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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 Dec 10, 2014, 8:35 am
  #6046  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by TheDapperDon
Wrong thread.
Not really, but thanks.
silver6054 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 8:55 am
  #6047  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Los Angles
Posts: 2,101
Originally Posted by silver6054
Slightly different topic: not wanting to push the OBC at present, I've switched a lot of spend to buying AGC to use at Target. Now I'm not using Amex cards to buy them, but of course the gift cards come from Amex. Anyone know/have experience on the level of sharing, i.e. if I do this and also spend "moderately" on OBC, will Amex know that I am spending above my declared income? I don't let balances report on the other cards.
They have access to that data
prasha11 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 2:28 pm
  #6048  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 133
Originally Posted by silver6054
Yes! A few of the shutdowns reported here had got an auto-CLI fairly recently.
Good to know. I've only been MS my credit limit, but I still may take it easy this month as a precaution.
thadeusd3 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 6:06 pm
  #6049  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 13
Rumor has it that it's not really based on spending a certain % of your CL be it 60%, 80%, 200% etc but rather the trigger point is 50k spend in the rewards categories per reward year. Seems like there is some truth to this since the new terms cap it at 50k, which makes it less attractive for us.
querty122 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 6:17 pm
  #6050  
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by querty122
Rumor has it that it's not really based on spending a certain % of your CL be it 60%, 80%, 200% etc but rather the trigger point is 50k spend in the rewards categories per reward year. Seems like there is some truth to this since the new terms cap it at 50k, which makes it less attractive for us.
I think the conclusion is a slight reach, and I believe there are people not shutdown who have exceeded that easily. It COULD be a guideline or the reasoning might have been forward looking: "We've seen excessive rewards on this card so we need to cap it. How do we feel about, oh, $50K in spend per year" whereas the shutdown operation is working on different parameters.
silver6054 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 6:17 pm
  #6051  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: LIS/ATL/other
Programs: UA 1K, Avis PC, Hertz PC, Sixt Plat, Marriott Gold, HH Silver
Posts: 1,983
Originally Posted by querty122
Rumor has it...
What is the source of the rumor? Your post?
CaptainMiles is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 6:49 pm
  #6052  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 13
Originally Posted by CaptainMiles
What is the source of the rumor? Your post?
Read the news terms and conditions and tried to draw some conclusions from that. Also talking with other MSers I know. Believe me, I'd like it not to be true so I can keep going with OBC...
querty122 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 7:48 pm
  #6053  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 194
I have high balance on the OBC AMEX card (~$9k), with $11K CL.
It has been >180 days since my last CLI on another AMEX card, and this time I want to do CLI on the OBC card.

The question is:
Shall I pay off some balance before making a request? Now the balance is $9K, with CLI of $11K. High Balance is good or bad for CLI?

Thank you very much!
nkp46 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 10:01 pm
  #6054  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: LAC
Programs: Regal Crown Club
Posts: 488
Originally Posted by nkp46
I have high balance on the OBC AMEX card (~$9k), with $11K CL.
You have a balance on your card? And pay interest on that?
Julian Brennan is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 10:08 pm
  #6055  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SEA
Posts: 1,887
Yeah, paying 0% interest. What a fool!
HikerT is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2014, 11:54 pm
  #6056  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 920
Finally got the banhammer after MS'ing a small amount yesterday. Didn't even want to use the card at the moment... Was good while it lasted.
hitman1420 is offline  
Old Dec 11, 2014, 6:04 am
  #6057  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 201
Originally Posted by hitman1420
Finally got the banhammer after MS'ing a small amount yesterday. Didn't even want to use the card at the moment... Was good while it lasted.
Would be nice if everyone posts how much they were spending and since when so we don't have to ask those questions everytime someone posts about their account closure
MSerforfun is offline  
Old Dec 11, 2014, 8:56 am
  #6058  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Dunno about that rumor, but so far I am alive with under $50k spend in the rewards categories. I also don't regularly overclock the credit line.

Originally Posted by querty122
Rumor has it that it's not really based on spending a certain % of your CL be it 60%, 80%, 200% etc but rather the trigger point is 50k spend in the rewards categories per reward year. Seems like there is some truth to this since the new terms cap it at 50k, which makes it less attractive for us.
AlohaDaveKennedy is offline  
Old Dec 11, 2014, 10:35 am
  #6059  
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ann Arbor
Programs: HHonors Gold , National Emerald Exec, Hertz Presidents, Delta Gold
Posts: 2,604
Originally Posted by nkp46
I have high balance on the OBC AMEX card (~$9k), with $11K CL.
It has been >180 days since my last CLI on another AMEX card, and this time I want to do CLI on the OBC card.

The question is:
Shall I pay off some balance before making a request? Now the balance is $9K, with CLI of $11K. High Balance is good or bad for CLI?

Thank you very much!
viewfromthewing has a write up of how to move CL without human intervention. If you want it increased and don't want to shift from another card, then you need human intervention.
Bikeguy is offline  
Old Dec 11, 2014, 11:16 am
  #6060  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 920
Originally Posted by MSerforfun
Would be nice if everyone posts how much they were spending and since when so we don't have to ask those questions everytime someone posts about their account closure
I had relatively small CL and regularly did >18x the CL/month by overpaying. Was well over the $50k range for the year

I actually thought it was absurd how they let me do so since I had spent over 15x my income for the year.
hitman1420 is offline  


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