Do American Express Offers Actually Save You Money?

American Express/MarioGuti / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Commitment to Our Readers

GOBankingRates' editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We use data-driven methodologies to evaluate financial products and services - our reviews and ratings are not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines and our products and services review methodology.

20 Years
Helping You Live Richer

Reviewed
by Experts

Trusted by
Millions of Readers

All information about American Express card offers has been collected independently by GOBankingRates and has not been reviewed or approved by American Express. These offers are not available through GOBankingRates.

Think of Amex Offers as targeted rewards for you for doing the shopping and spending the money you would anyway. By making eligible purchases from participating merchants, you can stretch your budget further or even get some cash back. If you use it right, you will save money.

However, it’s important to avoid spending extra to earn offers you wouldn’t otherwise — that’s how you lose money with rewards systems like Amex Offers.

Amex Offers: How It Works

Using Amex Offers is easy — it just takes three steps.

1. Find the offers you’re eligible for through your American Express, Member FDIC, account online or in the mobile app.
2. Select the offers you want to claim.
3. Use your American Express® card to make purchases that qualify to earn your offer.

Amex Offer Examples

Amex Offers tend to be of the “spend money to earn money” variety. A few examples as of late May 2023 include:

• Spend at least $25 at Baked by Melissa to earn $5 back.
• Spend $150 at Ray-Ban to earn $30 back.
• Spend at least $150 at Levi’s to earn $30 back.

Some rewards can be earned multiple times. Each offer has separate terms and conditions, such as excluded locations or how many cards each person can claim the same offer on. Be sure to read the terms to make sure you’re able to meet the requirements.

Credit Cards Eligible For Amex Offers

All consumer cards are eligible for Amex Offers — meaning that business cards and gift cards are not, but all other cards do qualify.

Here are a few cards to consider if you’re interested in applying for a new American Express card and earning rewards from Amex Offers:

1. Blue Cash Preferred® from American Express
2. Blue Cash Everyday® from American Express
3. American Express® Gold Card
4. The Platinum Card® from American Express

Blue Cash Preferred® from American Express 

Here are the basics of the Blue Cash Preferred® card.

• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95 annually thereafter
• 0% APR for the first year, then a variable APR rate ranging from
• 6% cash back on U.S. groceries — up to $6,000 per year, then 1% — and select streaming services
• 3% cash back on transits such as rideshares, taxis, buses, trains, tolls or parking

Learn more about the Blue Cash Preferred® card from GOBankingRates’ review.

Blue Cash Everyday® from American Express 

This is what you can expect from the Blue Cash Everyday® card:

• No annual fee
• 0% APR for the first 15 months, then a variable APR rate ranging from
• 3% cash back on U.S. groceries, online retail purchases and at U.S. gas stations — up to $6,000 per year in each category, then 1% thereafter

Check out GOBankingRates’ review of the Blue Cash Everyday® card for more details.

American Express® Gold Card

Here’s an overview of the American Express® Gold Card:

• annual fee
• variable APR on eligible charges
• 4X points per dollar spent at restaurants
• 4X points per dollar spent on groceries at U.S. supermarkets up to $25,000 spent per year, then 1% thereafter
• 3X points per dollar spent on flights booked on Amex Travel or directly through the airline

Learn more about the benefits you can expect with American Express Gold here.

The Platinum Card® from American Express

These are the basics of the American Express Platinum card:

• annual fee
• variable APR on eligible charges
• 5X points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels through Amex Travel
• 5X points per dollar spent on flights through Amex Travel or directly through the airline, up to $500,000 per year

Learn more about the American Express Platinum card from GOBankingRates’ review.

Do American Express Offers Save You Money?

Yes, you can save money with Amex Offers if you use it wisely. As with any credit card account, the bonuses you earn — and therefore money you save — are as unique to you as your spending habits. That being said, you can save hundreds of dollars on items you already purchase regularly or are planning to buy in the future. In fact, if you have an American Express card and you aren’t checking Amex Offers regularly, you may be missing out.

Though it seems counterintuitive to spend money to save money, it’s best to think long term, not short term, about your spending as a whole. 

However, if you are making purchases you would not have otherwise made just to qualify for an Amex Offer, you’re not saving money — you’re spending less on the item or service, but you’re still spending money you would have otherwise saved.

Combine Discounts To Save More

One perk of Amex Offers that might not be immediately obvious is that you can combine discounts where they’re available. For example, if the store is having a big sale and you still spend enough to earn cash back from Amex Offers, you save both the discount from the store and the cash reward from American Express.

Final Take To GO

From online shopping to weekly grocery runs, there is a wide range of spending categories for which you can earn rewards and bonuses just for using your American Express card. Following the adage of it taking money to make money, American Express offers a slight tweak to that assessment by suggesting you opt in to Amex Offers and spend money to earn money.

If it is money you would have spent anyway, it makes sense to take advantage of Amex Offers, as they can save you money in the long run. 

Amber Barkley contributed to the reporting for this article.

Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of May 25, 2023.

Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.

All information about American Express card offers has been collected independently by GOBankingRates and has not been reviewed or approved by American Express. These offers are not available through GOBankingRates.

Share This Article: