Last Reviewed: 5/12/2011
The American Express Blue Cash Preferred card is without a doubt one of the best cash back cards out there, if not the best, and according to the PlasticIQ ranking engine, one of the absolute all-around top cards available. Add to that the support provided by Amex, and you may very well be looking at the Muhammad Ali of credit cards.
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Last Reviewed: 2/15/2011
The American Express Blue Card belongs to the Membership Rewards Express Points Program–the “light-weight” version of the Membership Rewards Program. Alas, there is nothing particularly interesting or compelling about the Amex Blue Credit Card, it’s just another middle-of-the-road (or worse!) piece of plastic.
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Last Reviewed: 12/26/2010
Virgin Atlantic actually offers two flavors of credit cards, the Virgin Atlantic Black and White cards. We’ll review both in detail here, but the main difference between them is that the Black Virgin Atlantic Card has a higher annual fee but offsets this fee with a higher rewards payout and more bonuses. Both cards are on the American Express network, and are issued by Bank of America.
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Last Updated: 5/13/2011
While there are some amazing airline and hotel loyalty credit cards out there, there’s something special about pure cash back credit cards that’s spiritually appealing to our inner capitalist selves. Out with black-out dates and annoying reservation systems; in with statement credits and instant gratification.
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Last Updated: 6/13/2011
The team at PlasticIQ enjoys reviewing and analyzing cards like the American Express Zync Card. Why? Because Zync (punned off of the 30th element in the periodic table–Zinc) has a complex rewards structure, making it very difficult for the ordinary Joe to sit down with a pencil and paper and figure out exactly what the card would be worth to him or her. Enter the PlasticIQ Ranking Engine. We’ve run several scenarios through the PIQ Ranking Engine, and have arrived at some definitive conclusions about the Amex Zync card.
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Last Reviewed: 8/27/2010
If you are looking for a Costco credit card, you need look no further. As you may know, Costco only accepts American Express, and the TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express is definitely a super-strong cashback card, routinely clocking in amongst the top 5 cash-back credit cards per the PlasticIQ Ranking Engine (rank varies based on your personal spending profile).
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Last Reviewed: 8/15/2010
The American Express Blue Sky credit card is another one of those cards masquerading as a travel credit card, yet behaving more like a cash back card with some redemption restrictions. Thus, on PIQ’s Plastic Ranking Engine you will find the AMEX Blue Sky card in both the travel and cash back categories.
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Last Reviewed: 8/13/2010
The Bank of America Accelerated Rewards American Express credit card offers a respectable, but by no means jaw-dropping, 1.25 World Points per dollar spent. Since World Points can be redeemed in the form of cash back at a 1:1 rate (as long as you are careful! read on…), the card operates as the equivalent of a 1.25% cash back card.
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Note: As of 4/30/2011, American Express replaced the Amex Blue Cash Card (which is no longer available), with 2 new credit cards: the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card, and the Amex BlueCash Preferred Card. While the Everyday Card is slightly inferior to the old Blue Cash card at higher levels of spend (say, >$1,000 per month of spend on the card), it does outperform at lower levels of spend.
However, the real gem is the new American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card–which simply dominates it’s predecessor and consistently appears at or right near the top.
Follow this link to read PlasticIQ’s review of the American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card.
Last Reviewed: 7/23/2010
The Amex Blue Cash Card (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) is a force to be reckoned with, ranking near the top of the pack if you spend enough on the card. If used skillfully, Blue Cash can earn an effective cashback rate of 3% or even more.
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There are three levels of Amex Rewards—Membership Rewards Express, Membership Rewards (which is what this article is focused on), and Membership Rewards First. We have blogged separately about the Express program in our post What is the value of American Express Membership Rewards Express Program Points?
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