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 $6,500ą spend in a reward year˛, you will earn 1% on Everyday Purchasesł (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)

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
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%)].

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.
Print Wikipost

Old Amex Blue (2013-2014)

Old Nov 20, 2014, 6:58 am
  #5581  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 349
too much info atm

Last edited by aGeist; Nov 20, 2014 at 7:16 am
aGeist is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 7:38 am
  #5582  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 182
Im gonna continue regular spend through the end of the year on this card, then give it up on my own. Not worth having amex yank it from you and having that red flag on your account. I am already in the 5% for the year and have earned a fair amount of rewards, which I have already burned, so groceries/gas/drug stores for normal purchases will get 5% for me then giving it up, on to the next.
golf7 is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 9:53 am
  #5583  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: NYC/CT
Programs: AA, UA, SPG
Posts: 81
Something Odd

I earned and redeemed my RD from Oct statement to bring my balance down to $0 along with additional payments. Currently, my outstanding balance is $0, but my current balance is the amount of RD that I've redeemed. It seems like that Amex clawed away from RDs that I redeemed.

I called(may have been stupid), but two agent said it takes a billing cycle to have my RD post to my acct. In previous billing cycle, it never took a month RD to post.

Has anyone had any similar experiences?
myc2004 is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 10:49 am
  #5584  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,929
Since you do not yet see any redemption having posted, the situation cannot yet be called a clawback.
Alcibiades is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 10:54 am
  #5585  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 97
Originally Posted by myc2004
I earned and redeemed my RD from Oct statement to bring my balance down to $0 along with additional payments. Currently, my outstanding balance is $0, but my current balance is the amount of RD that I've redeemed. It seems like that Amex clawed away from RDs that I redeemed.

I called(may have been stupid), but two agent said it takes a billing cycle to have my RD post to my acct. In previous billing cycle, it never took a month RD to post.
The "billing cycle" timeframe they're quoting is boilerplate for people seeing it on a printed statement.

But you should clarify where you're getting that figure for your "Current Balance", because your Outstanding Balance listed on the site ($0) *is* your currently owed account balance.
mbaker4096 is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 10:57 am
  #5586  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: DFW/DAL
Programs: AA 1MM Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 1,524
FYI, attempted CLI on wife's other amex card (OBC was shutdown on 27th) and it was denied for "delinquent payments" on amex accounts, which is NOT accurate. Never been late. So certainly appears that she has been somewhat blacklisted.
glocklt4 is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 11:17 am
  #5587  
Suspended
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2,998
Originally Posted by glocklt4
FYI, attempted CLI on wife's other amex card (OBC was shutdown on 27th) and it was denied for "delinquent payments" on amex accounts, which is NOT accurate. Never been late. So certainly appears that she has been somewhat blacklisted.
Any outstanding balance on the closed OBC?
Stoughton is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 11:38 am
  #5588  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: DFW/DAL
Programs: AA 1MM Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 1,524
Originally Posted by Stoughton
Any outstanding balance on the closed OBC?
Yep - big one.
glocklt4 is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 12:21 pm
  #5589  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: NYC/CT
Programs: AA, UA, SPG
Posts: 81
Originally Posted by mbaker4096
The "billing cycle" timeframe they're quoting is boilerplate for people seeing it on a printed statement.

But you should clarify where you're getting that figure for your "Current Balance", because your Outstanding Balance listed on the site ($0) *is* your currently owed account balance.
I just paid the amount on the "current balance" as I'm traveling and won't have regular access to wifi. I don't want to have any decretory remarks with Amex and my future relationship with Amex.
myc2004 is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2014, 12:50 pm
  #5590  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 97
Originally Posted by myc2004
I just paid the amount on the "current balance" as I'm traveling and won't have regular access to wifi. I don't want to have any decretory remarks with Amex and my future relationship with Amex.
So what are you complaining about exactly?
mbaker4096 is offline  
Old Nov 21, 2014, 10:09 am
  #5591  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Dayton, OH
Programs: CarlsonGold,HHDiamond, SPGGold,ChoiceGold, *Silver, WNCompanionPass, ASMVPGold, HyattDiamond,IHGPlat
Posts: 255
Just got approved with $11.4k CL. Perfect for my planned under-the-radar ~$5k/month MS.
Journey4Happy is offline  
Old Nov 21, 2014, 11:15 am
  #5592  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Programs: Hilton, Hyatt, Priority, SPG - AA, Hawaiian Airline, United, US Airline
Posts: 608
Do you guys still use your card at CVS? Does CVS use Level 3? I haven't seen any shut down reports recently. I hope Amex is calming down.
happy9zz is offline  
Old Nov 21, 2014, 11:49 am
  #5593  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by happy9zz
Do you guys still use your card at CVS? Does CVS use Level 3? I haven't seen any shut down reports recently. I hope Amex is calming down.
Post 5582 from 19th. Shutdowns are still going on
silver6054 is offline  
Old Nov 21, 2014, 3:17 pm
  #5594  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 290
Surprised I haven't been yet. Statement closed a few days ago, got my cb.

It might be that I just buy from WGs now. I don't think they use level 3 because the txn description on my statement says "refer to receipt" vs "pharmacy" for CVS.
sedubby is offline  
Old Nov 21, 2014, 3:40 pm
  #5595  
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: IND
Programs: Hilton Dia, Hyatt Glbl, Marriott Lftm Plat, National EE
Posts: 316
Originally Posted by happy9zz
Do you guys still use your card at CVS? Does CVS use Level 3? I haven't seen any shut down reports recently. I hope Amex is calming down.
**YMMV**. Datapoint - my statement closed recently, received expected CB. I have resumed MS at CVS for the last 2 weeks of my last statement under the "If they are going to shut me down, it's going to happen regardless of if I continue to MS or not". So far so good; all is normal for me.

I am *not* a heavy hitter (by the standards of this board) but am doing a few churns of my CL each month. 95%+ of charges by volume are CVS, rest of charges are also in the 5% CB categories (grocery and gas).

To answer your specific question: I do not see L3 detail on my Amex statement for charges done at CVS. Unlike, say, gas stations paid at the pump. That doesn't mean they don't send it, just that Amex doesn't show me any L3 info on my statement.
gloobnib is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.