List Of Third Party American Express Credit Cards

I thought it’d be useful to create a list of third party American Express credit cards, this isn’t a comprehensive list (if I missed any cards then please let me know in the comments) but rather a list of cards that are worth considering. Cards that run on the American Express payment network are unique in that they can be enrolled in American Express sync offers and also Small Business Saturday’s (SBS), both of which are extremely profit.

I’ve tried to listed the cards in order from best to worst, but this is purely personal preference.

Authorized Users

One thing to keep in mind with third party credit cards that run on the American Express payment network is that authorized users do not have unique numbers and as such you can only really enroll the primary card for Sync/SBS offers.

No Annual Fee Cards

BBVA NBA TripleDouble Rewards American Express

Read our full review of this card

  • No annual fee
  • Sign up bonus of 10,000 bonus points when you spend $500 within 90 days of account opening (bonus is frequently at 20,000 points)
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 5x points during NBA Finals series & NBA all star weekend on all purchases
    • 3x points on qualifying NBA tickets, NBA in-stadium transactions, and NBAStore.com purchases
    • 2x points on purchase made at gas & grocery stores
    • 1x points on all other purchases
  • Points are worth 1¢ each

Easily the best third party American Express credit card. No annual fee for life, with a $100 sign up bonus and 5x points on all purchases twice a year is a killer combination.

American Express Fidelity

Note: This card is no longer available for new sign ups and will be transitioned to a Visa card on July, 1st for existing cardholders.

  • Earns 2% cash back on all purchases
  • There are actually three versions of this card (Regular, 529 and Retirement), meaning theoretically you could get all three.
  • No sign up bonus

Great to have a 2% cash back card with no gimmicks and no annual fee.

PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card

  • Sign up bonus of 20,000 points after $1,000 in spending with three months
  • 0% Introductory APR on balance transfers for 12 months with 3% balance transfer fee
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • Earn 5x points on all airfare purchases
    • Earn 1x points on all other purchases

This card is probably worth applying for just for the sign up bonus, 5x points on Airfare purchases could also be a good option for those not really caring about stocking up on airline miles. Anybody can become a member of PenFed by making a small one off donation to either to Voices for America’s Troops ($15) or the National Military Family Association ($20). You can also join for free if you’re military or work for the United States government, a full list of free options can be found here.

USAA Cashback Rewards Plus American Express

  • No sign up bonus
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 5% cash back on the following purchases: gas stations & military bases. There is a yearly cap of $3,000 in spending after that you earn 1% cash back.
    • 2% cash back at grocery stores yearly cap of $3,000 in spending after that you earn 1% cash back.
    • 1% cash back on all other purchases

Could be useful for those in the military with 5% at military bases, there are better cards for gas station spending but this is still a solid option when you’re spending less than $3,000 annually.

U.S. Bank FlexPerks Select+ American Express Card

  • Sign up bonus of 10,000 FlexPoints after $1,000 purchases within three months (worth up to 2¢ each when redeeming for airfare or 1.5¢ for hotels)
  • Card earns 1 FlexPoint per dollar spent on all purchases

Probably better to grab the annual fee version with 20,000 points and better earning category bonuses, but if you want to keep the card long term then this might be an OK choice as a downgrade option.

Bank of Hawaii American Express Card with MyBankoh Rewards

  • Sign up bonus of $100 when you spend $1,000 or more within 90 days of account opening
  • 0% Introductory APR for 18 months
  • Receive an annual points bonus of 20% at the end of every year
  • Card earns 1x points on all purchases

Potentially useful with the 0% intro APR and $100 sign up bonus.

SavingStar American Express from FNBO

Read our full review

  • Earns at the following rates:
    • 10% cash back on eligible SavingStar grocery purchases in addition to your SavingStar Cash back reward
    • 5% cash back on eligible SavingStar Cash Back Mall Purchases in addition to your portal earnings
    • 1% cash back on all other purchases
  • Free FICO Score [Experian Bankcard Enhanced FICO score 2008 (EX-08 bankcard enhanced, range of 250-900)]
  • No sign up bonus

PenFed Defender American Express Card

  • Card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases
  • Sign up bonus of $100 when you spend $1,000 or more within 90 days of account opening

For most people the PenFed card with 20,000 point bonus will make more sense (especially considering you should be earning at a base rate of at least 2% cash back) – but still a nice no annual fee card with sign up bonus.

Accelerated Rewards American Express Card from Bank of America 

  • Card earns 1.25x points on all purchases
  • No sign up bonus
  • 0% Introductory APR for the first 12 Statement Closing Dates following the opening of your account

Cash Rewards American Express from USAA

  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • Earn up to 2.25% cash back on gas and grocery purchases
    • Earn up to 1.25% cash back on your everyday purchases
  • No sign up bonus

Another no annual fee card with no real bonus categories or sign up bonuses. Need to be in the military to be able to apply.

AAA Rewards American Express Card from Bank of America

  • No sign up bonus
  • Card earns 1x points on all purchases

First National Bank American Express Card

  • No sign up bonus
  • Free FICO Score [Experian Bankcard Enhanced FICO score 2008 (EX-08 bankcard enhanced, range of 250-900)]

Annual Fee Cards

Wells Fargo Propel World American Express Card

Read our full review of this card

  • Annual fee of $175 is waived the first year
  • Sign up bonus of 40,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000 in net purchases in the first 3 months
  • Up to $100 per year in reimbursements toward incidental airline charges
  • Card earns at the following card:
    • 3X points on Airlines
    • 2X points on Hotels
    • 1X points on all other purchases
  • Earn an annual bonus of 10%, 25%, or 50% on non-bonus rewards points if you maintain a qualifying consumer Wells Fargo Checking or Savings Account, or PMA® Package

The high annual fee of $175 means that this card isn’t worth keeping long term, but it’s definitely worth getting at least once for the sign up bonus worth $400 (really a bit more as you can purchase gift cards to get the $100 airline incidental credit).

U.S. Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards American Express Card

  • Annual fee of $49 is waived first year
  • Sign up bonus of 20,000 FlexPoints after $3,500 purchases within three months (worth up to 2¢ each when redeeming for airfare or 1.5¢ for hotels)
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 3x FlexPoints for every dollar spent on qualifying charitable contributions (Kiva is excluded)
    • 2x FlexPoints on restaurants
    • 2x FlexPoints on airlines, gas or groceries – whichever you spend most on each monthly billing cycle
    • 1x FlexPoints on all other purchases

This card has a good sign up bonus and some OK bonus categories as well. I don’t really think it makes sense to keep this card long term (category bonuses don’t really excite me), but you should be able to downgrade to the no annual fee version without any trouble. The sign up bonus on the Visa version of this card is usually increased during the Olympics (US bank being a sponsor of TeamUSA), but as this is a newish card I’m currently unsure on whether the American Express version will also see an increase (Visa is a sponsor of the Olympics).

Wells Fargo Propel 365 American Express Card

  • Annual fee of $45 is waived first year
  • Sign up bonus of 20,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000 in net purchases in the first 3 months
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 3X points at U.S. Gas Stations
    • 2X points at U.S. Restaurants
    • 1X point on all other net purchases (purchases minus returns/credits)
  • You will earn an annual bonus of 10%, 25%, or 50% on non-bonus rewards points if you maintain a qualifying consumer Wells Fargo Checking or Savings Account, or PMA® Package

The slightly ugly cousin of the Propel World, this card is also worth grabbing for the first year although the sign up bonus isn’t quite as exciting at only $200. You should be easily able to get enough value out of an additional American Express card that paying the $45 annual fee is do-able.

Asiana Airlines American Express Card from Bank of America

  • Annual fee of $99 not waived first year
  • Sign up bonus of 10,000 miles after first purchase
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 3 miles for every dollar you spend on Asiana Airlines purchases
    • 2 miles for every dollar you spend on gas and grocery store purchases
    • 1 mile for every dollar you spend on all other purchases
  • Anniversary bonus of 2 Asiana Airlines lounge invitations, A 10,000 bonus Miles certificate and A $100 automatic rebate on Asiana Airlines tickets

If you fly with Asiana often, then I could definitely see a case for paying the annual fee (10k miles + $100 credit + 2 lounge certificates really makes it a no brainer if you have at least one paid flight annually). They occasionally offer a sign up bonus of 25,000 miles so it’s probably worth holding out for that offer to come around again if it’s of interest.

Alitalia American Express Card From FNBO

  • Sign up bonus of 10,000 miles after first purchase
  • Annual fee of $89 is waived first year
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 2x miles on all Alitalia purchases
    • 1x miles on all other purchases
  • Anniversary bonus of $50 e-coupon, 2 additional free checked bags and 2 free Alitalia lounge passes.

Another foreign airline with a relatively low sign up bonus and an annual fee, never seen a higher bonus for this particular card.

TravElite Credit Card From FNBO

Read our full review

  • Annual fee of $99 not waived the first year
  • No sign up bonus
  • $100 in statement credits for airline incidentals
  • $100 global entry reimbursement
  • Earns at the following rates:
    • 3x points per dollar spent on all airline and hotel purchases
    • 1.5x points on all other purchases
  • Access to Premium Concierge

You need to be invited to apply, but even if you are I wouldn’t recommend this card. Annual fee is too high for the card benefits and no sign up bonus either.

First National Bank Graphite American Express Card From FNBO

  • Annual fee of $99, waived first year
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 3% cash back on qualifying airline purchases
    • 2% cash back on qualifying gas and grocery purchases
    • 1% on all other qualifying purchases
  • No sign up bonus

Annual fee, no sign up bonus and no useful category bonuses. Pass.

Store Cards

Store cards could be a good option for people with bad credit that struggle to get approved for regular credit cards.

Dillard’s American Express By Wells Fargo

  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 2x points at Dillard’s instore & online
    • 2x points at U.S gas stations and grocery stores
    • 1x points on all other purchases

This card is somewhat interesting because some people have been able to apply without a hard pull using the shopping cart trick (they first applied to the store card and then received an invite to upgrade to American Express card). This is quite rate, so probably not worth the effort unless you have bad credit.

Bloomingdale’s American Express® Card

  • No annual fee
  • Earn 6 points per dollar in cosmetics and fragrances when you shop with your Bloomingdale’s card
  • Must apply in store
  • Card is issued by Bloomingdale’s financial

Discontinued Cards

These cards are no longer available for new sign ups, but you might already have these cards in your arsenal which is why I’ve included them here.

  • Travelocity American Express card from Barclaycard. This card does give authorized users a unique card number.
  • AAdvantage Select from Citi.
  • Virgin Atlantic  American Express  Card from Bank of America
  • Citi Dividend American Express. It might still be possible to do a product change to this card.
  • Citi ThankYou Preferred American Express. It might still be possible to do a product change to this card.

Sources

I used some of the following sources to help compile this list, thanks to those who put these together.

Final Thoughts

I’ve undoubtedly missed a lot of great cards in this list, if you think something should be included then please let me know and I’ll add it to the above list.

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72 Comments
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Andrew
Andrew (@guest_727181)
February 25, 2019 21:36

US bank Cash 365. 1.5% back, $150 for $500 in spending. Only worth it if you ran out of sign-ups for US bank and PC it to Cash+

JS
JS (@guest_583364)
April 18, 2018 12:58

Regular Wells Fargo Propel AmEx Card.

H Graves
H Graves (@guest_268428)
June 17, 2016 12:49

Does anyone know if the new Schwab AMEX Investor card is a “third party bank card” ?

Roy
Roy (@guest_233607)
March 15, 2016 16:35

Does anyone know if 3rd part Amex can be product changed into another Amex (possibly not 3rd party) card?

Steve
Steve (@guest_232490)
March 11, 2016 13:13

The AAA Rewards card application T&C’s are for a regular CashRewards card, with the 3/2/1% categories. Also has as $100 bonus (after $500).

https://www.applyonlinenow.com/USCCapp/Ctl/entry?sc=VACGE5#b

Calvin Tam
Calvin Tam (@guest_227743)
February 22, 2016 18:35
Calvin Tam
Calvin Tam (@guest_227739)
February 22, 2016 18:24

Found another AMEX 3rd-party cards.

https://www.comerica.com/personal-finance/banking/cards/comerica-credit-card.html

Cash Rewards American Express® Card – get cash rewards with bonus points on gas and supermarket purchases.
– Earn up to 3% cash back on gas
– Also earn up to 2% cash back at supermarkets and 1% on all other purchases
– $25 cash back after your first purchase
– No limits on the points earned, with at least 5 years to redeem6
– Includes EMV smart chip technology4 to make purchases with increased confidence and convenience, both in the U.S. and overseas

Travel Rewards American Express® Card – get travel rewards with bonus points on airfare, hotel, and restaurant purchases.
– 3X reward earnings on airline purchases, 2X reward earnings on restaurant and hotel purchases
– $75 cash back after your first purchase
– Travel starting at just 25,000 points for one round trip airline ticket up to $325
– No caps or limits on the points earned, with at least 5 years to redeem7
– Low annual fee
– Includes EMV smart chip technology4 to make purchases with increased confidence and convenience, both in the U.S. and overseas

Mark Zhang
Mark Zhang (@guest_208917)
December 15, 2015 15:06

Report.
I got declined by bank of Hawaii and they said they will no longer accept application by residents Continental America without banking relationship with them.
They declined me without processing the application so there were no HPs.

Brandon
Brandon (@guest_185828)
October 15, 2015 04:59

If you add an AU, can you use the AU card (in spouse’s name, for example) to load a Serve account (also under spouse’s name)?

Gene
Gene (@guest_185699)
October 14, 2015 23:13

does anyone know of any cards other than the FIA & the USB flexperks which offer 2% rewards/cash back on non-category spend please?
thanks!