American Express offers a solid rewards program with its Membership Rewards. It was the first on the scene to offer a rewards currency that could be transferred to airline and travel partners. Over the last decade, it saw increased competition from Chase's Ultimate Rewards and Citi's ThankYou Rewards, and so American Express responded with new card products and product refreshes. One of the newer launches was the Amex EveryDay® Preferred card, which offers a solid return on spending for a $95 annual fee credit card.

Why The Amex EveryDay Preferred Card is A Great Credit Card for Beginners

The best aspects of any beginner credit card are great rewards for spending and a low annual fee. The Amex Everyday Preferred Card delivers on both, with the card earning Membership Rewards Points, valued at 2 cents per point according to us.

How Does the Amex EveryDay Preferred Card Reward Me For My Spending?

With a name like EveryDay, you'd figure the card has a broad based of rewarding spending categories. Those categories are:

• 3 Membership Rewards points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year, then 1 Membership Rewards point)
• 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar at U.S. gas stations
• 1 Membership Rewards point per dollar on everything else.

At 2 cents per point, that's like 6% back on your grocery spend, which is great, though we still like the Amex Gold card for big grocery store spenders (which earns 4 Membership Rewards points per dollar). A 4% return on gas station purchases makes this a strong option for readers as well.

The most unique aspect of this card, and one that may make this the best beginner credit card out there, is that after 30 purchases on the card during a calendar month, you'll receive a 50% bonus on the total Membership Rewards points you earn. So, that means that you'll earn 4.5 Membership Rewards points per dollar on groceries, beating even the Amex Gold card's return with 9% back to cardholders. You are capped at $6,000 per year, which is why we still recommend the Gold card (among other benefits it offers), but this is a very strong reason to consider the EveryDay Preferred card.

How To Redeem Points with the Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card

Membership Rewards has 22 travel partners to transfer to. We've detailed the best ones in our guide to the program. Here's the full list of transfer partners:

Airlines

• AeroMexico (1,000 MR Points: 1,600 Premier Points)
• Air Canada Aeroplan (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Aeroplan Miles)
• Aer Lingus (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Avios)
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Flying Blue Miles)
• Alitalia (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Alitalia Miles)
• ANA (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 ANA Mileage Club Miles)
• Asia Miles (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Asia Miles)
• Avianca LifeMiles (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 LifeMiles)
• British Airways (250 MR Points: 250 Avios (though it's 350 Avios for a limited time!))
• Delta (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Delta SkyMiles)
• El Al (1,000 MR Points: 20 Matmid Points)
• Emirates (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Emirates Miles)
• Etihad (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Etihad Miles)
• Hawaiian (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Hawaiian Miles)
• Iberia Plus (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Avios)
• jetBlue (250 MR Points: 200 TrueBlue points)
• Singapore Airlines (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 KrisFlyer Miles)
• Virgin Atlantic (1000 MR Points: 1000 Flying Club Miles)
• Qantas (500 MR Points: 500 Qantas Points)

Hotels

• Choice Privileges (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Points)
• Hilton Honors (1,000 MR Points: 2,000 Hilton Honors Points)
• Marriott (1,000 MR Points: 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points)

You can click on some of the partners above to see what our recommendations are in each individual program, but I've personally used British Airways extensively to book short-haul American Airlines flights in the United States for less than what American charges. Other favorites of mine include using Etihad's program to book one-way business class flights to Morocco for 44,000 Membership Rewards points.

One rule of thumb for redeeming Amex points: don't use them on cash back or gift cards. The value of the points is absolutely held in the transfer partners that Amex has in Membership Rewards.

Which Cards Should I Consider Instead of the Amex EveryDay Preferred Card?

There are many cards that are in the same category of "everyday" credit card like the Amex EveryDay Preferred Card. One that is very popular is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which is our favorite beginner travel credit card. It rewards 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on travel and dining purchases, and Ultimate Rewards has its own great suite of transfer partners. If your spending falls primarily in travel, dining, or both, I'd recommend the Sapphire card over this one.

There's also a no-fee version of the EveryDay Preferred card, aptly named the Amex EveryDay Card. The card still earns Membership Rewards points, but only 2 points per dollar at grocery stores (up to $6,000 in a calendar year), and 1 point per dollar on everything else. You also get a bonus for 30+ transactions a month, but only 20%. To me, you'd come out ahead with the Preferred card, even with the $95 annual fee, if you're spending some money on gas and primarily shopping at grocery stores each month.

We've also reviewed the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, which has a similar annual fee for $95/year. You're earning 6% cash back at grocery stores (up to $6,000 per calendar year), 6% back on streaming services, 3% back at gas stations and transit, and 1% back on everything else. This card is purely cash back, though, so you'll miss out on powerful points opportunities with Membership Rewards partners.

Overall

This is a solid card if you're using it "every day" (or 30 times a month). I'd recommend this for dipping your toe into transferable points currencies like Membership Rewards, which has given me a lot of fun experiences I otherwise wouldn't have. If you have a few other cards, though, the $95 annual fee may dig into the value that you get from this card each year.