Last edit by: ChrisFlyer66
This is the Amex Blue thread for 2015. The previous 2013- 2014 megathread is here.
The 2016 thread is here.
Bonus category spending is now capped at $50,000 per year for new accounts. For now, this does not apply to existing cardholders, although Amex may continue to close accounts for excessive spend in bonus categories. There are reports that the new limits will apply to existing cardholders on the month containing your anniversary after March 1.
Oct 22, 2014 onwards: Many people getting cancellation email from Amex. As of June 11, 2015, shutdown reports continue.
Some who have been shutdown are reporting back that AMEX is declining new non-OBC card applications due to "unsatisfactory relationship". (However, see here for an example where reconsideration was successful.) It is unclear at this time the length/extent of this Adverse Action/Ban.
If AMEX sends you a cancellation it goes on your record as a cancellation by AMEX, not a cancellation by cardholder. While FICO score does not distinguish between closed by issuer and closed by cardholder, on manual review it may raise questions. However, issuers close cards for benign reasons as well (such as non-use) so unless several cards have been closed it probably won't cause a rejection by itself.
Excessive MS on this card may sever your ties with Amex.
Consider factors that may have led to these closures when sharing personal experiences.
If you still feel it is worth it:
Application Link: Copy & paste the following link into a incognito window in Chrome or InPrivate Browsing in IE, Private Session in Firefox. There have been reports of people who got the card in the last couple of months getting shut down because of the rush to spend the initial $6,500.
Do NOT post "Link isn't working" until you have tried it incognito/private browsing and it fails there.
Code:
https://www304.americanexpress.com/c...lue-cash/25330
Up to 5% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations & select U.S. drugstores (Everyday Purchases). Up to 1% Cash Back on other purchases. For your first $6,500¹ spend in a reward year², you will earn 1% on Everyday Purchases³ (5% after 6500⁴), and 0.5% on other purchases (then 1%).
0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months.
Eligible purchases do NOT include fees or interest charges, balance transfers, cash advances, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, or purchases of other cash equivalents. Additional terms and restrictions apply. (Presume these T&Cs are standard and that all credit cards state this)
¹ First '$6,500' is spend on all purchases.
² 'Reward year' is the 12 billing periods in a row beginning with the one in which the anniversary of your Card Account occurs.
³ 'everyday purchases' refers to U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations & select U.S. drugstores, not all purchases.
⁴ 5% kicks in immediately after hitting $6500.(mid-statement). In fact, it will even kick in mid-purchase and a portion of the purchase will credit at the higher rate.
* Reward dollars for the previous statement period show up a day or two after the current statement period closes.
* Most cash back redemptions will be applied to your statement within 2–3 days.
* Helpful post regarding moving CL between cards. Thanks lad2
* How to Visually Distinguish the Three Types of Blue Cash Cards:
Blue Cash (old) has a "<" character to the left of the word CASH
Blue Cash Everyday has a circle to the right of the word CASH, with the "Everyday" wording at the back.
Blue Cash Preferred has the word PREFERRED printed vertically on the extreme left side.
If you get the error message "You cannot be logged in. Please contact the number on the back of your card." when trying to redeem Reward Dollars online, it may be because you have too many closed accounts still showing in your scrolling images of cards. Delete the closed ones, then try to redeem again.
The 2016 thread is here.
Bonus category spending is now capped at $50,000 per year for new accounts. For now, this does not apply to existing cardholders, although Amex may continue to close accounts for excessive spend in bonus categories. There are reports that the new limits will apply to existing cardholders on the month containing your anniversary after March 1.
Oct 22, 2014 onwards: Many people getting cancellation email from Amex. As of June 11, 2015, shutdown reports continue.
Some who have been shutdown are reporting back that AMEX is declining new non-OBC card applications due to "unsatisfactory relationship". (However, see here for an example where reconsideration was successful.) It is unclear at this time the length/extent of this Adverse Action/Ban.
If AMEX sends you a cancellation it goes on your record as a cancellation by AMEX, not a cancellation by cardholder. While FICO score does not distinguish between closed by issuer and closed by cardholder, on manual review it may raise questions. However, issuers close cards for benign reasons as well (such as non-use) so unless several cards have been closed it probably won't cause a rejection by itself.
Excessive MS on this card may sever your ties with Amex.
Consider factors that may have led to these closures when sharing personal experiences.
If you still feel it is worth it:
Application Link: Copy & paste the following link into a incognito window in Chrome or InPrivate Browsing in IE, Private Session in Firefox. There have been reports of people who got the card in the last couple of months getting shut down because of the rush to spend the initial $6,500.
Do NOT post "Link isn't working" until you have tried it incognito/private browsing and it fails there.
Code:
https://www304.americanexpress.com/c...lue-cash/25330
Up to 5% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations & select U.S. drugstores (Everyday Purchases). Up to 1% Cash Back on other purchases. For your first $6,500¹ spend in a reward year², you will earn 1% on Everyday Purchases³ (5% after 6500⁴), and 0.5% on other purchases (then 1%).
0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months.
Eligible purchases do NOT include fees or interest charges, balance transfers, cash advances, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, or purchases of other cash equivalents. Additional terms and restrictions apply. (Presume these T&Cs are standard and that all credit cards state this)
¹ First '$6,500' is spend on all purchases.
² 'Reward year' is the 12 billing periods in a row beginning with the one in which the anniversary of your Card Account occurs.
³ 'everyday purchases' refers to U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations & select U.S. drugstores, not all purchases.
⁴ 5% kicks in immediately after hitting $6500.(mid-statement). In fact, it will even kick in mid-purchase and a portion of the purchase will credit at the higher rate.
* Reward dollars for the previous statement period show up a day or two after the current statement period closes.
* Most cash back redemptions will be applied to your statement within 2–3 days.
* Helpful post regarding moving CL between cards. Thanks lad2
* How to Visually Distinguish the Three Types of Blue Cash Cards:
Blue Cash (old) has a "<" character to the left of the word CASH
Blue Cash Everyday has a circle to the right of the word CASH, with the "Everyday" wording at the back.
Blue Cash Preferred has the word PREFERRED printed vertically on the extreme left side.
If you get the error message "You cannot be logged in. Please contact the number on the back of your card." when trying to redeem Reward Dollars online, it may be because you have too many closed accounts still showing in your scrolling images of cards. Delete the closed ones, then try to redeem again.
Old Amex Blue (2015)
#856
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: DFW/DAL
Programs: AA 1MM Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 1,524
Not entirely correct. I applied for a family member on 12/5 when the website displayed new terms, however the documentation sent with the card was OLD terms. That card got the notice on it's statement a month or two later like everyone else about the cap coming in. So I have yet to confirm if the system will work as it should, but this card should be uncapped until Dec this year. Might be the only one that goes that long uncapped! The card doesn't have a high enough limit to do significant spending on right now though, and I have a lot of other stuff going on, so I have not hit $50k with it yet to find out.
#857
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,929
Yes, some cards under the new terms were sent old terms paperwork.
#858
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,929
your clock already reset, on the day after your statement date in March
#859
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,422
I guess then I'll have to do another year of this since I'm already at about 5K in .5% spend anyway.
This has got to be the most confusing credit card award system in history. I guess there are no civilians to get hurt, though.
So I don't have to re-read the thread, would I then get $43,500 in 5x spend or $50,000? I guess I need to also read all my PDF statements to see if they mention a cap, which I presume I have.
#860
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: The World!!!
Programs: Some of them not all ...
Posts: 1,532
Old Amex Blue (2015)
Today, after using another Kroger coupon and getting $1,000 on two VVGCs I instantly recieved an email from Amex. Thought the worst and when reading it discovered it was just a credit line increase because of my great usage 😒
I opened the card on 08/2014 and well, as many people say here, do not even know if I am capped or not, as the way they sent the new terms is so confusing.
I opened the card on 08/2014 and well, as many people say here, do not even know if I am capped or not, as the way they sent the new terms is so confusing.
#864
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: RDU
Posts: 31
The wiki mentions 0% APR for first 15 months but I didn't see any mention of that when going to the link. I'm in the market for a car and I was thinking about slowly MSing my down payment.
#865
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,708
It does appear to be the kiss of death. So many have reported getting the CLI and then shutdown the next month. It's as if the computer flags you as using your account heavily and gives you a CLI, then the next month a human looks to see what you have been buying. Or perhaps it is not human but another algorithm that looks for patterns in purchasing and flags the account as MSing and triggers shutdown. Curious. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
#866
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,422
It does appear to be the kiss of death. So many have reported getting the CLI and then shutdown the next month. It's as if the computer flags you as using your account heavily and gives you a CLI, then the next month a human looks to see what you have been buying. Or perhaps it is not human but another algorithm that looks for patterns in purchasing and flags the account as MSing and triggers shutdown. Curious. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
#867
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Gulf Coast of FL
Posts: 115
I got the CLI right around the time of the shutdowns and I didn't get shut down. I was going fair to middlin'--not as hard as some of you, but my monthly groceries were in the 20k range. Still going. I did scale way back. Partly because I love my AmEx and didn't want to face shutdown and partly work got so nuts I just didn't have time to do anything else.
#869
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: California
Posts: 264
Is there any correlation between people's income (that they reported to AmEx) and whether or not they got shut down?
e.g., $100k spending with $30k income = shutdown; $100k spending with $200k income = no shutdown?
e.g., $100k spending with $30k income = shutdown; $100k spending with $200k income = no shutdown?
#870
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,507
Amex has already established the $50K cap for the new folks so I don't think Amex would care as much for those folks to go over $50K since after that you only earn 1%.