July 18, 2025: The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is a great option for spending on groceries at U.S. supermarkets and gas at U.S. gas stations. Here is the best public welcome offer, but you might be able to get a better targeted offer from American Express directly.
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
Earn $250 Back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership. You will receive the $250 back in the form of a statement credit.
This bonus is awarded as a statement credit.
You may be able to get a better offer—occasionally Amex will show a $300 offer once you link to the website—but we know of no way to link directly to this offer.
Annual fee: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
My take: An easy to earn bonus on a great card
While $250 isn’t the biggest welcome incentive available, Amex does give you 6 months to meet the $3,000 spending requirement, making this bonus relatively easy to earn. But the Blue Cash Preferred isn’t a card you get solely for the welcome offer.
The card is my go-to card for gas (at U.S. gas stations) and groceries (at U.S. supermarkets) thanks to its generous rewards in both categories. I also use the card for my Disney+ subscription thanks to the monthly statement credit I earn by charging my subscription to the card. Finally, I prefer to use the card for purchases of larger, more expensive items, thanks to the trifecta of Amex consumer insurance protection benefits: extended warranty, return protection, and purchase protection.
If you can get the larger targeted bonus to show for you on the Amex website, go for it. Otherwise, there’s really no reason to wait on this card. Since we’ve started tracking the bonus on this card, Amex hasn’t offered any limited time welcome offers. If you’re delaying getting the card in order to hope for a larger bonus, you’re probably losing money by not using the card for your groceries and gas.
Other offers that might be available
You might be able to find better offers on the Blue Cash Preferred if you’re willing to hunt around. Here are the details on the other offers we know about. These offers may or may not still be available, and we have no way to link directly to them.
- Targeted offer on American Express website: You might be able to see a larger $300 offer on the American Express website in some cases. Here’s the offer that we’ve seen: “Earn $300 Back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. You will receive the $300 back in the form of a statement credit.” We last spotted this offer on the Amex website on 7/18/25 using an Incognito browser in Chrome.
Are you eligible to earn the bonus?
American Express generally offers welcome bonuses to you once per lifetime. If you’ve ever had either the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred® American Express Card, or previous versions of these cards, you may not be eligible to earn the bonus.
While this rule doesn’t seem to leave much to interpretation, some readers have reported getting the bonus despite having had the card in the past. In some cases, if it’s been a really long time (7+ years) since you’ve had the card, American Express may decide that you can earn the bonus again.
Fortunately, American Express will tell you during the application process whether you’ll qualify to earn the bonus. If Amex determines that you are ineligible, you can withdraw your application with no harm to your credit score.
About the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express offers market-leading rewards on groceries at U.S. supermarkets, plus great rewards in other categories.
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
Earn $250 Back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership. You will receive the $250 back in the form of a statement credit.
This bonus is awarded as a statement credit.
You may be able to get a better offer—occasionally Amex will show a $300 offer once you link to the website—but we know of no way to link directly to this offer.
Annual fee: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
Rewards
- 6% on groceries at U.S. supermarkets.
on up to $6,000 per year of purchases, then 1%. - 6% on select U.S. streaming subscriptions.
- 3% on gas at U.S. gas stations.
- 3% on transit, including taxis, rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, busses, and more.
- 1% on other purchases.
Rewards are earned as cash back reward dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit.
Benefits
Consumer insurance benefits
- Purchase Protection. Covers eligible purchases against theft or accidental damage up to $1,000 per covered purchase and up to $50,000 per account per calendar year. Exclusions and terms apply.
- Return Protection. Covers eligible purchases up to $300 per item and $1,000 per account per calendar year if the seller of an item won’t take it back within 90 days from the date of purchase. Purchases must be made in the U.S. or its territories. Terms and restrictions apply.
- Extended Warranty. Provides up to one year of coverage equivalent to the manufacturer’s original warranty on eligible items with warranties of 5 years or less. Coverage limited to $10,000 per item and $50,000 per account per calendar year. Terms and restrictions apply.
Travel insurance benefits
- Car rental loss and damage insurance.
- Global assist hotline.
Partner benefits and statement credits
- Disney Plus Credit. Receive $7 back monthly after spending $9.99+ each month on an eligible auto-renewing U.S. subscription to the Disney Bundle. Enrollment required.
- Amex Offers. Receive statement credits or extra rewards with targeted offers from select merchants. Enrollment required.
Rates and fees
- Annual fee: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
- Foreign transaction fee: 2.7% of each transaction after conversion to US dollars.
The Blue Cash Preferred is featured on our lists of the best cards for groceries, the best cards for gas, and cards with a Disney+ credit. For more on the card’s rewards and benefits, check out our overview of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card.
