# News & Current Events > Economy & Markets >  What is the difference between all the damn AMEX credit card colors...?

## Reason

My friend says that his "blue" AMEX card has no annual fee and gives him rewards points.

I want to ditch my secured credit card now that I have built up some credit for a card that actually gives me rewards points.

I get the pre approved credit card offers in the mail all the time now that I have credit but all the AMEX ones I have seen have annual fees.

Any thoughts/guidance with this?

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## angelatc

I think blue is a revolving card, while the entire balance on the gold is due monthly.

According to this, the blue has no annual fee.

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## Reason

looking at this site

http://www201.americanexpress.com/ge...s/no-fee-cards

it seems like the "blue cash" one would be the best assuming what it says turns out to be true...

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## Reason

or maybe the costco one since the blue cash one only awards the 5% if you spend a ton of $...

hmmm...

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## ghengis86

> I think blue is a revolving card, while the entire balance on *the gold is due monthly*.
> 
> According to this, the blue has no annual fee.


they let you pay over time with purchases over $200 on the gold card now.

i got my gold card and the for the first year, they waived the annual fee (~$175 i think).  second year, i called an asked for them to waive the fee and they did again (told them otherwise I'm canceling the card).  third year, i called and they wouldn't waive the fee.  i said i'm canceling, they said, ok.  so i don't have it any more.

the gold card had good rewards, they did have excellent customer service and I liked not having any interest payments.  the downside was that they wanted $175 per year.  I got a platinum rewards matercard through my bank with no annual fee and i don't miss the gold card one bit.

there's tons of cards out there with all sorts of cash back, rewards, etc.  do a google search for credit card comparison sites and you'll find what you're looking for.

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## Jordan

You want this one:

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## DamianTV

The difference is in the way that the light reflects off of the material, which influences the wavelength of the light that is reflected off, thus giving the object different colors.

Oh, you meant what does the color mean?  No clue.

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## Jordan

Depending on what kind of things you buy and the kinds of places you shop, the card can make a pretty big difference.

I have an amex, and rarely does it ever get pull out of my wallet.  The rewards points are okay at best, but don't sign up for "travel rewards" since its essentially a show-us-you-traveled-somewhere-and-then-we'll-credit-your-card-with-your-rewards program.

Also, a number of places (you learn pretty quickly) won't take American Express cards because of the merchant fees.  It gets real annoying after awhile.  Oh, and I don't know if it's part of retail training, but expect to get ID'd more frequently than with other cards.  I'm guessing its because you don't have to sign but only type in your zip code to confirm a purchase, not sure...

I'd go for a Chase Freedom.  Zero annual fees and 5% cashback on gas and 1% cashback on everything else.  Great card.

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## cubical

i have am AmEx card from USAA and its great. Up to 1.25% cash back on everything(teared up according to how much you spend, but you get a bonus each tear). Rewards come at the end of the year, so its like a nice $600-700 bonus.

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