New Card Added: The Clear from American Express Card

American Express Credit Cards

We've recently added a new credit card to the list of American Express credit cards we recommend. It's the Clear from American Express® card, and it offers 0% Intro APR on new credit card purchases for 12 months. The APR for balance transfers is 4.99%, with no balance transfer fee.

Yup, it would be great if you could transfer balances to Amex Clear at 0%, but 4.99% isn't that bad, considering the fact that it's 4.99% for the life of the transferred balance. Right now, the U.S. Prime Rate is 8.25%, so transferring a balance to this card can save a lot of people out there some serious cash (the APR for many credit cards in the American market is the U.S. Prime Rate plus a margin.)

The main selling point of this card is that there are no fees: no over-the-limit fees, no annual fee, no late fees, no balance transfer fees and no cash advance fees. As quoted from the American Express website:

"No fees of any kind."

However, if you are the type of person who pays their bills on time, all the time, then this "no fees" marketing strategy is almost meaningless, since a person like you is very likely to avoid such fees in first place. Of course, if you are the sort who sometimes misses a payment, or you go over your credit limit every once in a while, then you may be very attracted to the fact that the Clear card has no fees.

Though American Express won't charge you any fees for a late payment, they will report any late payments to the credit bureaus. Keep that in mind. Furthermore, if you are late with a payment more than once within a 12 month period, the folks at Amex may raise the APR associated with your account.

Another characteristic about the Clear card that should be noted: every year, you get access to a "user-friendly" credit report and credit score. A great feature -- no doubt -- but I failed to find out which credit score and credit report they're offering: is it TransUnion, Experian or Equifax? Or is it some other proprietary credit score and report? Hmmmmm... Please post a comment if you know that answer. Thanks!

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