Compare the Features and Benefits of Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express and
Chase Sapphire Reserve®

The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is a rewarding cash-back card thanks to its range of useful bonus categories. Perhaps the most valuable bonus category is the ability to earn 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, on the first $6,000 spent annually. Households who spend $500 or so can maximize this threshold to earn a tremendous $350 in reward dollars every year, and that’s before you consider the other bonus cash-back opportunities like 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations. Still, you will want to subtract the $95 annual fee from that bounty.

The 6% cash back rate applies to select U.S. streaming subscriptions, which covers virtually every participating provider out there. From Apple Music to YouTube TV to Netflix to Prime Video, it’s likely that you subscribe to one (or more) of these popular live TV, movie or music streaming services.

Not to mention, you can enroll your card within your American Express account to receive a $7 monthly statement credit when you spend $9.99 (or more) each month on a subscription to The Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN+. If you already subscribe to one of these eligible services, that’s an instant savings of $84 every year.

You can also earn bonus cash back when you’re on the road. The Blue Cash Preferred provides 3% at U.S. gas stations and for local transit expenses, which includes anything such as taxis, rideshare services like Lyft and Uber, parking expenses, tolls, and train and bus fares.

Simply put, the cash back earnings add up swiftly with the Blue Cash Preferred, especially if you have a large household. You’ll earn cash back in the form of reward dollars, which can then be redeemed for any amount on your monthly statement credit through American Express. One reward dollar equals $1.

Other benefits on the card, such as purchase protection, return protection and access to Global Assist Hotline may be used less frequently, but will still come in handy when it’s least expected.

Best of all, there’s no annual fee for the first year of card membership, giving you time to test drive the card’s earning rates and benefits before you commit to paying the ongoing $95 annual fee. It is possible to downgrade after one year to the Blue Cash Everyday® Card if you find it more suitable.

Rates and Fees for the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

The Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is the one that, in a sense, started it all. While rewards cards have been around for decades, The Chase Sapphire Reserve quickly became a must-have upon its launch in 2016. With a huge bonus offer, the Priority Pass airport lounge access, the easy to use $300 travel credits, and 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on all dining and travel made it an easy sell.

Today, it remains one of the strongest travel credit cards on the market, even if other cards like the newer Capital One Venture X and The Platinum Card® from American Express both get solid market share.

The beauty of the Chase Sapphire Reserve lies in its simplicity.

The $300 annual travel credit works itself off without you even noticing, since travel purchases are automatically applied. With the Venture X, for instance, you also get a $300 annual travel credit but can only use it in the Capital One portal.

Then the Chase Sapphire Reserve is just plain “easy” when it comes to earning, knowing that just about every possible travel or dining purchase (including eligible delivery services) will earn 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

And to that end, with a MilesTalk value of 1.75 cents per point when used via transfer partners like World of Hyatt or for First and Business Class airfare via its many airline partners, you know you’ll get value for those points you earn. In fact, your travel and dining purchases (earning 3X points) have a minimum return on spend value of 4.5% (if you redeem through Chase Travel at 1.5 cents each or an average redemption yield of around 5.25% (3X * 1.75) when you use the Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners.

The card is also full of the most important benefits, namely the Priority Pass select membership for airport lounge access for you and 2 guests, including Priority Pass experiences (but not airport restaurants) as well as primary collision/damage coverage on car rentals (except for New York State residents with their own car insurance in which case this coverage is secondary) and trip delay coverage that kicks in after just a 6 hour delay as well as lost luggage insurance. And then there are the somewhat smaller but still valuable perks like your Global Entry fee reimbursement and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel(SM) and Chase dining purchases.

And of course, there’s that huge bonus when you spend $4,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening….

So yes, it does have a high annual fee, but after the $300 travel credit, it’s effectively just $250 which the card gives you back via it’s earn rate, redemption rate (1.5 cents per point at Chase Travel) and rich benefits.