Best American Express credit cards for December 2024 #CashNews.co

If you’re a credit card rewards-seeker, you might already know just how coveted some American Express benefits and perks can be. (Centurion card? If you know, you know.) There is a range of American Express cards for different financial goals, whether you’re looking for cash back, travel rewards, an Amex credit card with an introductory 0% APR, or anything in between.

If you need help deciding between multiple American Express credit cards, consider our detailed comparison pages:

• Rewards and benefits: Whether you’re seeking cash back or points and miles rewards, Amex cards are some of the top options for maximizing your spending. Just make sure you compare all your options to find the right fit for how you prefer to earn and redeem rewards on the money you spend.

• Travel transfer partners: Not only does Amex have a wide selection of co-branded airline and hotel cards, but it also offers transfers to over 21 partners on Membership Rewards-earning cards. These partners range from Delta Air Lines and Marriott Bonvoy to JetBlue TrueBlue, Emirates Skywards, Choice Privileges, and many more.

• Cardmember exclusives: American Express offers one of the most robust programs for entertainment access among issuers. As a cardholder, you may qualify for access to exclusive dining, entertainment, and sports events, as well as gain early access to ticket sales when available.

• Card acceptance: While American Express has made major strides in the number of merchants that accept its cards, you may still find it’s less-accepted than some other networks, like Visa and Mastercard. In the U.S., you probably don’t have to worry about your card being accepted, though; 99% of merchants that accept credit cards will take Amex payments.

• Different rewards types: With its wide range of credit cards also comes a wide range of rewards types — but this feature can also make it somewhat difficult to combine cards. If you have an Amex cash-back card and an American Express travel credit card that earns Membership Rewards, for example, you won’t be able to pool your rewards and redeem them together. Along the same lines, you may not be able to upgrade or downgrade a card that earns one type of rewards for another card type.

• Not all card types available: In general, you’ll likely need good-to-excellent credit to qualify for an American Express credit card. If you’re looking for a student credit card or secured credit card to begin building credit, you may want to seek out another issuer.

Opening any new credit card, including an American Express card, is only worth it if the card makes sense for your specific financial goals.

American Express has great options for earning both cash-back and travel rewards on your regular spending — plus cards well-suited for small business owners, paying down debt with a balance transfer, and more.

But before applying for any new card, look back at your regular spending. Make sure you’ll get enough value to offset any annual fee cost and that you can maximize purchases you already make. Read the card’s terms and conditions to make sure you understand how to avoid fees that could lower your potential value. Evaluate the details of any welcome offer to determine whether the required spending threshold is within your budget.

Most importantly, consider how the card might affect your overall financial plan. If you’re worried you might be tempted to overspend so you can score a bonus or make purchases only to take advantage of annual credits, you may want to rethink applying for a new card. Spending more than you can afford to pay off can lead to high-interest debt balances that last for years — and cost you much more over time than you’ll earn from any potential rewards.

Read more: Best credit card for sign-up bonuses

Here are some features and benefits you may come across when you open an American Express card:

Amex Offers give you additional savings and points on specific purchases when you opt in through your American Express account. You may find, for example, an American Express credit card offer for $30 back after spending $100 at Levi’s or for 15% back on Bose.com purchases (up to a total $50 back).

The value of each offer varies and the offers available to you may differ depending on your location. Before you can use an offer, you’ll need to add the offer to your card — and make sure to use it before the expiration date.

From your Amex account, you can see the total amount of money you’ve saved with Amex Offers. You can participate in the program with any eligible consumer or business Amex card in the U.S.

If you already have a credit card, you’re probably familiar with how the payment process works. At the end of each billing cycle, you’ll receive a statement with your total balance and minimum payment due. Then, you must pay at least the minimum to avoid late payment fees and penalties. If you pay at least the minimum but less than the full amount owed by your due date, you’ll start accruing interest at your given APR.

But some American Express cards (including the Platinum Card from Amex, Amex Gold, and Amex Green Card) differ from this formula a bit. Amex credit cards with Pay Over Time flexibility don’t have a standard preset spending limit. Instead, the limit can vary depending on your spending, credit, and other factors. And unlike a typical credit card, you must pay your balance in full each month — unless you opt into Pay Over Time.

If you choose to activate Pay Over Time, the process looks more like other credit cards. You can make eligible charges up to your assigned Pay Over Time limit (which you can find within the card agreement) and will need to pay at least your minimum amount due by the due date before the remainder accrues interest at your Pay Over Time APR. Of course, you can always still choose to pay your full balance by the due date before the APR kicks in.

Despite how these card terms may offer some added flexibility, it doesn’t change anything about avoiding interest. If you don’t pay your balance in full by the due date each month, you can still take on interest at your card’s high APR. The best way to avoid interest charges — Pay Over Time or otherwise — is to spend only what you can afford to pay in full each month.

Many American Express cards earn points under the issuer’s Membership Rewards program. You can redeem your Membership Rewards points for travel, statement credits, shopping, and more. But like many rewards programs, different redemptions carry different values.

With Membership Rewards, you’ll generally get top value for your points when you redeem them for travel. This includes booking travel through American Express Travel. Airfare, specifically, is typically worth a maximum 1 cent per point — while hotels and rental cars, for example, may offer lower redemptions.

The other potentially lucrative travel redemption is transferring points to one of American Express’s travel credit card partners. Though redemption values vary depending on your travel plans, the specific partner program, and other factors, this is often one of the most valuable ways to redeem.

If you’re comparing different card options, use the Membership Rewards calculator on Amex’s site to see exactly how much value you’ll get with different credit cards and redemption options.

American Express travel rewards credit cards range in rewards categories, annual fee, and other benefits, but they all earn Membership Rewards points.

If you’re looking for American Express credit card options you can use to earn rewards on your spending toward future travel (and you’re not tied to any one specific travel brand), these are the cards to consider. These American Express credit card options are also the most likely to have annual fees in exchange for very high welcome offers and annual credits.

Examples:

Co-branded travel cards

American Express has co-branded travel credit cards with Delta Air Lines, Hilton Honors, and Marriott Bonvoy. If you always prefer to fly Delta or stay with Hilton or Marriott when you travel, you may want to consider these co-branded cards — which cover a range of different annual fees and rewards structures.

Unlike other American Express travel rewards credit cards, these cards do not earn Membership Rewards. Instead, you’ll redeem the points and miles you earn on your spending with the airline or hotel rewards program — Delta SkyMiles, Hilton Honors points, or Marriott Bonvoy points.

Examples:

American Express’ cash-back credit cards are a great way to maximize your regular spending for cash rewards. You’ll find competitive rewards rates compared to other cash-back credit cards and some even have annual credits to give you more money back on specific expenses.

An Amex credit card with an introductory 0% APR on new purchases and balance transfers are also common among Amex’s cash-back credit cards. If you want to earn rewards after paying down existing debt or you have a large upcoming purchase, this is another valuable benefit.

Examples:

Small business owners have plenty of options when it comes to making the most of business expenses with Amex. American Express business cards range from cash-back to travel rewards and co-branded travel cards. You can even find business cards with no annual fee and 0% APR offers.

Amex business cards generally come with the ability to add employee cards to your account as well as expense management tools that can help you track business spending and stay prepared come tax season.

Examples:

The American Express Centurion Card, also known as the Amex Black Card, is the most prestigious American Express card available and one of the most exclusive cards in the world. It’s an invite-only card reserved for some of the highest-spending Amex clients who meet the criteria for the Centurion’s secret formula.

The Amex Gold card is much better for earning rewards on everyday spending, including making grocery purchases and dining out. But if you’re a frequent traveler who loves having luxury travel perks, such as airport lounge access, the Amex Platinum is the clear winner.

American Express doesn’t publish an official number of how many Amex cards you can have at a given time, but you should generally avoid having too many cards if you have multiple cards with overlapping benefits and you don’t want to manage a large number of cards.

Visa cards are more accepted worldwide and there are more options to choose from. However, Visa isn’t a credit card issuer, so your actual card account could be with one of dozens of different financial institutions. American Express issues its own cards, so all of your Amex credit cards can be accessed from the same account.

Our list of the best American Express credit cards is made up of cards that we already rank among the best in their specific categories — cash-back credit cards, rewards credit cards, travel credit cards, and more.

To compile this list, we determined the categories we wanted to divide American Express credit cards into, based on what types of cards the issuer offers and common card types sought out by cardholders. These became the superlatives we aimed to fulfill, from the best Amex card for business or the best American Express credit card for cash back to the best no annual fee Amex credit card and best premium Amex card.

From there, we looked to our existing card ratings and “best cards” lists to find the cards that both fit within the chosen categories and have high ratings. These ratings consider both details specific to the card type (welcome offers for rewards cards, 0% APR for balance transfer cards, etc.) as well as more general card details (annual fee, ongoing APR, transparency, app ratings, etc.).

The final list above is made up of the American Express cards we rate highly within their given categories and that fit within the list of superlatives we created for American Express cards specifically. Through this combination of decisions, we believe we can help the widest variety of potential Amex cardholders find the card options that best fit their wallets — or navigate them to valuable options they may not have considered otherwise.

This article was edited by Rebecca McCracken

Editorial Disclosure: The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. All opinions belong solely to Yahoo Finance and are not those of any other entity. The details on financial products, including card rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information. This site doesn’t include all currently available offers. Credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.