Blue from American Express® Credit Card review: Time to move on from this discontinued card

The Amex Blue trails the Amex EveryDay in overall value. The Amex EveryDay offers 20 percent extra points if you use your card at least 20 times per billing period and 2X points for the first $6,000 spent on U.S. supermarket purchases per year (then 1X). This provides extra incentive to spend on the card, and U.S. supermarkets are a more commonly used category than travel. You can also transfer points earned with the Amex EveryDay to Amex transfer partners to potentially boost their value. Combine these features with a decent welcome and intro APR offer, and it’s a clear choice over the now-defunct Amex Blue.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is one of the top no-annual-fee cards on the market. You’ll get 5 percent cash back on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards and on Lyft purchases (through March 2025), 3 percent for dining and drugstore purchases and 1.5 percent on everything else outshining the Amex Blue in all reward-earning categories. You’ll also get a generous intro APR on purchases and balance transfers, and the ability to earn a $200 bonus after spending $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. 

Chase also has an excellent set of transfer partners, and their cards combine to form the powerful Chase trifecta rewards engine. Unless you need a card to maintain the life of your Membership Rewards points, the Freedom Unlimited is the superior option.

You could pair this card with the Amex EveryDay to build Membership Rewards points faster. That way, you can earn 2X points for up to $6,000 in U.S. supermarket purchases per year (then 1X) and 2X points for travel booked through Amex Travel. This would be the ideal pairing if you didn’t want to pay an annual fee while accessing Amex travel partners.

If you spent heavily on gas and groceries, it may be worth pairing the Amex Blue with the Amex® EveryDay Preferred Credit Card. Although it has an annual fee of $95, you’ll get 3X points on up to $6,000 in U.S. supermarket purchases a year and 2X points at U.S. gas stations. You’ll also get 50 percent extra points if you use your card at least 30 times per billing period. That would make a solid points-earning combination while keeping the 2X points for booking through Amex Travel. 

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2022 was $72,967 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $5,700
• Dining out: $3,600
• Entertainment: $2,400
• Gas: $3,100
• Apparel and services: $1,900

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 22 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

You can call the number on the back of your card or use the chat feature on the American Express website to discuss your options for changing the Amex Blue to a different card.

No. Product changing converts an existing product to a different one. There is no hard credit pull to convert your card and it will also maintain the age of your account.