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

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
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.

'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 23 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)

Old Dec 16, 2014, 1:12 pm
  #6196  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 253
Originally Posted by Walmero
Do you use Serve or BB or RB to billpay OBC?
No. Never.
Lappie is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 2:25 pm
  #6197  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,929
Originally Posted by nittanylion1
because AmEx IS my oldest cc and it IS my highest CL, and I'm buying a house in a few months. So. Gulp.
Do you have another AMEX CC account ?
Alcibiades is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 2:27 pm
  #6198  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,207
Originally Posted by nittanylion1
This is what worries me. I did an additional month of high grocery spend after the initial closures, then stopped. Now I'm afraid to spend anything, because AmEx IS my oldest cc and it IS my highest CL, and I'm buying a house in a few months. So. Gulp.
not sure why you are worried, the age of accounts will not be affected until 10 years from now when it finally drops off. Highest CL, eh, maybe, but unless you havent been in this game long you should have plenty of other ccs and still have more credit than most people looking to get a mortgage.
hamokmonky is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 3:14 pm
  #6199  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 12
Originally Posted by cplarson
I was able to redeem mine with live chat yesterday.
have the cash back showed up in your account yet? If so, how long did it take? I did the chat yesterday, but the cash back haven't shown up yet.
martabakeju is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 3:34 pm
  #6200  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Gulf Coast of FL
Posts: 115
Originally Posted by unstableone
Anyone thinks it would make sense to cancel the card yourself before they do it in 30 days?
*hugs card* They can pry it from my cold, dead... Oh wait.

Originally Posted by Alcibiades
Do you have another AMEX CC account ?
Yes. You think it makes a difference? I hope so!

Originally Posted by hamokmonky
not sure why you are worried, the age of accounts will not be affected until 10 years from now when it finally drops off. Highest CL, eh, maybe, but unless you havent been in this game long you should have plenty of other ccs and still have more credit than most people looking to get a mortgage.
I do, plenty of credit, some of it with almost as many years on them. All clean, all paid in full faithfully every month. Probably overthinking. Thanks.
nittanylion1 is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 4:27 pm
  #6201  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 313
Originally Posted by prasha11
Why hurry? could u not wait for few months and let the dust settle before applying for a new card?
My assumption is your card now has no outstanding balance and all the rewards cashed out, is it cool off period?
How is your credit score changed, before and after?
Not in a hurry but got a 100K MR Plat business card offer over the phone, can't resist! I still owe around $200 on it before cashing out everything last month. Still waiting for $300 in pending rewards, I think but no big deal. I will see if I can redeem them once statement closes in few days.

As for the credit score, nothing abnormal as per CK, lost couple of points but not sure related to this account closure. Account is reported "closed by grantor" and showing my last statement balance before closing.
nadir576 is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 5:07 pm
  #6202  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Dayton, OH
Programs: CarlsonGold,HHDiamond, SPGGold,ChoiceGold, *Silver, WNCompanionPass, ASMVPGold, HyattDiamond,IHGPlat
Posts: 255
So does the first 6500 count towards the 50k cap?
Journey4Happy is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 5:09 pm
  #6203  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,493
Originally Posted by Journey4Happy
So does the first 6500 count towards the 50k cap?
Yes assuming you use all 5% categories. If you don't use any 5% categories you are fine.
ericdabbs is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 7:00 pm
  #6204  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by ericdabbs
Yes assuming you use all 5% categories. If you don't use any 5% categories you are fine.
See post 6111 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23986851-post6111.html) which has convinced me otherwise.
silver6054 is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 8:46 pm
  #6205  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 1,273
Originally Posted by Lappie
No. Never.
You're kidding, right?
ZzzzX is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2014, 10:29 pm
  #6206  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
Just in case anyone was putting spend to stamps.com from mid august- mid december on amex gold business card, you probably did not received your 2x. Call them up and they will 'fix' this situation. I spent over 5 calls over the fact stamps.com was no longer giving 2x, and I doubt they credited people retroactively. (They took a week to investigate and now it should be at 2x).

This is in another forum, however I feel this needs to be more widely known amongst cardholders. Amex conveniently didn't know people were not getting there miles, and most people probably will never recoup these miles.

Good news for me is shipping is 3x starting next year. I don't spend much on airfare...
moops380 is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2014, 12:08 am
  #6207  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,929
Originally Posted by moops380
on amex gold business card
...
This is in another forum, however I feel this needs to be more widely known amongst cardholders
this promotion is only for gold business cardholders
Alcibiades is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2014, 6:12 am
  #6208  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Florida
Posts: 274
Originally Posted by silver6054
See post 6111 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23986851-post6111.html) which has convinced me otherwise.
That's reassuring that we can use drugstores to meet our $6500 spend threshold without affecting our ability to earn the 5% rewards on $50k.
DrForce is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2014, 8:12 am
  #6209  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 25
Originally Posted by prasha11
anyone carries the 0% balance after the account shows '0' available limit.
Does it say anywhere online after the statement closing date, the account is 'closed' and the total balance is due or is still asking for min payment?
Minimum payment due. Click on the "current APR" link on the left hand of your home screen. It will give you your APR and the time left on your 0% promotion. For me it is April 2015. As long as you make minimum payments and pay in full by that date, you will not pay interest.
ceobeaver is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2014, 9:30 am
  #6210  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 28
Another success story with online chat. Shutdown in November, used online chat and was able to get rep to submit reward dollars to my account after about 20 security questions. I'm not sure what that was all about. 2 days later they posted to my account.
vbcrush is offline  

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