Jan 8, 2014, 2:22 pm
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.
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 $6,500ą spend in a reward year˛, you will earn 1% on Everyday Purchasesł (5% after 6500⁴), 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)
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
ą 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.
ł '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%)].
⁴ 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.
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 $6,500ą spend in a reward year˛, you will earn 1% on Everyday Purchasesł (5% after 6500⁴), 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)
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
ą 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.
ł '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%)].
⁴ 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.
Old Amex Blue (2013-2014)
Oct 29, 2014, 10:52 pm
#5011
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 156
Any updates on RD? Looks like we need to make min payment to receive it.
Oct 29, 2014, 11:15 pm
#5012
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,496
That doesn't make any sense. Remember that we are getting our RDs for the previous months transactions (Sept). We already paid in full the amount of our Sept balance so we should get our Sept RDs without issue.
Oct 29, 2014, 11:18 pm
#5013
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 156
yes, thats right. I scheduled min payment for tomorrow. Lets see it might trigger the RD show up.
Oct 30, 2014, 12:29 am
#5015
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 77
In cali. 11:27 pm.pst. Rd hasnt posted. Obviously, some one upstairs put a hold in the system. Doesnt seem good for us.
Oct 30, 2014, 5:26 am
#5018
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: UA, CO, Delta, AA, BA, Hilton, Starwood, Marriott
Posts: 211
Oct 30, 2014, 6:34 am
#5019
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,052
A REAL data point from MM!
While I feel much of my "how to try to recopu" yammering is valid in this thread, here is something many of you are looking for... a datapoint>
Both our cards were shut.
Wife's was shut on the 22nd and cut on the 27th
Mine shut on the 27th and cut on the 27th. There was a delay of everything--the statement and any CB pending, which is nil now.
Payments to both cards have been delayed by at least a day or two in both cards.
it appears whether open or closed, people have been reporting delays with everything. It seems to me they jacked up their system when doing the mass shut downs. So maybe it's an IT catch up issue. A rest of sorts.
Part of me thinks, based on the chats with others over PM and email, that any open acct that is delaying the posting of CB rewards is going to get shut. But I cannot say because I have no open accts.
(blue amex that is). My other Amex cards and my wife's are still open and running.
Both our cards were shut.
Wife's was shut on the 22nd and cut on the 27th
Mine shut on the 27th and cut on the 27th. There was a delay of everything--the statement and any CB pending, which is nil now.
Payments to both cards have been delayed by at least a day or two in both cards.
it appears whether open or closed, people have been reporting delays with everything. It seems to me they jacked up their system when doing the mass shut downs. So maybe it's an IT catch up issue. A rest of sorts.
Part of me thinks, based on the chats with others over PM and email, that any open acct that is delaying the posting of CB rewards is going to get shut. But I cannot say because I have no open accts.
(blue amex that is). My other Amex cards and my wife's are still open and running.
Oct 30, 2014, 7:13 am
#5020
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
It is my educated guess as an old auditor and fraud examiner that AMEX screwed up reenacting The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve.
Oct 30, 2014, 7:15 am
#5021
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 175
I was shut down and I don't see a spot for the RD to show up when I login anymore. Are the people discussing RD not showing up still active?
Oct 30, 2014, 7:19 am
#5022
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ann Arbor
Programs: HHonors Gold , National Emerald Exec, Hertz Presidents, Delta Gold
Posts: 2,604
Oct 30, 2014, 7:34 am
#5023
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 2
DOING THE RIGHT THING
As much as we emphasize thinking creatively and moving quickly, our highest priority is doing things the right way. We are dedicated to strengthening our regulatory compliance program across the company. The aim is not just to clean up errors after they happen, but to prevent them in the first place. We’ve made a great deal of progress integrating
compliance reviews earlier and more completely into all of our business processes. We have also added compliance and operational risk managers across the company, and established a stand-alone Risk Committee of our Board of Directors.
I can’t remember a day in the past two years when I didn’t talk about compliance with one or more of our employees. We take it that seriously. It would be foolish not to.
AMEX annual report page 11
And October 27, 2014 was the start of it......
As much as we emphasize thinking creatively and moving quickly, our highest priority is doing things the right way. We are dedicated to strengthening our regulatory compliance program across the company. The aim is not just to clean up errors after they happen, but to prevent them in the first place. We’ve made a great deal of progress integrating
compliance reviews earlier and more completely into all of our business processes. We have also added compliance and operational risk managers across the company, and established a stand-alone Risk Committee of our Board of Directors.
I can’t remember a day in the past two years when I didn’t talk about compliance with one or more of our employees. We take it that seriously. It would be foolish not to.
AMEX annual report page 11
And October 27, 2014 was the start of it......
Oct 30, 2014, 7:54 am
#5025
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 1
I also heard from a friend from Amex, several login attempts within a 24 hr period will flag an account for further review, just an FYI...
