American Express Cash Magnet® Card review

Quick highlights

• Rewards rate: Earn unlimited 1.5 percent cash back on all purchases.
• Welcome offer: $150 statement credit for spending $1,000 in the first three months of account opening
• Annual fee: $0
• Purchase intro APR: 0 percent intro APR for the first 15 months
• Balance transfer intro APR: 0 percent intro APR for the first 15 months
• Regular APR: 19.24 percent to 29.99 percent (variable)
• Terms apply 

Current welcome bonus

The current welcome bonus for the Amex Cash Magnet Card is a $150 cash back statement credit after you spend $1,000 in purchases on the card within the first three months of having the card. That equals just about $333 per month in purchases, which is a reasonable target for most cardholders to spend.

However, the payday for the spending requirement isn’t the most competitive when compared with similar cash back cards’ welcome offers. The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card offers a $200 cash bonus after only spending $500 in the first three months.

Cash back

The Amex Cash Magnet Card has a straightforward cash back rewards program, allowing you to earn cash back at the same flat rate, no matter where, when or what you buy. This makes it an ideal choice for cardholders looking for a no-hassle way to earn cash back, without having to track spending or enroll in bonus categories.

Earning cash back

Like other American Express cash back cards, the Amex Cash Magnet actually earns “Blue Cash Reward Dollars,” which are equivalent to cash back when used toward rewards.

To earn cash back, simply make purchases on your Amex Cash Magnet card. You’ll get an unlimited 1.5 percent back on every purchase. Unfortunately, there aren’t many other ways to accumulate extra cash back except adding family members as authorized users or via the Amex Offers program.

Redeeming cash back

The Amex Cash Magnet does not earn American Express Membership Rewards. Instead, you can redeem your rewards as cash back in the form of a statement credit, merchandise or gift cards. Your cash back never expires and there’s no limit to how much you can earn.

The downside is that you’ll need to wait until you’ve earned at least $25 in cash back before you can redeem your rewards. Meanwhile, some cards can redeem cash back starting at any amount and can deposit it directly to your bank account.

How much are rewards worth?

Blue Cash Reward Dollars have a 1:1 redemption rate, so one dollar of your rewards would be worth one dollar of cash back.

The main benefit of the Amex Cash Magnet Card is the cash back rewards you can earn on every purchase without paying an annual fee. The card also comes with some travel, entertainment and Amex-specific benefits that other cash back cards may not have. For example, all personal U.S. American Express cards offer a complimentary ShopRunner membership (enrollment required).

Intro APR on purchases

The Amex Cash Magnet Card offers a 0 percent intro purchase APR period for the first 15 months of having the card. After that, the APR is a 19.24 percent to 29.99 percent variable APR based on creditworthiness.

Pay It Plan It®

The American Express Pay It Plan It® feature enables cardholders to select qualifying purchases to pay off over a fixed time period for a set monthly fee, which could be useful if you want to finance a large purchase while minimizing extra charges.

Amex Offers

American Express also gets you access to Amex Offers, a program that features deals on select purchases, including extra discounts or rewards on popular retailer purchases and/or travel and dining purchases. Amex Offers won’t make you bundles of cash back, but you can expect to occasionally see offers like 10 percent back on GrubHub purchases (usually with a rewards spending cap, like up to $75).

Travel benefits

The Amex Cash Magnet Card provides car rental loss and damage insurance. When you use your card to pay for the entire rental and reject the collision damage waiver with the rental car company, you can be covered for theft or damage to a rental vehicle in a covered location.

The card also provides access to the Global Assist Hotline, which provides 24/7 access to financial, medical, legal and emergency assistance services, like missing luggage assistance and passport replacement.

American Express Experiences

Thanks to American Express’ partnership with Ticketmaster and other programs, cardmembers can use the American Express Experiences program to obtain access to exclusive ticket presales and cardholder-only events, like Broadway shows, concerts, sporting events and family events.

Rates and fees

The Amex Cash Magnet Card has no annual fee. There’s a relatively standard 0 percent intro APR period on purchases for the first 15 months, after which the card’s ongoing APR of 19.24 percent to 29.99 percent variable applies, based on your creditworthiness. After the intro APR period ends, the lower end of its ongoing APR is slightly under the current average interest rate.

There’s also a foreign transaction fee of 2.7 percent of each transaction, making this a less-than-ideal option if you need a card to use while traveling abroad. Penalty fees are up to $40 for late payments and returned payments.

As far as flat-rate cash back cards go, the American Express Cash Magnet Card is a relatively standard option. The 1.5 percent cash back rate is par for the course and it doesn’t carry any features outside Pay It Plan that distinguish it from more rewarding options like the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. The Freedom Unlimited offers 5 percent cash back on Chase travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards®, 3 percent cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5 percent cash back on all other purchases. Plus, the Chase Ultimate Rewards Points it earns are much more valuable and versatile in the long run than Amex’s Blue Cash Reward Dollars.

If you’re looking for a cash back card and your spending is a bit more specialized, you might want to consider some other options with specific bonus categories. The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is like an Amex Cash Magnet upgrade, with a higher cash back earning potential for cardholders who spend heavily at U.S. supermarkets. You earn 6 percent cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 in transactions each year. After that, you’ll earn 1 percent. You also earn 6 percent back on select U.S. streaming services, 3 percent back at U.S. gas stations, 3 percent back on transit and 1 percent cash back on all other purchases.

Best cards to pair with the American Express Cash Magnet Card

Since the Amex Cash Magnet is a flat-rate cash back card, the best cards to pair with it should probably offer stronger rewards or benefits for purchases that fall within specific bonus categories that you favor. The Blue Cash Preferred card is an excellent option to maximize your rewards if you’d like to stick with American Express cards. But if you’d like a lower-cost card, the Preferred card’s no-annual-fee sibling, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, is another solid pick.

You can earn easy cash back by using your Amex Cash Magnet Card without having to worry about an annual fee, but you may want to consider your spending habits before getting this card. If you spend significantly in categories that could be rewarded at a higher rate with a different card, it may be worth getting a cash back card with rotating categories or one that requires an annual fee but rewards you more for specific purchases.

Unless you plan on choosing an American Express credit card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited may be a more rewarding option — especially if you consider its more flexible rewards and benefits. But if you don’t want to pay an annual fee or worry about activating categories, the Amex Cash Magnet Card is a good option.

For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, please click here.

*The information about the American Express Cash Magnet® Card has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.