The Choice Card from American Express is one of the newest additions to the line of AMEX credit cards available in Canada.
This no-annual fee card offers Membership Rewards points on all purchases and access to American Express Experiences benefits.
New cardholders can also benefit from the welcome bonus offer of 10,000 points when they spend $1,000 in the first 3 months.
This AMEX Choice Card review covers its features, benefits, downsides, and alternatives.
Choice Card From American Express
Rewards: Earn 1 point per $1 spent on everyday purchases; 1 bonus point per $1 for eligible hotel or car rental bookings.
Welcome offer: 10,000 bonus points*.
Interest rates: 19.99% on purchases; 21.99% on cash advances.
Annual fee: $0
Choice Card From AMEX Benefits
1. No Annual Fee: This card won’t charge you an annual fee for primary and supplementary cards.
You can compare the best no-fee credit cards in Canada.
2. Earn Rewards: Get 1 point per dollar spent on all purchases plus an extra point per dollar when you use your card to pay for hotels and car rentals.
It is quite easy to redeem your Membership Rewards points for:
- Travel bookings through AMEX Travel Services.
- A statement credit towards eligible purchases.
- Gift cards and merchandise.
- Purchases on Amazon.ca.
1,000 points are equivalent to $10 (1%) when redeemed for travel purchases, or $7 (0.7%) for other redemption options.
3. Welcome Offer: When you spend $1,000 or more in your first 3 months of activating the card, you get 10,000 bonus points… equivalent to $10 in travel credit.
4. American Express Experiences: Cardholders can access special offers for dining and shopping, as well as exclusive access to events tickets, advance screenings of blockbuster movies, and more.
5. Other Benefits: You can access customer service 24/7, get emergency replacement for your card if it gets lost or stolen, and enjoy fraud protection guarantee when you take reasonable care of your card details.
The Choice Card from AMEX does not have a minimum income requirement and could easily function as a student credit card or card for newcomers.
Downsides
This card does not provide basic insurance coverage such as purchase protection or extended warranty.
For a no-fee card with these options and more, you could consider the SimplyCash Card from American Express or the Tangerine Money-Back-Mastercard.
Also, its maximum reward earn rate of 1% is easily surpassed by the 1.25% and 2% cash back offered respectively by the two cards above.
Choice Card From AMEX vs. Alternatives
Two no-fee cash back credit cards that rival the Choice Card from AMEX are:
SimplyCash Card From AMEX
The SimplyCash Card from AMEX offers a 1.25% cash back rate on all purchases. New cardholders earn 4% on up to $5,000 spent in the first 6 months for a total of up $200 cash back.
After the promotional period ends, the rate falls to 1.25%.
This card also comes with travel accident insurance, purchase protection, and extended warranty. You can learn more in this review.
Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
This Tangerine credit card earns up to 2% unlimited cash back when you spend on 2-3 categories of your choice including groceries, gas, recurring bill payments, entertainment, hotels, and more. Aside from your chosen 2% categories, you earn 0.50% cash back on all other purchases.
The Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card also offers a 1.95% balance transfer for the first 6 months; purchase protection, and extended warranty.
Learn more in this review of Tangerine credit cards.
