Amex's 2% cashback offer has a £3,000 catch

American Express has launched one of the strongest cashback deals on the market. New customers on its free Amex Cashback Everyday credit card get 2% back on everything they spend for the first 12 months, up to £200. That's four times the card's standard rate and double what most debit card cashback pays.

The headline is genuinely good. But there's a spending floor you must clear, the £200 doesn't arrive for over a year, and Amex still isn't accepted everywhere. Here's how the offer works and how it stacks up against Chase, Zopa, Santander and the main credit card rivals.

How the Amex offer works

• Cashback rate: 2% on purchases for your first 12 months, or until you've earned £200 – whichever comes first. You hit the cap at £10,000 of spending, roughly £833 a month.

• Minimum spend: You need to spend at least £3,000 in your card year to earn any cashback at all. Spend £2,999 and you get nothing.

• After the offer: 0.5% on the first £10,000 of spending each card year, then 1% above that. Costco and other warehouse retailers earn 0.5% regardless.

• Cost: No annual fee. 29.1% representative APR (variable). Non-sterling spending carries a 2.99% fee.

• Deadline: The offer ends on 12 January 2027.

• Eligibility: You can't currently hold a personal Amex card, or have held one in the last 24 months. You also need a minimum income of £15,000 and a clean credit history.

The catches

You wait over a year for your money. Amex pays cashback once a year, on the anniversary of your first statement. Open the card in November 2026 and the £200 lands around December 2027 – as a credit on your card balance, not cash in your bank.

Close the card early and you lose it all. Any cashback earned but not yet paid is forfeited if the account closes. Missing two consecutive payments also wipes out everything earned so far.

Not everyone takes Amex. Acceptance has improved a lot, but some independent shops, tradespeople and overseas merchants still don't. Spending you can't put on the card earns nothing.

Interest cancels it out fast. At 29.1% APR, carrying even a modest balance for a few months would cost more than the cashback is worth. The maths only works if you clear the card in full every month.

Amex vs debit card cashback

Chase can pay more than the Amex offer over a year – but only on everyday categories, and only if you clear its monthly hoops. Santander Edge and Zopa's Biscuit now pay cashback on bills, not card spending.

Chase is the strongest debit card for everyday spending. It pays 2% on the weekly shop, eating out, transport and fuel, capped at £20 a month – so you max it out at £1,000 of eligible spending. Cashback is paid monthly. To qualify, you need 15 or more card payments or Direct Debits each month and at least £1,000 in Chase savings accounts every day. The £20 cap is shared with the Chase credit card.

That savings requirement costs less than it sounds. Even if Chase pays a full percentage point below the best easy-access rate, £1,000 parked there loses about £10 a year in interest – against up to £240 in cashback.

Santander Edge no longer pays anything on debit card spending. Santander scrapped its supermarket and travel cashback in September 2025. The Edge current account now pays 1% on household bills by Direct Debit, up to £10 a month, for a £3 monthly fee. You need to pay in £500 a month and hold two Direct Debits, which leaves £84 a year at best.

Zopa Biscuit advertises 2%, but only on up to £125 of Direct Debits a month. That caps cashback at £2.50 a month, or £30 a year. Its bigger draws are 2% AER interest on your current account balance and fee-free spending abroad.

The Amex has one big advantage over all three: its cap is a total, not a monthly limit. A £2,000 sofa earns £40 on the Amex. On Chase it earns nothing, because furniture isn't an eligible category – and even eligible spending tops out at £20 a month.

Amex vs other cashback credit cards

No other card currently pays a flat 2% on everything for a full year. The rivals either restrict what earns, cap it monthly, or charge a fee.

Amex's own Cashback card is the one to weigh up first. It charges £25 a year but front-loads its offer: 5% for three months, maxing out at £125 on £2,500 of spending. You can only have one – both welcome offers require no personal Amex in the last 24 months.

Chase's credit card pays the same 2% on the same everyday categories as its debit card, with no fee. But it shares the debit card's £20 monthly cap, so it adds Section 75 protection rather than extra cashback. You need Chase current and saver accounts to get it.

Santander Rewards pays 3% on everyday travel, fuel, eating out and takeaways for the first year, with no fee and cashback paid monthly. That beats the Amex on those categories – but everything else earns just 0.25% from day one.

Lloyds Ultra is the closest free, flat-rate alternative. It pays 1% on all purchases for a year, then 0.25%. That's half the Amex rate, but it's a Visa, so it works almost everywhere.

Barclaycard Rewards pays 0.25% uncapped, or £25 on £10,000 of spending. Its real strength is fee-free spending abroad, not cashback.

Monzo Aura charges £15 a month for 1% on groceries and 0.5% on everything else. Even at the 1% grocery rate, you'd need to spend £18,000 a year on food shopping just to cover the fee. We broke down the numbers here.

One more difference matters if you travel. Amex adds 2.99% to non-sterling spending, which more than cancels out the 2% cashback. Chase, Lloyds Ultra and Barclaycard all charge nothing abroad.

What the offer is worth at different spending levels

The free Everyday card only pulls ahead of Amex's £25 Cashback card at around £6,500 of spending a year. Below that, the fee-paying card pays more in year one – as long as you can put £2,500 on it in the first three months.

Amex Cashback figures assume £2,500 of the spending lands in the first three months. Figures are rounded to the nearest pound. Chase and Santander Rewards are left out because they only pay on certain categories.

Who the offer suits

The Amex deal is worth having if you can put at least £5,000 a year on it, clear the balance in full every month and wait around 13 months to be paid. The sweet spot is £10,000 of spending, roughly £833 a month.

It works best alongside a Visa or Mastercard, not instead of one. Use Chase for groceries, eating out and transport, where it pays the same 2% monthly, and keep the Amex for everything else. Run that way, the two cards can earn up to £440 between them on around £22,000 of spending.

Skip it if you spend less than £3,000 a year on cards, tend to carry a balance, or do most of your spending abroad. Lighter spenders who can front-load a big purchase may do better with Amex's £25 Cashback card instead.

The offer closes on 12 January 2027.

DepositScout provides information only and does not offer credit broking or financial advice. Credit is subject to status, and rates and offers can change – check the provider's terms before applying.