My review of the American Express Blue card (+ referral for lifetime free access)
Get my referral when you sign up for the American Express Blue card by clicking this link. You’ll then enjoy free access to the card for life.
American Express: What Is It?
American Express (Amex) is a (American, as you might have guessed) company offering payment cards, much like Visa or Mastercard.
Amex stands out by offering credit cards, a type that’s rare in France (where debit cards are the norm. “Credit card” is often a misnomer).
How does American Express work? When you sign up with American Express, you provide them with your bank details and a direct debit authorization (so you don’t need to switch banks; Amex isn’t one). When you use your Amex card for payment, Amex gives you credit (for free) and debits the total amount of your expenses once a month.
This deferred payment is quite handy for managing your budget, but Amex offers other perks as well:
- Cashback on all your purchases
- Shopping promotions
- Insurance on your purchases and travel
Who Accepts the American Express Card?
For a long time, the American Express card wasn’t widely accepted in France.
It would be dishonest to claim it’s now accepted everywhere, but a big effort has been made to increase its acceptance.
It’s now widely accepted in supermarket chains, restaurants, stores, etc.
It’s also accepted by many e-commerce sites, and you can add the card to your PayPal account for even broader acceptance.
The American Express Blue Card
The Blue card is one of the cards offered by Amex. It’s 100% free for the first year. It’s also fairly easy to get since you only need to prove an annual gross income of €20,000.
Upon signing up, you get 6,000 loyalty points, equivalent to €30 in value.
As mentioned earlier, it offers a 30-day payment deferral on all your purchases.
But the big advantage of Amex cards is the 0.5% cashback.
Cashback
With each purchase made using the American Express Blue card, you’ll earn “Membership Rewards” points (at a rate of €1 spent = 1 point).
Once you’ve accumulated 1,000 points, you can choose to get a €5 refund on a purchase. This translates to a 0.5% cashback rate.
If you prefer, you can also convert your Rewards points into points from other loyalty programs.
As for me, I exchange them for Marriott points to enjoy free nights at nice hotels.
Shopping offers
On your Amex app, you’ll always have access to shopping offers.
Some aren’t great, but there are sometimes fantastic deals.
For example, with this offer, you get 5 times a €5 refund on purchases at physical stores, provided you spend at least €20. So I got €5 back on each of my next 5 meals at restaurants 🙂
The American Express Blue abroad
This is the only real downside I see to this payment card: it’s not great abroad (at least, outside the eurozone). Indeed, Amex charges a 2.8% foreign transaction fee, whether for payments or ATM withdrawals, which I find quite unfortunate.
Insurance included with the American Express Blue
American Express offers insurance on all your purchases made with your card. If you accidentally break an item within 90 days of purchase, you’re covered up to €500 per incident (maximum 3 times a year).
You also get a number of protections during your travels in case of fraud, theft, accidents, medical needs, broken glasses, etc.
How much does the American Express Blue cost?
Here’s the good news: this Amex card is 100% free for the first year, so there’s no reason not to take advantage of it. You can always cancel after a year if you don’t find it worthwhile.
From the second year onwards, it’ll cost you €5 per month, or €60 per year… unless you take advantage of the referral offer…
The referral offer
With the referral offer, you can enjoy the American Express Blue card for free… for life!
To take advantage of it, just click this link.
My review of the Blue from American Express
The Blue from American Express is American Express’s “entry-level” card.
The insurance coverage is limited (no rental car insurance, for example).
Otherwise, like the others, it offers 0.5% cashback on all purchases and regular shopping offers that can quickly make it worth it.
If you also get it for free, there’s no reason to go without it 🙂
If you’d like to benefit from my referral (free card for life!), you just need to click this link.
