American Express credit cards

Card issuer. We hold its card catalogue but no lending or deposit rates, so this microsite covers cards only.

Cards are ranked by a published formula, never by editorial preference or by what pays us — see the methodology page. The effective reward rate shown is a realistic blended return, not the accelerated headline rate that applies only to selected categories.

The annual fee is the number to check first, against the spend needed to waive it. A card is only free if you were going to spend that much anyway; otherwise the waiver threshold is simply a target that costs you more than the fee to hit.