kickmee6

Hello, was just approved for Blue Cash Preferred and had a few questions. I am not sure if i am in the right place, but please bare with me here. I appreciate all of your help

After reading terms and conditions, GCs are excluded from applicable purchases towards rewards. GCs are also excluded from qualifying towards the initial "$1000 spend" to earn $150 cash back.

1. Does the purchase of GC's count as cash advance or is it simply a purchase that does not accrue rewards ?

2. If using the card to hit the $1000 for normal spend, could i redeem the $150 cash back reward against the purchase of a gift card ?

To provide a little context, i am looking to pay student loans by using "Gift of College" gift cards which can be purchased at toys r us.

Thank you for you help !

mikesyr18

Do the GOC cards cost money? If so, you might be better off using Plastiq instead, which would then cut a check to the person's student loan provider.

kickmee6

Hi Mike,

I am not familiar with any intricacies of Plastiq, but i believe the fee is 2.5%

The GoC card fee is about 1.19% on a $500 purchase

I wish the Blue Cash Preferred would count GC as purchases, but i believe with Normal spend i can find a way to utilize the card to help the cause

mikesyr18

Depends. Sometimes AMEX will show a particular purchase as a gift card purchase (like at Staples) and with other merchants they can't see that the purchase was a gift card (like at Wegmans). Buy one GC at the smallest denominator and test it out, or purchase a small item with the gift card.

kickmee6

Thank you Mike, I will definitely be giving that a go

msp3

Having never actually paid attention to how (V)GC purchases post, I was horrified today to find out apparently lots of GC-only transactions are posting as 1% at Safeway, but seemed fine at Whole Foods...

mikesyr18

You can tell when AMEX recognizes gift cards as the purchase because you'll see it within the "details" part if you look online.

MaxVO

For as long as I've had my BCP card, rewards could be redeemed for statement credits only in multiples of $25. Today I've noticed a change. Well first, the redemption page signed me off several times before finally loading. When it did, it showed that redemptions were possible in any amount from $25 up to the total accumulated credit. Unless it's a temporary glitch, we now got ourselves a new account feature! ^

onthego15

yes, it's a great new feature. At long last!

amanuensis

I don't see a more recent thread for AMEX's Blue Cash Preferred card, so I will resurrect this one.

Is there a list somewhere of exactly which chains do and don't qualify as a supermarket? We do most of our shopping at Smiths/Kroger and I have no doubts it will work there. But what about smaller "mom and pop" chains? What about Walmart? Found out that Walmart is excluded.

Speaking of Kroger, what I use now is their credit card offered through US Bank ... which gives me a 5% rebate when I pay using the Kroger Pay app on my phone at a Kroger supermarket (and 2% otherwise). But the 5% is limited to $3,000 of spending (and it is then 2% thereafter). So I am thinking about keeping the Kroger card and combining it with the Blue Cash preferred card. My plan would be to start the year with the AMEX and then once I spend $6,000, quit using it for the rest of the year and switch back to using the Kroger card (which has no annual fee). The Kroger card gives some fuel discounts, also.

Finally, is there a list of what streaming services qualify for the rebate and which don't?

I found the answer regarding streaming services that qualify.
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/r...fo/retail.html

MaxVO

WMNM will usually count as Grocery by AmEx, but not Visa/MC. Supercenters will not count as Grocery by anyone.

mia

The official supermarket list is on the same page as the Streaming list. It is not a complete list, because the number of small grocers in unmanageable and merchant classifications are typically selected by the merchant's Acquirer, not assigned by American Express.

See also these threads:

What is (or not) included in the U.S. Supermarket category?

American Express Blue Cash Preferred (6% supermarket questions)