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Most checking accounts don’t pay interest or allow you to earn points or refund purchases like credit cards do.
But American Express combines these two advantages with its new American Express Rewards checking account. Customers can earn one point for every $2 spent on qualifying purchases with the account’s debit card. Plus, Amex Rewards Chequing Account pays 0.50% APY on your entire balance.
The typical checking account today pays no interest on balances, and the 0.50% APY offered by Amex’s new account is much better than the national average interest rate of 0.06% on savings accounts. In other words, the Amex Rewards Chequing Account works much like a High Yield Savings Account. There are also no maintenance fees or minimum balance requirements with the new Amex checking account.
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American Express Rewards Verification: What You Need to Know
The American Express Rewards Chequing Account is currently available to US Amex consumer cardholders whose account has been open for at least three months. American Express Business Checking customers are not currently eligible for the new Rewards Checking account.
American Express is marketing this product as its “first all-digital checking account,” and it offers common digital features like mobile check deposit and compatibility between digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. At the same time, the account always comes with a physical debit card.
Generally speaking, most purchases made with the debit card are eligible to earn rewards points. Exceptions include things like reloadable prepaid cards and person-to-person payments. Your points can be redeemed for deposits into your checking account.
While it’s nice to have a checking account that lets you earn rewards points, the ratio of one point for every $2 spent is low compared to many credit cards. With the American Express Gold card, for example, you can often earn up to four points for every dollar spent in categories like restaurants.
If you already have a Membership Rewards card with Amex, you can redeem your current account points in the same way as you do through this account. For example, some American Express Membership Rewards cards allow you to redeem points for credit card payments.
In addition to earning rewards points for qualifying purchases and paying interest, the Amex Rewards Chequing Account offers other benefits. Here is an overview:
- No maintenance costs
- No minimum balance requirement
- Physical debit card
- Free withdrawals at 37,000 MoneyPass ATMs
- 24/7 customer support via phone or chat
You should also note that American Express does not currently offer overdraft protection for its Rewards Checking account. This means that you will not be affected by overdraft fees. Instead, Amex generally does not allow transactions that exceed your available balance. And you won’t be reimbursed for out-of-network ATM fees, which is a benefit some other accounts enjoy.
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Other Chequing Accounts with Good Benefits
While it’s rare to find checking accounts that offer both rewards points and interest, some accounts may suit your preferences better than the Amex Rewards checking account. Compare it with these.
Checking Quontic Cash Rewards: This current account offers 1.50% cashback on purchases and gives you free access to more than 90,000 ATMs. There are also no maintenance costs.
Discover the Cash Back checking account: This account offers 1% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases. It has no insufficient funds fees or maintenance fees, and you get free access to over 60,000 ATMs.
Axos Bank Rewards Verification: Paying interest from 0.30% to 1% APY on balances, this account has no maintenance fees or overdraft fees. It also gives you unlimited refunds of domestic ATM fees.
If you want to explore more checking accounts with helpful perks, check out our lists of the best checking accounts, the best online banks, and the best banks overall.
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