Old Jan 8, 14, 3:22 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 $6,500 spend in a reward year, you will earn 1% on Everyday Purchases (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)

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
First '$6,500' is spend on all purchases.

'Reward year' is the 12 billing periods in a row beginning with the one in which the anniversary of your Card Account occurs.

'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 23 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)

Old Jan 5, 14, 10:14 am
  #271  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: LAX, SNA
Posts: 359
Yeah, this is a terrible card. I'm sure you guys have a bunch of cards lying around earning 5% at drugstores.
dogbyte is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 10:33 am
  #272  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 434
Originally Posted by dogbyte
Yeah, this is a terrible card. I'm sure you guys have a bunch of cards lying around earning 5% at drugstores.
Really??
xoxx is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 10:35 am
  #273  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: DEN
Programs: SPG Gold; HH Diamond
Posts: 223
Originally Posted by dogbyte
Yeah, this is a terrible card. I'm sure you guys have a bunch of cards lying around earning 5% at drugstores.
Who said that it was terrible?
kjgco is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 10:54 am
  #274  
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Denver
Posts: 111
Originally Posted by dogbyte
Yeah, this is a terrible card. I'm sure you guys have a bunch of cards lying around earning 5% at drugstores.
Of course! Still got two months left on my WF card. Plus I have a couple Dividend cards that have drugstores this quarter.

Not that this stopped me from getting the Blue.
mithrin is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 10:59 am
  #275  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 191
Originally Posted by kjgco
Who said that it was terrible?
yup, no one said that, but I think you can't pick up sarcasm in the card being terrible
tommy14 is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 11:03 am
  #276  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: DEN
Programs: SPG Gold; HH Diamond
Posts: 223
Originally Posted by tommy14
yup, no one said that, but I think you can't pick up sarcasm in the card being terrible
You would be incorrect in that presumption
kjgco is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 11:17 am
  #277  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
It certainly is terrible. Look, the card pays back in cash and many of us have refused to use cash since 2011 when the mint shut down.

Originally Posted by kjgco
Who said that it was terrible?
AlohaDaveKennedy is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 11:18 am
  #278  
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 577
Originally Posted by kjgco
Agreed that it's more like $65; it's early But there is another element at work that doesn't get mentioned all that often - the "cost" of a hard pull. ~$500 is my hurdle for an EXP hard pull, based on other bonuses that come along. That brings the necessary spending up to approx $25K to "break even" vs. the Fidelity card.
Why is your cost of a hard pull so high? Are you regularly getting turned down for credit cards? Nobody cares much about hard pulls except for Barclay's. This is my 6th new card this year with Amex for instance.
zeppoloveskafka is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 11:28 am
  #279  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: DEN
Programs: SPG Gold; HH Diamond
Posts: 223
Originally Posted by zeppoloveskafka
Why is your cost of a hard pull so high? Are you regularly getting turned down for credit cards? Nobody cares much about hard pulls except for Barclay's. This is my 6th new card this year with Amex for instance.
I guess I'm just greedy No, I almost always get approved when I apply for a card. I just think that there is a finite number of apps to be submitted and i like to pick my spots; also, I'm continually bumping up against the AmEx number of cards limit.
Suppose I change the hard pull "cost" to $250. The "breakeven" then drops to $17K. Don't get me wrong; in all likelihood I'll apply for the card shortly, because the spend required is not the issue. I just believe it's important to consider all costs, including opportunity costs, when deciding on apps.

Last edited by kjgco; Jan 5, 14 at 11:36 am
kjgco is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 11:30 am
  #280  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,493
Originally Posted by Fuerza
4 credit cards and how many charge cards?
not aware of any caps on charge cards... from a practical perspective i never have more than three anyway
ma91pmh is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 11:33 am
  #281  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 9,700
Originally Posted by zeppoloveskafka
Why is your cost of a hard pull so high? Are you regularly getting turned down for credit cards? Nobody cares much about hard pulls except for Barclay's. This is my 6th new card this year with Amex for instance.
5 days, 6 cards with Amex?
josephstern is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 11:36 am
  #282  
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 577
Originally Posted by josephstern
5 days, 6 cards with Amex?
my bad. I got 6 cards last year. Although I believe by this point last year I had already gotten 9 new cards (not all with amex).
zeppoloveskafka is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 12:05 pm
  #283  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by kjgco
Agreed that it's more like $65; it's early But there is another element at work that doesn't get mentioned all that often - the "cost" of a hard pull. ~$500 is my hurdle for an EXP hard pull, based on other bonuses that come along. That brings the necessary spending up to approx $25K to "break even" vs. the Fidelity card.
But given most people's intended use, $25K spend is hardly a big hurdle.
silver6054 is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 12:12 pm
  #284  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: DEN
Programs: SPG Gold; HH Diamond
Posts: 223
Originally Posted by silver6054
But given most people's intended use, $25K spend is hardly a big hurdle.
Agreed, which is why I'll probably apply in short order! It does make one wonder, though, how AmEx looks at these things. Someone who "only" spends $25K (and pays promptly, of course) may not be a particular source of concern to them as far as profitability goes.
kjgco is offline  
Old Jan 5, 14, 12:46 pm
  #285  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 203
Well they didn't let me convert back to BC from BCP. I converted it a few years ago from BC and it was a pretty good deal, until they put the $6000 cap on grocery stores. I was told I could apply for it though.
trippinbilly is offline  

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