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Old Jan 8, 2014, 2:22 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: TheDapperDon
Bonus category spending is now capped at $50k 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. This card is less viable as an MS instrument. Consider factors that may have led to these closures when sharing personal experiences.

Oct 22, 2014 onwards: Many people getting cancellation email from Amex. As of Dec 13, 2014, shutdown reports continue. Shutdowns appear to be triggered by spending on the card or upon statement closure, but not always

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.

Others have succeeded in getting new cards, including new OBCs, but consider your relationship with Amex and how much you value that and this card when deciding how to use it.

There might be some impact with other issuers. 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.

So, 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/credit-card/blue-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 6500), 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.

* Read the fine print for 'gas' purchases! Right from AMEX T&C's:
...Everyday Purchases are: ... $400 or less of gasoline at gas stations located in the U.S. (superstores, supermarkets and warehouse clubs that sell gasoline are not considered gas stations)... A >$400 purchase at a gas station will get 5% for the first $400 and 1% thereafter. E.g., for something, say, $503.95, you would earn $21.04 CB [($400*5%)+(103.95*1%)].

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.
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Old Amex Blue (2013-2014)

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Old Dec 30, 2013, 10:47 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Nov 2011
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Old Amex Blue (2013-2014)

It's been pointed out on MyFico that you can still obtain the old Amex Blue (5% EDS after $6500 spend). While it is cash back rather than miles, have people here been using that card heavily (for some definition of heavily, e.g like 5x TYP!) buying VR or GC at CVS/supermarkets?
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 10:51 am
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Link?
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 10:53 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by cashback
Link?
Thread is http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Cred...e/td-p/2685719

Last edited by silver6054; Dec 31, 2013 at 8:38 pm
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 11:41 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Will definitely app for this when I get home. Sucks you cant PC to it.
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 11:43 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: South NJ
Posts: 263
OP, you've just made my day! I've had this card for 10 years, but it has been sitting in my CC pile for the past 5 years (with only occasional bonus-related use such as the recent Amazon $25 off $75 deal). With my 5x Citi TYP coming to an end next month, this will be a perfect replacement!
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 11:46 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
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Applied and approved. Thanks OP. Note I also have the BCP
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 11:55 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Posts: 181
Whats the big deal with this card? It seems like you'd have to pump some serious spend through this card to make it lucrative, especially when other cards often have the same 5% categories (Freedom, Discover, Cash Plus, etc.) For those who casually do a few reloads a month and have other cards to pull bonus spend out of, the old Amex BC seems overrated.
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 12:12 pm
  #8  
 
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For many people here, $6.5k can be met in matter of hours if not minutes.
After meeting the minimum spending, oh boy...
flyertalk77 is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2013, 12:18 pm
  #9  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: South NJ
Posts: 263
Originally Posted by mikeyb45
Whats the big deal with this card? It seems like you'd have to pump some serious spend through this card to make it lucrative, especially when other cards often have the same 5% categories (Freedom, Discover, Cash Plus, etc.) For those who casually do a few reloads a month and have other cards to pull bonus spend out of, the old Amex BC seems overrated.
It definitely depends on your personal situation, credit cards you already have, your redemption preferences and level of MS. I spend between 10-15K per month so this is definitely worth it to me. Freedom has a $1,500 cap; Discover has online bonuses, but I am unaware of any of their cards offering 5% cashback in these same categories for in-store purchases.

This card has no annual fee and no earning cap (unlike Citi TYP, which is not available any longer anyway, or WF, which is for 6 months). Since I already have the card, there is no credit pull involved either. Plus, unlike TYP, 1 point =1 cent (1 TYP is often worth less when redeeming due to inflated hotel/airfare prices offered on the TYP site).

If I spend 10K per month, that's 120K/year. If I were to use SPG instead, I'd earn 150K miles (with their airline transfer bonus). Not bad, but since I redeem mostly for economy tickets, that's 6 R/T tickets, or $3K in value (at $500/ticket, which may be generous). Even if you redeem internationally in economy, you'd likely still get around $3K in value, perhaps slightly higher.

With this card, I would earn $6K cash back, less the VR fee of $948. This nets approx $5K. Plus the return is in $$$, which gives you more flexibility than airline miles (i.e., you can redeem for car rentals, hotels, or cash).

You could use another card such as CSP, Barclay's Amex PRG or Plat, but between the AF, lack of category bonus, and my redemption preferences, this card comes out on top for me.
Zamboni Driver is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2013, 12:23 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: WI
Posts: 181
Zamboni, your situation definitely puts a new spin on this card! I didn't realize it was possible to manufacture that much spend. I get nervous loading upwards of $1k a month to Bluebird, but then again I'm pretty new to this. Is BB your primary liquidation source?
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 12:28 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: South NJ
Posts: 263
Originally Posted by mikeyb45
Zamboni, your situation definitely puts a new spin on this card! I didn't realize it was possible to manufacture that much spend. I get nervous loading upwards of $1k a month to Bluebird, but then again I'm pretty new to this. Is BB your primary liquidation source?
There are people who do much more than I do. BB is primary, but I also mix in Amex prepaid and GoBank. It helps to have >1 BB acct.
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 12:29 pm
  #12  
jyx
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: ORD
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Isn't it very likely that MS on AMEX will lead to FR?
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 12:32 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
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How long before they drop drugstore from the 5x list like they did with the HHonors card earlier this year?
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 12:33 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
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Posts: 496
Originally Posted by jyx
Isn't it very likely that MS on AMEX will lead to FR?
Just don't lie on your application
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Old Dec 30, 2013, 12:38 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: KWI
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 806
Been using this for three months now. I thought it was grandfathered users only. Now it'll probably get shut down.
LoneTree is offline  


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