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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 Nov 25, 2014, 6:18 pm
  #5671  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
For those that have been cancelled, how high, as a percentage of CL, did you let your utilization get to?
deant is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 6:25 pm
  #5672  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 191
wow, looks like Amex is scrambling to clean up the house before black Friday shoppers start covering our tracks
tommy14 is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 6:33 pm
  #5673  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: PA
Posts: 177
Originally Posted by FindAWay
From which category of store was your GC purchase?
Grocery.
Rooks is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 6:35 pm
  #5674  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: MSP
Programs: DL, BA, AA
Posts: 270
Cancellation email received today.

Closing date tomorrow. Credit line increase 2 weeks ago.

No MS since October. Mostly CVS and WG spend.
worldtravels is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 6:48 pm
  #5675  
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 109
So is the takeaway that spending some multiple of your CL is a killer, or are there people out there who have stayed below their total CL and still been banned? And what ever happened to moderation?
rooney is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 7:17 pm
  #5676  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by rooney
So is the takeaway that spending some multiple of your CL is a killer, or are there people out there who have stayed below their total CL and still been banned? And what ever happened to moderation?
Well, I was never used more than 60% of my CL, and utilization over all cards is around 1%, and on this card never had outstanding balance more than about 20% at any time.
silver6054 is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 7:20 pm
  #5677  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 13
Maybe one of the flags is multiple payments from multiple sources in a billing cycle?
querty122 is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 7:22 pm
  #5678  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 321
shut down. tried at local grocery, card declined. called in and was told card was cancelled right then. and then got the email. pretty sure my purchase triggered the shut down in my case since they happened in matter of minutes.

I had some payments lined through BB. What will happen to those now that the account is closed? I hate dealing with BB's missing payments, they go nowhere.
RJ5929 is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 7:22 pm
  #5679  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by querty122
Maybe one of the flags is multiple payments from multiple sources in a billing cycle?
Yes, or maybe not! You would think that total rewards is really the key thing for them to care about, which is just as easily tracked as multiple sources of payments.
silver6054 is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 7:26 pm
  #5680  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by worldtravels
Cancellation email received today.

Closing date tomorrow. Credit line increase 2 weeks ago.

No MS since October. Mostly CVS and WG spend.
Some (understandably enough) took the CLI as a good sign. Clearly not full protection.
silver6054 is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 8:05 pm
  #5681  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,506
Originally Posted by ramalama8
two family members were shut down today -- both had high MS spend
Describe "high MS spend". Are we talking like mid 5 figures?
ericdabbs is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 8:31 pm
  #5682  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Syosset, NY, USA
Posts: 125
Originally Posted by RJ5929
shut down. tried at local grocery, card declined. called in and was told card was cancelled right then. and then got the email. pretty sure my purchase triggered the shut down in my case since they happened in matter of minutes.

I had some payments lined through BB. What will happen to those now that the account is closed? I hate dealing with BB's missing payments, they go nowhere.
Your Bluebird payments will still go through, no change. Amex wants their money after all!
tarcapone is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 9:32 pm
  #5683  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 16
Got cancelled today. Have been doing 1x CL MS since January this year. My card was declined during MS at the drug store today. I called and they told me they closed my card and I am free to choose another card but not the same one. The CR was laughing in the background which made me pretty pissed.
unnamedone is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 9:36 pm
  #5684  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by unnamedone
I called and they told me they closed my card and I am free to choose another card but not the same one.
Wonder what that means. You are free to apply for another card (the same way anyone is) or a sort of statement that they will not block future apps for a (non-BC) card
silver6054 is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2014, 9:49 pm
  #5685  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 16
Originally Posted by silver6054
Wonder what that means. You are free to apply for another card (the same way anyone is) or a sort of statement that they will not block future apps for a (non-BC) card
The CSR was probably trying to get me to apply on the spot so he gets some kickback/commission or whatever those are called. I wouldn't read too much into it especially the CSR that I got was very unprofessional.
unnamedone is offline  


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