American Express SmartEarn Credit Card

American Express SmartEarn credit card is an entry-level offering that is targeted at first-time Amex customers. It is the most basic card you can get for the Amex experience and explore higher offerings later on. This card used to be offered as the Amex Everyday Spend Gold Rewards previously. The American Express SmartEarn credit card has a joining and annual fee of Rs 495 with Rs 500 cashback as a welcome benefit. We get the annual fee waiver on spends of Rs 40000 in a membership year. The SmartEarn credit card offers 10X rewards on multiple partners including Flipkart, Uber and Myntra.

American Express SmartEarn Credit Card Eligibility

Amex has some of the simplest eligibility criteria for its credit cards. To apply for the Amex SmartEarn card we need:

CIBIL Score: 750+
Annual Income: Rs 4.5 Lakh+ for salaried and Rs 6 Lakh+ for Self Employed

Fees and Charges

Joining Fee	Rs 495+GST
Welcome Benefit	Rs 500 cashback on Rs 10000 spends in the first 90 days 2000 MR points (only for referrals)
Annual Fee	Rs 495+GST
Annual Fee Waiver	Spend Rs 40000 in a membership year

Rewards

Spend Category	Rewards
10X Partners	10 MR points/Rs 50 ~8% to 12%
5X Partners	5 MR points/Rs 50 ~4% to 6%
Other Spends	1 MR point/Rs 50 ~0.8% to 1.2%
Fuel, Insurance, Utilities, EMI	No Rewards

10X Partners: Zomato, Flipkart, BookMyShow, Uber, Myntra, Blinkit, Uber, Nykaa, Ajio & PVR
5X Partners: Amazon and Paytm Wallet
MR points for 10X partner Zomato capped at 500 points/month
MR points for other 10X partners capped at 500 points/month
MR points for 5X partners capped at 250 points/month

To hit the cap of bonus MR points, we need to spend just Rs 2500 each on Zomato, other 10X partners and 5X partners.

Milestone Benefits

Spend Milestone	Reward	Cumulative Extra Return
Rs 1.2 Lakhs	Rs 500 Amazon Voucher	0.4%
Rs 1.8 Lakhs	Rs 500 Amazon Voucher	0.5%
Rs 2.4 Lakhs	Rs 500 Amazon voucher	0.6%

The spend milestones are a nice addition but if you are hitting these target spends, better get the Amex MRCC too for any spends except 5X/10X partner spends.

Complimentary Airport Lounge Access

Domestic Airport Lounge Access: Not Available
International Airport Lounge Access: Not Available

Fuel Surcharge Waiver

American Express SmartEarn credit card gets a 0% convenience fee for HPCL fuel pumps. This is valid for all transactions of value less than Rs 5000. You will not get regular MR points but you will get the milestone bonus.

Other Benefits & Charges

Fuel Surcharge Waiver: Not available except at HP fuel pumps
Foreign Currency Markup: 3.5%+GST ~4.13%

Rewards Redemption

There are multiple other options for redeeming the MR points on Amex SmartEarn on the go. These include electronics, luxury and lifestyle products, fashion accessories, and instant gift vouchers for various brands. We can even pay for transactions using MR points. The MR point value in these options is around 25p per point. But, there is a better option.

If you take the Amex MRCC card along with this, you get access to the 18K and 24K Gold Collection. You can pool MR points earned from SmartEarn and MRCC to get a better value for your MR points. The MR points get a value from 39 paise to 58 paise on the available redemption options including Amazon Pay and Tanishq gift voucher.

Should you get the SmartEarn credit card?

The American Express SmartEarn credit card is the most affordable card in the Amex portfolio. So, do not expect much from this card. This entry-level card excels in accelerated rewards but it is pretty easy to hit those caps with minimal spends. The other point is cashback cards rule this segment of cards with an annual fee Rs 500. Get the Axis Ace, Flipkart Axis or even the LTF AU Xcite Ace and you can get a direct cashback of 1.5% to 3%.

But is there a case for getting this card? May be yes. If you are new to Amex, get the SmartEarn card for experiencing Amex services and offers. You can check how much is the acceptability of Amex for your day to day online and offline spends. This will also be an opportunity to see if you want to step up to better Amex cards like the MRCC or Plat Travel.