Chase has a Cash Back reward program that converts their points into credit. You might get a Chase Freedom Flex/Unlimited to take advantage of that. You can get 3 pts/$ for a lot of categories there. I found that the Amex Cash Preferred wasn't worth the $95 annual fee. But the Amex Blue Cash Everyday is free and give 3% cash back on online retail, which I find really useful. It kind of depends on how much you spend, really.

Though not a AmEx card the Amazon branded visa give 5% back on all Amazon purchases and I would say 90% of what we buy online comes from Amazon. I made close to $400 back last year on my Amex Cash Preferred and was given a retention credit.... so it worked really well for me.

American Express issues a similar card: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...ss-prime-card/

:confused: Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited both offer 3X in the same two categories: Dining and Drugstores.

There are other differences between the cards, but Unlimited's 1.5X on other spending is not competitive when there are several free 2% cards. There is this offer, but you give up the new account bonus, and the double points are only for a year:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...ths-spend.html

My P3 did a downgrade of the Schwab at 1 yr just before renewal and got a notice from the RAT team and she is for now in Amex bad books.
She also had a Blue Business Plus, but the MR bonus on Schwab was clawed back.
I should have advised her to wait till fee hit and then try to downgrade

If downgrading empty the rewards first

A similar thought crossed my mind. However, on a side note, has anyone had success with ringing up AMEX to ask for a renewal bonus even when none is advertised?

Yes. Read here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...rs-2024-a.html