I speculate that this change is driven by cardholders who purchase giftcards at supermarkets to earn 6% on spending in other categories. $6,000 is only about $120 per week. I think that's low even for a couple, let alone a family with children.

Of course a couple could hold two Blue Cash Preferred cards. (Or one Preferred and one Blue Cash Everyday.)

Got the same notice on my Oct stmt as well.

I have the BCP but haven't gotten the $6K limit notification. I don't get paper notifications or statements, but I thought I would've gotten an email notification or some sort of notice when I log in, but nothing. My billing cycle ends on 10/21, maybe I'll see it then.

Anyway, does the $6K limit apply for calendar years? For example, if it starts on 1/15/13, does that mean that we only get 6% on $6K from that date until the end of 2013, and then each calendar year after that? I signed up for the BCP in June 2012 and don't plan to renew; so that means I can spend up to $6K in "groceries" in half a year... I think that will be enough.

Will be following this development, as my next statement cuts end of next week. Thanks OP for the heads up.

How do you get $0.07 per HH pt? That is VERY generous, even a stretch for premium properites, WAY OFF for lower end chains (ES, HGI, Hampton).

[QUOTE=diver858;19452924][QUOTE=rajuabju;19172104]Same.

I value my HHonors points at around .07, so with the 6 pts per dollar on groceries, its effectively a 4.2% return.I think diver means 0.7 cents ($0.007), which is about right (actually conservative for higher end properties).

Another vote for BCP preferred for groceries - by far the THE BEST return.

We have had the card for several years, back in the day of the $6500 threshold, no annual fee. Even for a small family, it is easy to justify the $75 annual fee, we jumped to the current program as soon as it became available.

BCP also offers 3% on gas, when Discover or Freedom does not have their quarterly 5% promotion. Better option is to buy gas GC in the supermarket, to earn 6% CB, more when supermarkets offer GC promotions.

For most everything else we use Sapphire Preferred, due to the redemption flexibility - typically Avios for short haul (international) flights, Priority Club for cheap 5k per night PointBreak stays, and if all else fails - CASH. http://www.priorityclub.com/hotels/u...rateCode=IVANI

[QUOTE=DaveInLA;19452953][QUOTE=diver858;19452924]Pardon the formatting typo - was quoting, questioning rajuabju, who claimed the 0.07 on the first page of this thread.

Here are the exact terms of the change AMEX is making to Blue Cash Rewards:

We are changing the amount of Reward Dollars earned on supermarket purchases.
For the first $6,000 in U.S. stand-alone supermarket purchases during each calendar year, you will continue to earn 6%. For those purchases above $6000 in that calendar year, you will earn only 1%. This means you will earn fewer Reward Dollars for supermarket purchases in excess of $6000 in each calendar year.
This change becomes effective when your account renews on or after January 15, 2013.

That's a key sentence that a lot of people neglected to post. I signed up late June 2012, that means that I can enjoy 6% until June 2013. I usually spend $400-800/mo, so I never went that far off $500/mo anyway. I wasn't planning on renewing this card (now that my AMEX HH has 6x pts and no annual fee); now I'm definitely not going to renew.

We may need to get clarification from AMEX, but your interpretation makes sense to me. My account renews for the second time in May 2013, so that will be my decision time as to whether or not I will renew.

So, in reality, you can only earn $360.00 per year. Take the $75.00 annual fee, and you now only earn $285.00 a year and then it reverts back to 1%.

Not sure what is going on with AMEX, but they've been devaluating their membership rewards for Blue for years now. Are they trying to get rid of customers on the Blue program? I do not even use a true AMEX anymore. My go to card is the Fido AMEX and Priceline 2% Visa.

While I know AMEX attempts to reach a higher net worth person, we still like rewards. This 1% crap ain't cutting it...

Sorry folks for not posting the exact words. Glad someone cleared that up. The blogs are writing about it with similar ambiguity (I think the writers don't actually have the card...).

$285/600 = 4.75%. Show me another credit card that pays a better effective CASH reward for supermarkets. AMEX breaks out supermarket purchases on statements, looks like we average about $500 per month, only use it the supermarket, so this should not be an issue.
That said, we plan to add a Chase Freedom card, checking account to our Preferred Select and Ink Bold cards when the new local branch opens in our neighborhood, will use Freedom for grocery purchases during the quarter they offer 5%. We typically convert UR for award travel, redeem at a rate that exceeds $0.02 per point (International travel), so we will be WAY ahead of the game.

Wow, this is going to be close. I just looked and my $75 annual fee for 2012 was charged Jan. 11, 2012. I hope that means my renewal date is also Jan. 11th, 2013.

I use the original Blue AMEX and receive 5% on groceries, fuel and drug stores. No cap. Have to spend 6.5k, but no cap or annual fee.

You should check your October statement to be sure they aren't making any changes to your card, too. The Blue Cash everyday card will be capped at $6,000, too.

Nope. Checked. I'm good.

I have the BCP card and my statement just posted. Where are you guys getting this notice? A pop-up when you log in? A paper statement in your snail mail?

On the .pdf of my October statement - page 9 on mine. I don't get paper statements.

Ah, there it is.

I think I read somewhere that someone stated that their notice says this limit begins on 1/15/2013 OR after the 1 yr anniversary of their card. I don't see anything like that on my statement.

Good for you, because everyone with the newer cards is getting it.

My statement says "This change becomes effective when your account renews on or after January 15, 2013."

Since my account renews on January 11th, 2013 I'm reading this as my grocery cash back won't be capped until January 11th, 2014 which is the first time my account will renew on or after January 15th, 2013.

So currently I use UR points exclusively for transfer to hyatt and or united. These are where I can easily get the most points, but groceries (and gas) unless covered in the freedom 5% quarter are only 1%.

Any ideas of the highest % back with access to transfers to hyatt or united?
Want to make my points work together if I am going to do it.

Before I starting using the Amex Blue Preferred Cash card, I used AMex Premier Rewards Gold card which gives you two MR points per dollar at grocery stores. These cannot be moved to United, but can be moved at 1 to 1 to Aeroplan and then used on partner airlines including United.

BCP is 6% cash, can be used to pay for carrier, hotel chain of your choice. While we all like to leverage UR points for high value redemptions (flights in International business class), there are still instances where using cash is more desirable.
1. Discounted fares, where award redemptions are either not available, or not a good value. For example - we recently purchased tickets for the return flight from OGG to SAN, as it required 17.5k AA miles, paid less than $200 each on AS, will also earn ~2500 EQM AA miles.
2. Qualification for elite status.

Best card for groceries?
 

I know the AMEX card that gives 6% back. But is there anything else that compares?

We already have a thread for this:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...groceries.html

Maybe, but it really depends on the kind of groceries you buy. The paper thin, narrow ones are best bought with other cards.:D

Moderator action
 

the4aces's question has been appended to the thread mentioned by onthego15.

5X TYP Groceries;Gas;Drugstores + 15K after $1K, no annual fee.

http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...E3C1423FE762C9

EDIT - Link dead

Whats the best credit card to use outside of the US for groceries? I haven't found any without foreign transaction fees.

Thanks for sharing this. Too bad the 5x is only for the first 12 months:

Earn 5 points per $1 spent at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations for the first 12 months; 1 point per $1 spent thereafter.†

Forgot to include that caveat. Since I have Amex BCP, uncapped through next August I am not jumping on this, but pair it with a Citi Forward and a TY Premeire and its got a nice collection of category multipliers and flight redemption opportunities.

My AMEX BCP will be giving me 6% until May, so that's when I will be interested in new cards. I'm sure there will be other new cards to consider in the coming months

My BCP gets capped in Feb (spent 18K on groceries from Feb-Nov, not all that much on gift cards!) so I've also get PenFed Platinum Rewards, which is paying 3% uncapped (for now!) on groceries, as well as 5% on gas.

Uncapped is important for me, so I am not bothering with rotating 5% cards capped at $75 per quarter.

We'll see how long PenFed stays upcapped though I am somewhat hopeful. I'm guessing that since you can use 2% on everything cards, the temptation to buy gift cards at 3% (to save 1%) is much less than at 6%, so there will be less "abuse"

Based on prior usage, we expect to hit the BCP cap in 9 months usage, exclusively with groceries. For this reason, we plan to use Chase Freedom during the quarter supermarkets earn 5%.

Me too...too bad there aren't any such quarters next year.