Amex EveryDay

Within the Amex portfolio, there are two cards dubbed ‘Everyday’: the Blue Cash Everyday and the EveryDay card, both of which have no annual fee and have similar earning categories.  They also exist in annual fee versions with the addition of the word, ‘Preferred’. The main difference is that the EveryDay card earns Amex Membership Rewards points and the Blue Cash Everyday card earns cashback in the form of a statement credit.

Welcome Offer

At the time of posting, the Amex EveryDay card has a welcome offer of 10 000 MR points after spending $2 000 in 6 months. 

Earnings

This card’s basic earning structure is simple: it earns 2x points/$ at US grocery stores (up to $6 000/year) and 1x points otherwise.  However, since the card is ‘EveryDay’, you earn a 20% bonus on your points if you make at least 20 transactions in a given billing cycle.  Assuming you do this, its return becomes 2.4x points/$ at US grocery stores and 1.2x points/$ on everything else.

Benefits

This card has no annual fee, so beyond the points it earns, the only additional benefit it offers is access to Amex offers, which can often represent excellent value if used well. 

How to use the points

There are two primary ways to use Membership Rewards Points.  The first way is to redeem them for flights at a rate of 1 pt = 1¢.  Redeeming the points this way has the big plus of the tickets counting as revenue tickets for the purpose of earning redeemable and tier qualifying points on the airline.

The second way is to transfer them to a partner to redeem them for reward travel.  Amex sometimes has transfer bonuses to partners, which is a great way to get even more value out of the points.  Based on how I’ve redeemed transferrable points in the past, I peg the value of Amex points at around 1.5¢/pt on average when used to book travel. 

Examples of using the card

Spend per month

These calculations assume that you meet the 20 transactions per month threshold.

	Example A		Example B		Example C		Example D
Groceries (2.4x)	$300	720	$200	480	$600	1 440	$400	880
Gas (1.2x)	$0	0	$100	120	$200	240	$100	120
Airfare (1.2x)	$700	840	$200	240	$0	0	$400	480
Hotels (1.2x)	$1 000	1 200	$200	240	$0	0	$300	360
Gen Travel (1.2x)	$400	480	$0	0	$300	360	$100	120
Dining (1.2x)	$600	720	$300	360	$300	360	$0	0
General (1.2x)	$1 000	1 200	$500	600	$500	600	$400	480
Total	$4 000	5 160	$1 500	2 040	$1 700	3 000	$1 700	2 440
Average points/$		1.29		1.36		1.76		1.44

Since this card is designed for everyday spending, rather than travel, the range of points is less extreme because most people go to grocery stores frequently but it’s not generally the majority of a monthly budget.  As a result, the average point earnings range from 1.29 – 1.76 points/$ (1.93 – 2.64 ¢/$)

Specific examples

Card	World Traveller ($750)  (% return)	Marriott Hotel night ($230/night)	Points values (WT/Hotel)
No rewards card	2 728 (4.9%)	2 200 MP (7.3%)	$37.10 / $17.60
Blue Cash Everyday	2 728 + $7.50 (5.9%)	2 200 MP + $2.30 (8.3%)	$44.60 / $19.90
Amex EveryDay	2 728 Avios + 900 MR	2 200 MP + 276 MR	$48.96 / $21.74
Chase Sapphire Preferred	2 728 Avios + 1 500 UR (7.9%)	2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.3%)	$59.60 / $24.50
Amex Gold Card	2 728 Avios + 2 250 MR (9.1%)	2 200 MP + 230 MR (8.7%)	$68.60 / $20.82

Is this credit card right for you?

For travel/dining heavy budgets, like its sister card, the Blue Cash Everyday this card is not the best fit.  However, for anyone that prefers to drive and cook at home, wants to avoid an annual fee, but still wants Amex points, this card can potentially provide some value because of the 20% bonus points.