Credit Card Insider is an independent, advertising supported website. Credit Card Insider receives compensation from some credit card issuers as advertisers. Advertiser relationships do not affect card ratings or our Editor’s Best Card Picks. Credit Card Insider has not reviewed all available credit card offers in the marketplace. Content is not provided or commissioned by any credit card issuers. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information, though all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on any ‘Apply Now’ button, the most up-to-date terms and conditions, rates, and fee information will be presented by the issuer. Credit Card Insider has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Credit Card Insider and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. A list of these issuers can be found on our Editorial Guidelines.
American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
The American Express Cash Magnet card is pretty simple, with 1.5% cash back for every purchase and no annual fee. There’s a welcome bonus, and the benefits consist of some useful shopping and travel protections.
Credit Card Insider receives compensation from advertisers whose products may be mentioned on this page. Advertiser relationships do not affect card evaluations. Advertising partners do not edit or endorse our editorial content. Content is accurate to the best of our knowledge when it's published. Learn more in our Editorial Guidelines.
The information related to Discover it® Cash Back, Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card, and Discover it® Miles have been collected by Credit Card Insider and have not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of these products.
We give the American Express Cash Magnet® Card 4 out of 5 Stars because it offers solid rewards to cardholders who want an easy-to-use cash back card.
securely on the issuer's website
American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
While it’s wise to avoid racking up credit card debt, paying with only cash or debit could be a costly mistake. If you’re making purchases without a rewards credit card, you’re basically throwing money away.
If you’re looking for a simple cash back card, this option from American Express may be for you. The Amex Cash Magnet offers a flat rate of 1.5% cash back on every purchase, so you can quickly earn rewards on your regular expenses.
There’s no annual fee. While some other cards without annual fees skimp on introductory bonuses, the Cash Magnet Card allows you to earn a welcome offer of $150 cash back for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months.
By becoming a cardholder, you’ll also get access to some nice benefits. Overall, it’s a good choice for someone who doesn’t want to keep track of different spending categories. Or, you can use it along with other rewards cards that offer more cash back on select spending categories to earn higher rewards.
Spending Rewards |
---|
|
Introductory Bonus Offers |
---|
|
Unlike other rewards cards, like the Discover it® Cash Back (Review), there are no spending categories to keep track of with the Cash Magnet Card. Instead, you earn one flat cash back rewards rate.
You can earn rewards quickly by using the card for routine expenses, such as gas, groceries, or your cell phone bill. However, only use this card for purchases when you won’t earn more rewards in a particular spending category with a different card.
Statement credits are the primary redemption method, but you can also redeem your rewards for merchandise or gift cards.
We recommend sticking with statement credits as your redemption method to get the full value of your rewards ($1 in value per $1 of cash back rewards). You can redeem for statement credits whenever your rewards balance reaches $25 or more.
Gift cards will also provide you with the full value and they can be a good redemption method too, but they’ll take some time to arrive and then you’ll be limited to using them at the specified merchant. There may be occasional sales that provide even better deals, like a $50 Nike gift card for only $45 in rewards.
The one exception to that are general American Express gift cards, which provide less value for your rewards. These will always cost $4 more in rewards than they are worth; so a $25 Amex gift card will cost $29 in rewards; a $50 gift card will cost $54 in rewards, etc.
Redeeming your rewards for merchandise is always a bad idea. The items are vastly overpriced compared to ordinary retailers, and you’ll get a very bad value for your rewards.
For a no annual fee card, the Cash Magnet offers a few valuable benefits and perks.
Purchase APR | Balance Transfer APR | Cash Advance APR |
---|---|---|
0% for 15 months, then 13.99% - 23.99% Variable | None | 25.24% Variable |
Annual Fee | Foreign Transaction Fee |
---|---|
$0 | 2.7% of each transaction after conversion to US dollars. |
Balance Transfer Fee | Cash Advance Fee |
---|---|
None | Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater. |
Penalty APR | Late Fee | Returned Payment Fee |
---|---|---|
29.24% Variable | Up to $40 | Up to $40 |
There is no annual fee with the Cash Magnet Card. It offers a long introductory APR for new purchases, giving you time to pay off large expenses without worrying about interest charges.
Late payments will face a fee of up to $38, and may also cause the penalty APR to be applied. That would cancel out any intro period as well, so be sure to make timely monthly payments.
There’s also a foreign transaction fee to be aware of. Because of the fee and the fact that American Express isn’t accepted widely internationally, anyone traveling outside the country should typically look for a Visa or Mastercard with no foreign transaction fees.
The American Express Cash Magnet® Card is about as straightforward a rewards card as they come. With the ability to earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases and a decent introductory bonus, it’s a good option for users who want a simple cash back credit card.
Cardholders get a nice suite of perks, including travel and shopping protections and the Amex Offers benefit. For a card without an annual fee, that’s a fairly robust offering.
However, there are a number of other rewards cards that offer higher rewards or different benefits. If you have good to excellent credit, it could be worth shopping around to find a card better suited to your needs.
You can apply now for the Cash Magnet Card by following the link below. Most people can expect to receive an answer within seconds, but in some cases it could take longer.
If approved, you’ll get a notification and you may be given an instant card number to use. If you’re not approved, you’ll get a letter in the mail detailing why you were denied.
It’s recommended that you have good credit when applying for this card.
That would mean that your credit scores are within the ranges of 670–739 for FICO and 700–749 for VantageScore.
Those scores might be hard to come by, but credit card issuer’s take more into account than just your scores. Credit card companies will look at things like your income and source of income when determining your creditworthiness. This means there’s a chance that you’ll still be approved even if your scores are lower than what’s recommended.
However, that also means there’s a shot you’ll be denied even if you have those credit scores.
securely on the issuer's website
American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
Your credit limit is based upon your creditworthiness and other financial details. American Express will review factors like your income and credit scores when determining your limit.
Remember, you can request a credit limit increase. We recommend cardholders request an increase every 6 to 12 months if they want higher limits.
Head over to American Express’ website and sign in with your account information. From there, you can see your balance, pay your bill, and check out other card features like Amex Offers.
The Citi® Double Cash Card – 18 month BT offer (Review) is similar to the Cash Magnet, though it earns a little more.
The Double Cash works a little differently, however. Your rewards are split in two; you’ll get 1% when you make your purchase, and the other 1% once you pay it off. But the tradeoff for the higher cash back value is the lack of an introductory bonus with the Double Cash Card.
The benefits you’d get with the Double Cash are less impressive than what you’d see from the Cash Magnet. The Double Cash offers nothing in the way of shopping and travel protections.
Although the Cash Magnet Card has a long introductory APR, the Citi Double Cash Card has an excellent deal too: You’ll get 0% for 18 months on Balance Transfers. Once the term ends, your APR will increase to 13.99% – 23.99% (Variable).
Spending Rewards |
---|
|
Citi is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card (Review) earns a flat 1.5% for every purchase.
It’s a very simple card with little else to it. All in all these cards are pretty similar, although their intro bonuses may differ.
You’ll get a few more travel and shopping protections with this card than the Cash Magnet, but you’ll lose Amex Offers. However, there’s no foreign transaction fee like there is with the Cash Magnet card. So this would be the better option if you plan on traveling outside the country.
Spending Rewards |
---|
|
Introductory Bonus Offer |
---|
|
The information related to Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Review) credit card offers a strong 1.5% for most purchases, in addition to 3% and 5% bonus categories.
With this card you’ll earn 5% cash back on travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards and on Lyft rides. You’ll earn 3% at restaurants and drugstores. So you’d easily earn more rewards with the Freedom Unlimited than the Cash Magnet.
There’s still a 0% intro APR period for purchases, a welcome bonus, and just about the same quality of benefits. This card would likely suit you better than the Cash Magnet.
Spending Rewards |
---|
|
|
|
Introductory Bonus Offer |
---|
|
You have more options for redeeming your cash back with the Freedom Unlimited than you do with the Cash Magnet. You can redeem for statement credits, gift cards, travel expenses through the Ultimate Rewards portal, or at checkout with participating merchants. But, like the Cash Magnet, the best method is usually for statement credits (unless you can transfer the rewards to other Chase Ultimate Rewards cards, where they can be more valuable).
There’s also no minimum redemption requirement.
It looks like a travel credit card, but the Discover it® Miles (Review) is more like one of the flat-rate cash back credit cards above. But it has a special offer that makes it more rewarding in the first year.
You’ll earn 1.5X miles per dollar spent on all purchases, which is typically the equivalent of 1.5% cash back. That’s the same cash back value that the Cash Magnet offers, even though you’re earning miles with this card.
Discover offers a unique and valuable introductory offer as well. The company will double the total number of miles you earn in the first year, so you’ll basically earn 3X miles per dollar when it’s said and done. That comes to a cash back equivalent of 3% when redeeming for statement credits, and it could be more when redeeming for gift cards. But after that first year the rewards drop to a more typical level.
However, there are no shopping or travel benefits, or shopping portals like Amex Offers that proved extra rewards. You’ll be able to check your FICO Score 8 based on your TransUnion credit report, but there’s not much else.
Spending Rewards |
---|
|
Introductory Bonus Offer |
---|
|
You’ll get the full value of $1 per mile when redeeming for statement credits, a nice (and somewhat rare) feature for a travel card. And you can actually get more than $1 per mile when redeeming for gift cards, so they’re worth looking into.
The information related to Discover it® Miles has been collected by Credit Card Insider and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product.
securely on the issuer's website
American Express is a Credit Card Insider advertiser.
Do you use the Cash Magnet Card from American Express? Let us know how you like it by leaving a comment below!
Want more rewards cards? We've made a list. Best Rewards Credit CardsFor rates and fees of the American Express Cash Magnet® Card, please click here.
Kat Tretina is a contributor to Credit Card Insider who writes about credit cards and other personal finance topics. Her work has appeared in publications like the Huffington Post, Money Magazine, Business Insider, and more.
Do you have a correction, tip, or suggestion for a new post? Contact us here.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by bank advertisers. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by bank advertisers. It is not the bank advertisers' responsibility to ensure all posts are accurate and/or questions are answered.