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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 Nov 16, 2014, 12:41 pm
  #5536  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 21
Roughly 5 years with card, 5x monthly CL spend resulting in high five figure average spend
tedfor is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 1:04 pm
  #5537  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: SAN
Programs: Delta Gold. Hilton Diamond. Hyatt Explorist.
Posts: 1,674
Originally Posted by thehustla
Is it possible to downgrade from the Blue Cash Preferred to the Old Blue Cash?
No.
ChrisFlyer66 is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 1:18 pm
  #5538  
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: IND
Programs: Hilton Dia, Hyatt Glbl, Marriott Lftm Plat, National EE
Posts: 316
Originally Posted by tedfor
Roughly 5 years with card, 5x monthly CL spend resulting in high five figure average spend

Thanks for the datapoint; my condolences on your shutdown.
gloobnib is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 2:18 pm
  #5539  
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 97
Originally Posted by tedfor
Nope, just got the shutdown email.
Sorry to hear that, mine and many others close on 11/26 and keep my fingers crossed.
prsf is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 2:43 pm
  #5540  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
Originally Posted by tedfor
Nope, just got the shutdown email.
When was your statement date?
deant is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 5:43 pm
  #5541  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 527
Originally Posted by tedfor
Roughly 5 years with card...
Ouch.

5x monthly CL spend...
I wonder if that might be the trigger ?

Obviously, you had to be making numerous payments to your AE account monthly, overwhelmingly pushed, as they limit how many payments you can make (pull) through their system. I have a high CL, so I didn't need to push as many payments.

Payments made through their system are pulled from accounts they previously verified. AE might be concerned that pushed payments, which are not verified, might not stick.
Hbax is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 6:41 pm
  #5542  
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ann Arbor
Programs: HHonors Gold , National Emerald Exec, Hertz Presidents, Delta Gold
Posts: 2,604
Originally Posted by commdiver
Jeeze, are we STILL talking about these silly lawsuit ideas? People, MOVE ON! The most you lost was a few hundred dollars in gift cards fees, which you EASILY made up with the thousands of dollars that Amex has paid you over the past several months, years, whatever. If you really need money that badly, spend the time that you post on here sprucing up your resume and find a better job.
Originally Posted by tedfor
Roughly 5 years with card, 5x monthly CL spend resulting in high five figure average spend
Looks like the majority of people doing over 30K a month get nuked. Somewhat surprised this happened if there was only 5 or 6 days spend for this billing cycle though, unless you go really big really early.

Sorry to hear this.
Bikeguy is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 7:52 pm
  #5543  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: PHL
Posts: 930
Originally Posted by Bikeguy
Looks like the majority of people doing over 30K a month get nuked. Somewhat surprised this happened if there was only 5 or 6 days spend for this billing cycle though, unless you go really big really early.

Sorry to hear this.
Just out of curiosity, where are you getting $30,000 from? I am sure most of these people who got nuked had a pretty high CL and were cycling through it multiple times a month (i.e. doing much more that $30,000 a month).

Sad times indeed.
commdiver is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 7:59 pm
  #5544  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by commdiver
Just out of curiosity, where are you getting $30,000 from? I am sure most of these people who got nuked had a pretty high CL and were cycling through it multiple times a month (i.e. doing much more that $30,000 a month).

Sad times indeed.
Not all. I was doing 50-60% of CL, $30K probably being the max
silver6054 is offline  
Old Nov 16, 2014, 11:14 pm
  #5545  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: a hotel room, somewhere...
Posts: 962
well, that's a shame. was hoping the lack of recent shutdowns was good news. seems now it was just merely a product of the calendar/billing cycles of most accounts.

the key worthwhile data point will be what happens on the 1 month anniversary of the beginning of the purge. all people being shut down now are having their first statement close since the start of this. the key will be whether the people that survived the first statement close remain alive when the next one closes.
uncommonsensical is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2014, 1:43 am
  #5546  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Gulf Coast of FL
Posts: 115
Originally Posted by tedfor
Nope, just got the shutdown email.
Ouch. Sorry. I survived and cashed out yesterday, was hoping everyone else did too.
nittanylion1 is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2014, 4:37 pm
  #5547  
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ann Arbor
Programs: HHonors Gold , National Emerald Exec, Hertz Presidents, Delta Gold
Posts: 2,604
Originally Posted by commdiver
Just out of curiosity, where are you getting $30,000 from? I am sure most of these people who got nuked had a pretty high CL and were cycling through it multiple times a month (i.e. doing much more that $30,000 a month).

Sad times indeed.
From the survey that was in the sticky.
Bikeguy is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2014, 6:05 pm
  #5548  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 290
Weird. Just got an unsolicited credit limit increase on this card.
sedubby is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2014, 6:33 pm
  #5549  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by sedubby
Weird. Just got an unsolicited credit limit increase on this card.
Looks pretty common, several posts about that
silver6054 is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2014, 6:34 pm
  #5550  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,506
Originally Posted by sedubby
Weird. Just got an unsolicited credit limit increase on this card.
I got that CLI notice like 2 months ago. I don't think it means anything at this point.
ericdabbs is offline  


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