Whenever there’s a period of financial uncertainty, it can make sense to review your credit card portfolio to make sure that you’re not paying too much in annual fees. Since many credit cards have annual fees that are waived the first year, if you’re not cognizant of what fees are upcoming, you can find yourself paying fees on cards that aren't providing enough benefits to outweigh the cost. Since many travel credit cards come with high annual fees, it’s a good idea to regularly review your credit card portfolio — but it’s an even better idea if you’re actively looking to cut costs.

In this article we’ll look through some of the major credit card issuers and explore some of the no-fee cards available for each of them. Hopefully that can help you decide the right moves to make for your individual situation.

American Express

American Express has a wide variety of different credit cards. Some earn AmEx’s proprietary Membership Rewards, which can be very valuable when redeemed for travel, while others are co-branded with hotel or airline partners.

American Express Membership Rewards

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Rates & Fees

If you have the American Express® Gold Card or another Membership Rewards-earning card and are looking to possibly downgrade, one option might be the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card. It earns 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases and also a 20% bonus if you use your card 20 or more times on purchases in a billing period. Terms apply.

Another option if you have a small business would be The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express. It has a $0 annual fee and earns 2 Membership Rewards for every dollar spent, up to $50,000 in spending per year. Terms apply.

One nice thing about Membership Rewards is that you have just a single Membership Rewards account, regardless of how many American Express cards you have. So as long as you have at least one Membership Rewards-earning card, your points won’t expire if you cancel a different card.

To view rates and fees of The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, see this page. All information about the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card has been collected independently by NerdWallet. The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card is no longer available through NerdWallet.