Blue from American Express® Credit Card review: Time to move on from this discontinued card
The Blue from American Express was a great start for beginners looking for a straightforward rewards card, but there are better options than this discontinued card.
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Snapshot
2.6
Bottom line
The Blue from American Express was a great start for beginners looking for a straightforward rewards card, but there are better options than this discontinued card.
Intro offer
N/A
Rewards Rate
1X
Annual fee
$0
APR
23.99% Variable
Bankrate Score
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Bankrate’s take: As of late 2018, The Blue from American Express card has been discontinued. Fortunately, Amex offers several other valuable no-annual-fee cards that can fill that gap, like the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card.
Blue from American Express® Credit Card overview
The discontinued Blue from American Express® Credit Card was a solid entry-level credit card that allowed beginners to collect Membership Rewards points. While experienced credit card users have likely moved on to better cards, the Amex Blue comes with no annual fee and enough benefits to prove useful for people who value simplicity.
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Rewards
- 2X Membership Rewards points on eligible purchases with American Express Travel®
- 1X Membership Rewards points on all other eligible purchases
Expert Appraisal: Weak
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Rates and fees
- Variable APR: 23.99 percent
- Annual fee: $0
- Foreign transaction fee: 2.7 percent of each transaction after conversion to U.S. dollars
- Balance transfer fee: Either $5 or 3 percent of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
- Late/returned payment fee: Up to $40
Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
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Other cardholder perks
- Complimentary ShopRunner membership
- Car rental loss and damage insurance
- CreditSecure®
- Global Assist® hotline
- Purchase protection
- American Express Experiences
- Free FICO score
- Amex offers
Expert Appraisal: Typical
Alternatives to Blue from American Express® Credit Card
You can earn better rewards and more robust benefits with just about any other American Express credit card. Newer cards also feature strong welcome offers and better overall terms. If you still have this card, product changing to a different card is likely a better value.
Blue from American Express®
Annual fee
Intro offer
Rewards rate
Earn 1 Membership Rewards® point for every eligible dollar you spend.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Amex EveryDay® Credit Card
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn 10,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you use your new Card to make $2,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
Rewards rate
2x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1x). 1x points on other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) — worth up to $300 cash back. That’s 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases.
Rewards rate
Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more. 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service. 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Blue from American Express® Credit Card pros and cons
Pros
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This no-annual-fee card will keep any Membership Rewards earned on other cards from expiring.
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You’ll get Amex’s standard set of valuable perks with this card.
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Free FICO score access can help monitor your credit to build towards a better card.
Cons
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Earning rates on this card are poor compared to Amex’s newer offerings.
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You can’t transfer points to Amex transfer partners with this card.
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This card is no longer available for new applications.
Best cards to pair with the Blue from American Express® Credit Card
If you still have this card, pairing it with another American Express card is almost necessary to provide any substantial value. Both versions of the EveryDay cards make valuable partners.
Bankrate’s Take — Is the Blue from American Express® Credit Card worth keeping?
If you still have the Amex Blue, you might keep it for the standard Amex benefits, to keep your average age of accounts high or your Membership Rewards from expiring. However, the rewards earned and fee structure don’t provide a good case for continuing to use the card in place of any of Amex’s newer card offerings. If you’re serious about earning significant Membership Rewards, you’ll be better off with other Amex cards.
The information about the Blue from American Express® Credit Card, Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express and the Amex® EveryDay Preferred Credit Card has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.
How we rated this card
We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.
Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).
We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:
Frequently asked questions
* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.