Cash Back: Changes to American Express SimplyCash Cards

American Express Canada has announced several changes, most of them positive, to its cash back credit cards:

• SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express
• SimplyCash™ Card from American Express

Today, the SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express has an annual fee of $99.

Effective October 12, 2022, American Express has decided to change that to a $9.99 monthly fee. That’s $119.88 per year.

That’s a 21% increase over today.

This monthly fee move follows the model initiated by the American Express Cobalt^® Card and subscriptions to services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix or Spotify.

To offset the increased fees for the SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express, American Express has significantly improved the earning rates offered by the Card.

Today, the SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express offers 2% cash back on all purchases.

Starting October 12, 2022, there will be NO change to the 2% base earning rate, which is great news:

• 4% cash back on gas purchases
• 4% cash back on grocery purchases (up to $30,000 per year)
• 2% cash back on all other purchases

The SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express was already one of the best cash back credit cards in Canada.

With these improvements, this Card is solidifying its place, especially for grocery and gas purchases. Especially in a period of inflation where these constrained expenses increase greatly.

Note that over $30,000 in annual grocery purchases (that’s $2,500 per month or $1,200 in annual cash back), you will earn 2% cash back. This is still an excellent cash back rate compared to other credit cards.

The SimplyCash™ Card from American Express remains a no-fee credit card.

Today, the SimplyCash™ Card from American Express offers 1.25% cash back on all purchases.

Effective October 12, 2022, there will be NO change to the base earning rate of 1.25%:

• 2% cash back on gas purchases
• 2% cash back on grocery purchases (up to $15,000 per year)
• 1,25% cash back on all other purchases

Note that over $15,000 in annual grocery purchases (that’s $1,250 per month or $300 in annual cash back), you will earn 1.25% cash back. This is still an excellent earning rate compared to other no-fee credit cards.

Cash back credit cards have become more prevalent in recent years due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation.

With these mostly positive changes to its cash back credit cards, American Express is ensuring that it is well positioned against other credit cards, especially the Scene+ credit cards.