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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 Sep 30, 2014, 10:49 pm
  #3691  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 313
Originally Posted by redarmy
Same here. In fact, I was not able to use the card at CVS tonight.
Similar experience at cvs with two blue cards but worked at grocery store 15 minutes later.Felt little dizzy thinking about FR but no harm done except May be a wasted trip to cvs.
nadir576 is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2014, 9:54 am
  #3692  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Los Angles
Posts: 2,101
All 3 Wmt around refuses MO with my US bank visa GC.(they want debit card with my name on it) sometimes the cashier ask for loading BB too. All grocery stores are cash only for MO. I have large CL and enough US bank GC source to purchase. I have done 35k-50k per month in the past. If u have a suggestion and not willing to share in public, PM is the alternative.
prasha11 is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2014, 12:43 pm
  #3693  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 16
Originally Posted by ericdabbs
Damn I gotta check my CVS today but it seems like not good news.
I can still buy mine at my cvs. How many do you load in a month? I am only doing 1k a month, afraid of being shut down by paypal...

Just curious as to what others are doing.
ivanist is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2014, 2:12 pm
  #3694  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,688
Originally Posted by ivanist
I can still buy mine at my cvs. How many do you load in a month? I am only doing 1k a month, afraid of being shut down by paypal...

Just curious as to what others are doing.
I have 4 pp accounts, all 6 y/o. I load only 2 cards ($3K to $4K monthly with PPMC) that I used for buy/sell on ebay for collector's items. These 2 send funds to the other 2 that are currently active with lots of transactions. The accounts where I receive funds are deposited to my bank account. This has been going on for more than a year w/o issue. I buy PPMCs at WAG and CVS.
Mamibear is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2014, 2:47 pm
  #3695  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 33
Originally Posted by nadir576
Similar experience at cvs with two blue cards but worked at grocery store 15 minutes later.Felt little dizzy thinking about FR but no harm done except May be a wasted trip to cvs.
Similar experience at CVS. I too thought there was a Fraud Alert/FR. After I called Amex to verify that there is no fraud alert, I went again to purchase the GC. Got the same message "Alternate Payment Required" that the cashier showed to me. I asked him if I can try again and the second time it went through.

Also, the first time when it failed, it posted as 2 pending transactions on my account which the representative assured will not post and will drop. So, something is going on with CVS checkout terminals. Hope they are not trying to make cash only for gift cards.
jaiice is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2014, 6:54 pm
  #3696  
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: ILG/PHL
Programs: Amex Plat, AA Gold, SPG Gold, Hyatt Gold, HHonors Gold, Carlson Gold
Posts: 1,075
4x PPMC today at CVS no problems.
payeco is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2014, 7:04 pm
  #3697  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: DL DM Hub Captive, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, PC Plat, and other stuff.
Posts: 904
I got stopped at the register at one of my usual CVSs the other day with a message at the terminal along the lines of "this transaction cannot be processed."

However, two days ago at a different CVS I bought 10 PPMC cards ($5K), and again this evening at yet another CVS, I bought another 10 PPMC cards for $5K.

Whatever has been going on, it's not yet system wide.
thegasguru is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2014, 11:57 am
  #3698  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 240
Originally Posted by Mamibear
I have 4 pp accounts, all 6 y/o. I load only 2 cards ($3K to $4K monthly with PPMC) that I used for buy/sell on ebay for collector's items. These 2 send funds to the other 2 that are currently active with lots of transactions. The accounts where I receive funds are deposited to my bank account. This has been going on for more than a year w/o issue. I buy PPMCs at WAG and CVS.
3k to 4k on each of the 2 accounts?
Silverthunder is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2014, 1:04 pm
  #3699  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,688
Originally Posted by Silverthunder
3k to 4k on each of the 2 accounts?
yes
Mamibear is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2014, 9:47 pm
  #3700  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 227
Originally Posted by prasha11
All 3 Wmt around refuses MO with my US bank visa GC.(they want debit card with my name on it) sometimes the cashier ask for loading BB too. All grocery stores are cash only for MO. I have large CL and enough US bank GC source to purchase. I have done 35k-50k per month in the past. If u have a suggestion and not willing to share in public, PM is the alternative.
I suggest you invest in a manual embossing machine and silver-metallic Sharpie.
PtsJunkieWI is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2014, 10:34 pm
  #3701  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 32
Bought $3k today at CVS with no issues.
Allamerathlete is offline  
Old Oct 4, 2014, 12:26 pm
  #3702  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 240
Originally Posted by PtsJunkieWI
I suggest you invest in a manual embossing machine and silver-metallic Sharpie.
At Walmart, I think they can still see on the terminal that you swiped a gift card. Although it might have just been an observant cashier.
Silverthunder is offline  
Old Oct 4, 2014, 5:18 pm
  #3703  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: PHL ILG
Posts: 87
Noob question here, hope someone can confirm:

Does the 5% everyday spending kick in after 6500 of ANY spend or only after 6500 of spend in the everyday categories?
mandj is offline  
Old Oct 4, 2014, 5:19 pm
  #3704  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 226
Originally Posted by mandj
Noob question here, hope someone can confirm:

Does the 5% everyday spending kick in after 6500 of ANY spend or only after 6500 of spend in the everyday categories?
$6500 of ANY spend
dboston1 is offline  
Old Oct 4, 2014, 5:27 pm
  #3705  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posts: 41
Originally Posted by mandj
Noob question here, hope someone can confirm:

Does the 5% everyday spending kick in after 6500 of ANY spend or only after 6500 of spend in the everyday categories?
Yes BUT, reports on this thread say that Amex will calculate it in the worst possible way for you. e.g., if you spend 5K in 'other' categories followed by 5K in 'everyday categories', you'll get 1% on the 5K of 'everyday' categories, 0.5% of 1.5K in the 'other' categories, then 1% on the remaining 3.5K of 'other' categories, even though by order-of-spend you should've gotten 0.5% on the 5K of 'other' categories, 1% on the first 1.5K of 'everyday' categories then 5% on the remaining 3.5K of 'everyday' categories (assuming you do this all within one billing cycle!).
tallakahath is offline  


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