Thanks for the detailed reply Marathon Man! I've read all about the Spanish inquisition in the other threads I'm getting the Hilton AMEX surplus which gives you Gold status for a year and there's a bonus right now for $3k K spending. I only want to do the BC once to meet this amount. I'll then use it to pay my rent on Williampaid and get it over with. They charge 2.45% for CC's, and the 1.6% from BC softens the blow. Also getting one AmEx GC for the lumpsum and using it to pay rent and is much easier than trying to redeem 28 store bought cards for $100each

What I was worried about was the T&C I quoted, especially given the recent problems reported with BC purchases through various cards (Chase etc) not going through or the GC not working once people try to use them. Obviously AmEx will know I bought a AmexGC with my AmexCC. I'm worried that in a month they'll tell me "No soup for you because you bought a cash equivalent!" I do need those bonus points to make a booking pretty soon.