Amex Everyday vs Amex Everyday Preferred

Differences in Earning Points

Let's start with the Amex Everyday. This is how you earn points.

• 2X at US supermarkets for up to $6,000 in annual spending, after that 1X
• 1X on regular purchases

If you make 20 transactions a month on the card, you will get 20% bonus points. That means effectively, you will be earning:

• 2.4X at US supermarkets (for up to $6,000 in annual spending)
• 1.2X for regular purchases

In contrast, here is how you earn points with the Amex Everyday Preferred.

• 3X at US supermarkets (up to $6,000 in annual spending)
• 2X at gas stations
• 1X for everything else

If you make 30 transactions a month, you will get 50% bonus points. That means that effectively, you earn

• 4.5X at US supermarkets (up to $6,000 in annual spending)
• 3X at gas stations
• 1.5X for everything else

As you can see above, there are a few key differences in the rewards.

Firstly, the Everyday Preferred gas "gas stations" as a bonus category which earns 2X or 3X (with 30 transactions a month) whereas the regular Everyday card does not have a gas station category.

Secondly, the Everyday Preferred card earns more points on the US supermarket category (3X vs 2X) and (4.5X vs 3X if transactions thresholds are met). Both have $6,000 annual spend limits for this category.

Thirdly, the Everyday Preferred has more bonus points vs the regular Everyday (50% vs 20%).

The last difference is that to get the bonus points, the Everyday Preferred requires 30 transactions a month whereas the Everyday card only requires 20 transactions a month.

Differences in Intro APR Deal

The Amex Everyday has one of the better introductory 0% offer in the market today. New card members get 0% APR for 15 months for both purchases and balance transfers. There is also balance transfer fee if you do a balance transfer within 60 days of your account opening.

The Everyday Preferred also has an introductory 0% offer. However, it is for only 12 months. You also have to pay a balance transfer fee.

Differences in Sign Up Bonus

New card members of the Amex Everyday can earn 25,000 bonus MR points if they spend $2,000 within 3 months of getting the card.

For Amex Everyday Preferred new members, you can get 15,000 bonus MR points if you spend $1,000 within 3 months.

In terms of sign up bonus the regular Everyday card has the better deal.

Which Card Should You Get?

Simple - you should get the card that lets you earn the most reward points. However, figuring that out is a little more complicated. But first, you have to understand that Amex wants you to use either of these cards a lot if you decide to get it. In fact, they want you to use it as your main card. Why else would they give you bonus points if you meet certain transaction levels (20 and 30 respectively)?

So the number of times you use a credit card a month should be the first thing you should consider. If you use your card between 20-25 times, then the Amex Everyday is probably the right card for you.

However, if you use your credit card at least 30 times a month, then you definitely should consider the Preferred version. But you also have to consider how much you spend and what you spend on? The Preferred version gives you more points for supermarkets and gas station purchases whereas the the regular version only allows you to earn more points at supermarkets. There is also an annual fee of $95 to consider for the Preferred version. Using a very conservative estimate, you should at at earn 9,500 more points on a Preferred than regular version to break even. This is assuming your MR points are worth 1% (1% of 9,500 is $95). Savvy users of MR points can get more value but we are being conservative here.

However, if you are not looking at just earning points but are just looking either at getting a card with 0% APR intro deal or sign up bonus, then the regular Amex Everyday card is better in both of these aspects.

To sum up, you should get the Amex Every over the Amex Everyday Preferred if

• You only make between 20-29 transactions a month
• Want to get larger sign up bonus
• Looking for an intro 0% APR deal

You should consider the Amex Everyday Preferred if

• You make at least 30 transactions a month
• If you spend enough such that you will earn more than 9,500 points with the Preferred compared with the regular Everyday card