AMEX Blue Cash Preferred Credit Card: Up to $300 Welcome Bonus; First Year Free

【2026.2 Update】The welcome bonus is now as high as $300, and the annual fee is waived for the first year. The meaning of “as high as” is that you won’t see exactly how much welcome bonus you qualify for until the final step of the application. Of course, if you don’t like the offer you see, you can choose not to accept it. Although this card has an annual fee, it earns an excellent 6% cash back at supermarkets and on streaming, making it a great fit for people who spend heavily in those two categories.

• AMEX Blue Cash Preferred: up to $300 welcome bonus + first-year annual fee waived

AMEX Blue Cash Preferred (BCP) Credit Card Overview:

Benefits Analysis

• 6% cash back on streaming: The list of eligible streaming services for 6% cash back has been updated. There are now 32 participating services, which covers most of the mainstream options on the market. (Official list) It includes Amazon Prime, YouTube, Netflix, HBO, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Kindle Unlimited & Audible.
• 3% cash back on parking, tolls, trains, and rideshare: 3% cash back on transit purchases including parking, tolls, train services and rideshare services (including Lyft & Uber). This is quite practical, especially for people in big cities who use rideshare for commuting.
• 0% APR on purchases: For balances generated from purchases within the first 12 months, you only need to pay the monthly minimum and no interest will be charged. Please read carefully: “How 0% APR on Credit Cards Works”
• Refer a Friend bonus: You can earn $50-$100 per approved referral. See: AMEX Refer program introduction
• Equinox+ statement credit: You can receive a $10 credit each month, for up to $120 per year.
• [New] Hulu, Disney, and ESPN credit: With any eligible monthly subscription charge, you can receive a $10 statement credit. You need to enroll for this benefit on the benefits page before you can receive the credit. This streaming credit has been improved: now you only need to enable monthly auto-renewal at disneyplus.com, hulu.com, or plus.espn.com to receive the $10 credit, with no minimum subscription amount required (previously the credit was only $7, and you had to spend at least $9.99). You must enroll on the benefits page to receive the credit. That adds up to $120 per year, which can be worth more than the annual fee if you use it.

AMEX Card Benefits

• AMEX Offer: Amazon spend 20, get 20 back; Walmart 15-5; cell phone bill 75-10. Generous AMEX often gives cardholders strong offers that let you earn cash back while spending. See also: Recent Great AMEX Offers, Past Great AMEX Offers Summary, AMEX OFFER Explained
• Small Business Day: AMEX credit cards can participate every year in Small Business Day promotions, where you can earn extra rewards at eligible merchants. See: Introduction to Small Business Day promotions
• High credit limits: AMEX is very generous with customers and often gives much higher credit limits than other banks.
• 3x credit limit increase: After the 61st day of card membership, you may be able to increase your credit limit to three times the original amount through the official website.
• Free ShopRunner membership: Enjoy free 2-day shipping at many online stores. Details: official link
• Extended warranty: Items purchased in full with an AMEX card automatically get one extra year of manufacturer warranty coverage.
• Free credit report access: Cardholders can check their EX credit score for free. See: Comparison of free credit scores

Cons

• The 6% grocery cash back does not include Walmart (but it does include Neighborhood Market), Target, Costco, Sam's Club, and other discount stores.
• If your grocery spending is not high, the annual fee may not be worth it, and you should choose the no-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday credit card instead.

My Take:

My history with this card: This was my first AMEX card. I applied for it mainly because of the 6% supermarket cash back, which was the highest among all grocery cards at the time. This card also helped me gradually get to know AMEX better and start using AMEX Offers and AMEX Small Business Day. After using it for a full year, I realized my grocery spending was not actually that high (back then I did not yet understand the strategy of buying gift cards at grocery stores), so I converted it to the no-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday credit card and focused on using AMEX Offers. But after learning how to use category conversion techniques and buying gift cards or Visa gift cards at supermarkets, I upgraded back to this card again.

Comparison with similar cards: Looking only at grocery cash back, if your yearly supermarket spending is $6,000, then this annual-fee version earns $360 cash back - $75 annual fee = $295 total, while the no-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday credit card earns $180 total cash back. So the annual-fee version comes out ahead by $115. If your grocery spending is $2,500, then the two cards are about even at $150 each. If your annual grocery spending is below $2,500, then the no-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday credit card is the better choice. However, you can absolutely apply for this card first, get the extra $50 in welcome bonus, and then downgrade to the no-annual-fee version.

• Best Credit Cards for Grocery Shopping Compared

Advanced strategy: Apply for this card, earn the full welcome bonus, spend $6,000 at supermarkets before the end of the first calendar year to earn 6%, then spend another $6,000 at supermarkets at the beginning of the second year before the annual fee posts. When the annual fee hits, downgrade to the no-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday credit card or close the card. That way, you can earn a total of $920 in cash back.

Unlimited Amazon 6% Cash Back

【2020.6 Update】After this card was revamped, it added 6% cash back on streaming (with no cap). You can use it to purchase Kindle Unlimited Gift, then convert that gift into an Amazon gift card, effectively getting 6% cash back on Amazon. I tested this myself and it did indeed earn 6%. Here are the steps:

• Gift a Kindle Unlimited membership. Buy the membership amount you want, enter your email, and pay with your BCP credit card.

• You will receive an email from Amazon.

• Click redeem. You will see small text below saying you can redeem the membership as a gift card, meaning it can be converted into an Amazon gift card. Be very careful not to click the wrong button. If you click the large “Redeem your Kindle Unlimited gift” button above, you won’t be able to get a refund!

• It really does earn 6% cash back as streaming.

• Note: I do not recommend that a new Amazon account buy large amounts of memberships this way, because Amazon may view it as fraud. Better to do it gradually.

How to Apply

• AMEX official application status check link
• For the same AMEX credit card, the public welcome bonus is generally available only once (once-per-lifetime restriction)
• You can call the reconsideration line (800-528-4800, 877-399-3083, 866-314-0237) to speed up credit card approval or request a review of a denied application.
• AMEX limits you to 4 credit cards and 10 charge cards total.
• You can apply for a total of two AMEX credit cards every 90 days, excluding charge cards.
• After you submit your application, a pop-up may appear telling you that you are not eligible for the welcome bonus. In that case, it is usually best not to continue with the application (detailed analysis)
• More about applying for AMEX credit cards

Application Link: