We joined Costco! And we went there 5 times in 8 days! Here’s the catch with Costco, if you pay with credit, you need to use an American Express card. Lucky for me I keep a stash of credit cards handy for “emergencies” like this!
Why does it matter which card I use? Because I never like to give up free money! There’s one card that I keep just for cash back everywhere. It’s the Blue Cash Everyday® from American Express.
I already have one, so it’s naturally the one that I pulled out when I went to join Costco. I also use it whenever the American Express Wishlist comes around (which will be soon…. I’ll let you know!)
It’s also one of those cards that is perfect for people who just want to carry one card and forget about chasing all the various cash back offers.
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
Here are the details of the new Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express:
- No annual fee, 0% intro APR on purchases for up to 15 months, flexibility to pay over time.
- Get 3% at US supermarkets, up to $6,000 per year in purchases, 2% at US gas stations & select US dept stores, 1% on other purchases.
- NO spend minimum, NO enrollment, and NO rotating rewards categories.
- Get a $25 Referral Bonus for each friend or family member who is approved for the Card.
How the Cash Back Works
“Everyday Purchases” are Eligible Purchases made at U.S. stand-alone supermarkets, stand-alone gas stations and drugstores, in each case that are not departments of superstores or warehouse clubs.
We were spending about $9,600 per year on gas and groceries. So that’s about 2.3% using the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.
More Features of Blue Cash Everyday® Card
Unlimited cash rewards. This is a fantastic option for me. Every time I find a card with great rewards, my plan gets foiled by the limits. Not here!
Cash Tracker. They have a nifty online dashboard meter that shows you how much you’ve spent and how close you are to breaking through the tier.
Readers Love It. Whenever I write about credit cards, I hear about this one. Here are some recent comments:
- I have American Express Blue Cash and in addition to the rewards they have great (and usually quick) customer service. – sara l
- I’m with sara – you can’t beat American Express customer service. I have the Blue Cash and a Blue Rewards and I never use anything else (unless it’s a merchant who doesn’t take Amex…!) – Brip Blap
More Blue
In addition to the Blue Cash from American Express, you can also check out the Blue Sky Preferred Card from American Express where you can earn points for any airline, any hotel, any cruise or any car rental with no blackout dates, advance purchase requirements, hotel room restrictions, or travel restrictions.
Action Plan
Whenever I switch out some of our cards, it ends up being a domino effect. I’ll do a more thorough reevaluation of my stash of credit cards in the future. Stay tuned to see the other cards that I’m planning to use. Until then, I’ll be using my Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.
In these times it is very safe to have a back up credit card because you never know if you are going to be the next victim of unemployment. Many people max out there credit cards the first week upon receiving to purchase things that they want instead of need.
You may wish to look at the Amex true rewards card with Costco now that you are a member. I just opened an account as it made more sense for us then the blue card.
Best,
Enriched Mom
Just one note on the math….you need to consider the opportunity cost of spending that first $6500 on a reward card that gives you 3%+ on the first dollar of gas/groceries.
If you spend a lot of money per year, the Amex Blue works well (my overall math comes out around 1.5% cash back – including the “normal” spending). Obviously, the more you spend, the higher that cash back gets.
Note, too, that Costco or any other wholesale club is NOT considered “groceries” – so you do not get the higher cash back rate.
@ Enriched Mom: I applied for the Costco American Express card too, but haven’t received it yet. They’re also giving out a $25 Sign Up Bonus for the new Costco American Express.
@ jrh: Excellent point on the gas and groceries calculation. As I’m reevaluating all me cards, I’m calculating the break even point for each category. I’ll let you know what I figure out.
We use Costco Amex where ever we can. My husband also uses it for work related expenses that he gets reimbursed for later on. Our last statement shows that we have almost $400 in rebates. We always pay our cards in full so we haven’t paid a penny in interest rate. I’m definitely keeping this card for a while.
Now that our Chase Freedom 1 year 0% interest on purchases deal ran out, we have just applied for an Amex Blue card. Low balance, though. We’re going to have to get them to push it up a lot…