American Express
$25 for 12.99% on purchases and, unusually, the same 12.99% on cash advances. Two missed payments and the rate jumps to 25.99%.
Rates and features verified 2026-08-18Full terms and conditionsHow we research cards
What we like, and what we don’t
Worth having
- 12.99% on purchases, roughly nine points below a standard card
- The same 12.99% applies to cash advances, which almost no other card does
- Only $25 a year, the cheapest low rate card in this comparison
- A genuinely simple product with no rewards programme to manage
Watch out for
- 12.99% is a preferred rate. Two missed payments takes it to 25.99% and three takes it to 29.99%
- 29.99% is among the highest consumer rates in Canada
- It earns no rewards at all
- Amex does not publish the foreign transaction fee anywhere we could reach
- American Express acceptance is narrower than Visa or Mastercard
What this card earns
- What we value a point at
- Not published by the issuer
The earning fine print
No rewards program. This card earns no Membership Rewards points and no cash back. It is positioned purely as a low-rate card. All earn fields null because nothing is published, not because the value is zero.
What the offer actually requires
No welcome offer published as of 18 Aug 2026.
Fees and interest rates
- Annual fee
- $25
- Foreign transaction fee
- Not published by the issuer
- Purchase APR
- 12.99%
- Cash advance APR
- 12.99%
Who can get this card
- Minimum personal income
- Not published by the issuer
Insurance and benefits
- Purchase protection
- Included
- Extended warranty
- Included
What the benefits really mean
Travel Accident Insurance providing $100,000 of Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage when common carrier tickets are charged in full to the card. Purchase Protection covering accidental physical damage or theft for 90 days from purchase, up to $1,000 per occurrence. Buyer's Assurance Protection Plan extending the manufacturer's warranty up to one additional year. No travel medical, no trip cancellation or interruption, no rental car CDW, no mobile device coverage. Front Of The Line Amex Presale Tickets and Amex Reserved Tickets access. Plan It installment plans available with a fixed monthly installment fee disclosed at plan creation instead of interest. Eligibility: Canadian resident with a Canadian credit file, at the age of majority in their province or territory. PENALTY RATE STRUCTURE IS THE HEADLINE TRAP: 12.99% is a PREFERRED rate, not a fixed one. Amex's own footnote states that after 2 separate Missed Payments the applicable rates become 25.99%, and after 3 separate Missed Payments 29.99%. The 29.99% is among the highest consumer rates in Canada. Any 'low interest' ranking must carry this caveat. The 12.99% applies to BOTH purchases and funds advances (cash advances). Unusual and genuinely favourable versus the 22-25% cash advance rates on peer cards. Cash_advance_apr recorded as 12.99 on the strength of Amex's wording 'the preferred rate for purchases and funds advances is 12.99%'. Widely described in the market as a no-foreign-transaction-fee card, but NO Amex Canada page or document confirms a 0% FX fee. Foreign_transaction_fee recorded as null. Do not publish 0 without issuer confirmation. The difference between 0% and the industry-standard 2.5% is material. Amex Canada's product and apply pages sit behind a consent gate; the cardmember agreement defers all rates and fees to a separate 'information box and disclosure statement' that is not published online. Supplementary card fee, balance transfer terms and minimum income could not be obtained from the issuer. It is an Amex-network card, so Canadian merchant acceptance is materially narrower than Visa/Mastercard despite the low rate. Do not confuse with the discontinued 'American Express Essentials' or with US Amex products of similar name.
Our verdict
The cash advance rate is the unusual part and the reason to consider this card. Most cards price cash advances at 22% or higher and start charging interest immediately. 12.99% on both purchases and advances, for $25 a year, is the most forgiving structure in this comparison for somebody who occasionally needs cash.
The penalty structure is what stops us rating it higher. The 12.99% is a preferred rate, and Amex's own footnote says two missed payments moves you to 25.99% and three to 29.99%. A low rate card aimed at people managing a balance, that punishes exactly the failure those people are most likely to make, deserves to be read carefully before signing.
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Where this came from. American Express Canada Essential Card benefits page including legal footnotes; Amex Canada low-rate credit cards category page; Amex Canada cardmember agreements index. Product/apply page is consent-gated and could not be read.. We take every figure from the issuer’s own pages, never from another comparison site, and we leave a field blank rather than guess at it.