee varies based on the percentage of purchases within your plan, the plan’s duration (three to 24 months), the APR that would normally apply and other factors. Currently, your Plan It fee can be up to 1.33 percent, but American Express’ Pre-Purchase Calculator has listed fees as low as 0.61 percent in the past. Luckily, you can enjoy $0 in intro plan fees on each purchase you move into a plan during your first 15 months from account opening (1.33 percent monthly plan fee after that).

As an example, if you move $300 worth of purchases into a plan with a 0.86 percent monthly fee after your first 15 months, you’ll owe $14.34 in fees for a six-month plan ($2.39 monthly), $30 in fees for a 12-month plan ($2.50 monthly) and $45 in fees for an 18-month plan ($2.50 monthly).

You could receive your new card in as little as seven business days, but the longest you’ll have to wait could be up to 40 business days after applying. The time it takes to hear back after applying for the Blue Cash Everyday card depends on factors like your creditworthiness and whether you were prequalified or preapproved. You could receive an approval notice in just 30 seconds in the best-case scenario, but processing your application could take days to a few weeks in some cases.

However, 30 days is the maximum waiting period as federal guidelines require issuers to approve or deny your request by then. After you’re approved, it will take seven to 10 business days to receive your Blue Cash Everyday card in the mail.

While the Blue Cash Everyday doesn’t offer as many perks as other American Express cards, the best overall benefit is the cash back on U.S. online retail purchases, along with your other bonus categories. Many rewards cards’ bonus categories rarely include these retailers.

American Express recommends you have good to excellent credit — a FICO score 670 or higher or a VantageScore of 661 or higher — before applying for the Blue Cash Everyday credit card to get the best approval odds.