SimplyCash® Card from American Express Review

Last Updated on July 21, 2023

One of the best no fee cash back cards in Canada

The SimplyCash® Card from American Express is the no fee half of American Express' cash back card duo. This card along with is fee based sibling, the SimplyCash® Preferred Card from American Express are amongst the best true* cash back credit cards in Canada. This card is one of only a few no fee cards in Canada that awards more than 1% cash back with a 1.25% base earn rate. On top of that it also offers an accelerated 2% cash back earn rate in select categories. It is these earn rates combined with its welcome bonus that make this one of the best no fee cash back cards in Canada.

* At Rewards Canada we use "true" to refer to cards that are strictly cash back only cards as there are many cards that have cash back as a reward option that is secondary to travel or other rewards.

The review of the SimplyCash Card from American Express is broken down into the following sections:

Overview
Costs & Sign Up Features
Earning
Redeeming
Features & Benefits

Insurance
What is good about this card
What is not so good about this card
Who should get this card
Conclusion

Overview

The SimplyCash™ Card from American Express® hit the market on September 2nd, 2014 and marked the issuer's first foray in the Cash Back market with a credit card product rather than a charge card product. Prior to the launch of the SimplyCash and SimplyCash Preferred cards, American Express briefly brought back their Gold Cash Rewards card but it didn't fair too well so it pulled from the market.

Costs & Sign up Features

Since it is a no annual fee card, the SimplyCash Card from American Express has no monthly or annual costs associated with it!

Right now the SimplyCash Card from American Express has an increased welcome bonus offer where in your first 10 months you can earn a $10 statement credit for each monthly billing period in which you spend $300 in purchases on your Card. This could add up to $100 in statement credits in the first 10 months. These $10 statement credits are over and above the 1.25% to 2% cash back you'll receive on the actual spending.

Earning

The card earns cash back at a base earn rate and also has accelerated category multipliers. The earn rates are as follows:

2% cash back on eligible gas station purchases in Canada
2% cash back on eligible grocery store purchases in Canada (up to $300 cash back annually - $15,000 in spending)
1.25% cash back on all other purchases

To see where you can earn these multipliers be sure to check out our American Express Cobalt™ Card Confirmed Multiplier Locations as many of those merchants will be the same for the SimplyCash d Card.

Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Cards

Check it out here

Redeeming

The beauty of cash back credit cards is the simplicity in redemption - no worries about calculating value in travel or merchandise rewards. The cash back rewards are right there in front of you, no guess work involved and for many cash is king. With the SimplyCash Card from American Express the cash back reward is issued as a annual statement credit each September. Nice and easy.

Features and Benefits

American Express Experiences

As with all American Express Cards the card comes with American Express Experiences which includes Front Of The Line® Advance Access, Front Of The Line® Reserved Tickets, Front Of The Line® E-Updates, Special Offers & Experiences for all Cardmembers and Social Access for all Cardmembers.

Amex Offers

Just like all American Express Cards, holders of the SimplyCash Card from American Express will receive Amex Offers. These exclusive limited time offers are sent out to cardmembers to receive statement credits for using their card at select merchants. You can learn more about this feature in Rewards Canada's Guide to American Express Canada 'Amex Offers'

Insurance

Like many entry level no fee cards, The SimplyCash Card provides basic insurance coverage:

$100,000 Travel Accident Insurance
Purchase Protection Plan
Buyer's Assurance Protection Plan
Mobile Device Insurance

What is good about this card

The accelerated earn rates of 2% on gas and groceries are amazing. The good thing is the majority of gas station brands accept American Express - even Canco Petroleum in small towns across Western Canada accept it. And groceries - well outside of Loblaw family of grocery stores you are golden with this card.

The base earn rate of 1.25%. There are very few no fee cards in Canada that have this high of base earn rate and those that do tend to have high income requirements to apply for them. The majority of no fee cash back cards in Canada offer base earn rates of 0.5% to 1% for non-accelerated categories so the SimplyCash Card has them beat in this regard.

The sign up bonus is another strong point, you can earn up to $100 extra dollars over and above your cash back earnings in the first 10 months with the card.

What is not so good about this card

As many of you know American Express has lower acceptance than Visa or Mastercard so there will be occasions where you cannot use this card to pay for items. Depending on where you live or travel, American Express does state that they are accepted at roughly between 80 and 90% of locations that take the other two brands of cards. That being said don't skip this card simply for this reason. You will be better off and earn more cash back by having this card and putting 50% of your spending on it and another non-Amex cash back card in your wallet for your other 50% spending instead of just putting 100% on the latter.

The awarding of the cash back only being once per year. We gripe on this fact for the SimplyCash cards and the Scotia Momentum Cards as they are last two major hold outs awarding cash back annually. Most cash back cards in Canada have moved to allowing members to redeem cash back whenever they like when their balance hits a certain minimum. Those minimums can range from $1 to $25. Some other cards in the market will award cash back on a monthly basis. Still, if you are willing to hold off on getting your cash back reward once per year this card will reward you handsomely thanks to its great earn rates.

Who should get this card

Consumers who spend a lot at gas stations (we're looking at you road warriors!)
Consumers who spend a lot at non-Loblaws grocery stores and prefer cash back over travel rewards
Consumers who spend a lot at merchants that accept American Express that don't fall into accelerated earn categories on other credit cards from Amex or other issuers (this is the 1.25% base earn rate)
Consumers who want an American Express cash back card to supplement their non-Amex travel rewards or cash back rewards cards.

Conclusion

The SimplyCash® Card from American Express is truly one of the best no annual fee cash back rewards card in Canada thanks to the 1.25% base earn rate. Add in the 2% accelerated earn rates for gas and groceries and you have an excellent card to have in your wallet - either as your primary daily driver or as a secondary card to others in your wallet.

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