Dieuwer

How about 2 MR points vs. 3.5% cash back?

mia

In which spending category?

Dieuwer

Groceries.

mia

I would rather have 5 Ultimate Rewards points or 5 ThankYou points than either of those choices. I earn that amount because we shop primarily at Whole Foods Market, and their gift cards are sold at Staples and at Amazon.

If I were to shop primarily at another supermarket, or if I didn't want to go to the trouble of buying giftcards, I would choose 4.5 Membership Rewards points. However, I think that josephstern was referring to general spending rather than a promotional category such as supermarkets, gasoline or travel.

josephstern

Right - I'm talking about general spending, and to some extent, MSing.

I'm not talking about signup bonuses or promotions. Of course I'll keep signing up for new cards for signup promos and I'll use my Barclays Aviator every time they give me another special offer.

And for special categories, like when I actually pay for a hotel, I'll likely use my Prestige.

But for regular, unbonused spending, I'm going all CB.

Part of my reasoning is, I have too many points. I travel a bunch, but the points are just devaluing sitting there. Cash? You can argue that it devalues these days, but overall, it's an upward trend.

2Tall4Y

Other than the lounge initiative--which is rather bold--it just seems AMEX is much more reactive than proactive to changes in the market. The fact they send out multiple mailers to highlight card benefits leads me to believe they are out of touch with much of their clientele.

I agree some short term easy fixes would be a relaxing of the airline reimbursement nonsense and allowing bonus categories on overseas purchases. Long term AMEX is going to have to put some hard work into creating a better value proposition for some of its cards and MR in general.

joscofra

No love for the ED and EDP cards? If I weren't in the middle of a phase of new cards and min spend requirements I would be figuring out a way to set up enough swipes/month to get the increased bonus, racking up MR points that way.

mia

American Express also issues a free card which earns a 30% bonus on all spending, with no need to make a specific number of transactions. There was great angst when Chase eliminated the underwhelming 7% bonus on Sapphire Preferred, and this is doesn't generate any discussion?

tmiw

Having "American" in the name isn't a problem on its own. The problem is that there's still a mistaken impression among a lot of people outside the US that AmEx isn't accepted anywhere, even if that's not the case. Combine that with the impression among merchants that AmEx merchant fees are much higher than Visa/MC (despite some Visa/MC cards having fees nearly as large as AmEx) and its use gets discouraged abroad. Travel programs are likely abandoning AmEx so that they can get more spend on their cards as a result.

henrythefourth

I have been eyeing this card for the past year. I find it especially appealing because it goes hand in hand with my fee free EveryDay. The card did blip on the bloggers radar because of the extra 10K bonus back in October, but not much since. A year ago they're saying the card isn't worth the credit pull, but now, hey! gotta get commissions.

At 1.3 points for everything it's a super solid card, but with no categories it isn't sexy at all. I want to get this card, but I'm still leaning towards the Ink Cash (UR w/ CSP). If Blue for Business had the same 5/3/1 bonus structure as the SimplyCash I believe it would be greatly more popular even though that doesn't come anywhere near 30%. THIRTY PERCENT! No minimum transactions either. Also, if they did the bonus quarterly instead of annually it would feel more tangible. Or do it monthly like the ED/EDP cards = instant gratification.

It all comes down to transfer partners. Amex keeps losing them. For me personally UR has greater partners than MR.

@henrythefourth

Dieuwer

I have a card that earns a 75% bonus on all spending.

krazykanuck

Thanks for posting. I might downgrade my SPG Biz card so maybe I can sneak in 1 more SPG Biz bonus.

mhdena

Which one is this?

mia

Blue for Business. Click the word this in my original post to read the previous thread.

nall

With the Sapphire Preferred, that 7% bonus translated into 14% or 21% with the card's numerous 2x and occasional 1x category. The Blue for Business, on the other hand, has no 2x categories?

The Everyday/Everyday Preferred is much more analogous.