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Old Jan 10, 2015, 10:11 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: ChrisFlyer66
This is the Amex Blue thread for 2015. The previous 2013- 2014 megathread is here.
The 2016 thread is here.

Bonus category spending is now capped at $50,000 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. There are reports that the new limits will apply to existing cardholders on the month containing your anniversary after March 1.

Oct 22, 2014 onwards: Many people getting cancellation email from Amex. As of June 11, 2015, shutdown reports continue.

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.

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.

Excessive MS on this card may sever your ties with Amex.

Consider factors that may have led to these closures when sharing personal experiences.

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/c...lue-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 6500⁴), 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.

⁴ 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 Jan 6, 2015, 7:38 pm
  #76  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: NYC
Posts: 158
The link isn't even that big of a secret. I was able to get there accidentally by navigating from the front page of Amex's site.
BeyondtheWrap is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 1:10 am
  #77  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: NYC
Posts: 5,025
Originally Posted by ericdabbs
Ahh...So I guess it appears that the grandfathered OBC folks will now be under the new terms beginning March 2015.
Maybe I am reading it wrong but it seems that his anniversary date is coming up in March. Most likely means that you will get the new terms on your anniversary date.
Domat is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 5:35 am
  #78  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 253
Originally Posted by ericdabbs
Ahh...So I guess it appears that the grandfathered OBC folks will now be under the new terms beginning March 2015.
I just looked again at my Jan 2015 statement and there is no mention of this at all. January was my first statement last year, so Im pretty sure Ive started my second year.
Lappie is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 8:53 am
  #79  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 18
Originally Posted by Lappie
I just looked again at my Jan 2015 statement and there is no mention of this at all. January was my first statement last year, so Im pretty sure Ive started my second year.
It's possible they are giving advance notice to change the rewards terms. It looks like they told the op in January of a change which will be effective in March. Do you always check your statement for change in terms info? If not, might want to see if your November statement says anything.
DWinger is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 8:57 am
  #80  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by DWinger
It's possible they are giving advance notice to change the rewards terms. It looks like they told the op in January of a change which will be effective in March. Do you always check your statement for change in terms info? If not, might want to see if your November statement says anything.
I believe the new terms came in early December (I got my card with old terms in Nov) so things might have not been ready in a Nov statement.
silver6054 is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 9:08 am
  #81  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,944
Originally Posted by Domat
Maybe I am reading it wrong but it seems that his anniversary date is coming up in March. Most likely means that you will get the new terms on your anniversary date.
Right, because the change impacts the amount of possible rewards in a "reward year" (which starts on the anniversary month) so it make sense the changes have to start with a new reward year
silver6054 is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 10:43 am
  #82  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: BOS
Posts: 105
Originally Posted by silver6054
Right, because the change impacts the amount of possible rewards in a "reward year" (which starts on the anniversary month) so it make sense the changes have to start with a new reward year
I will find this out soon enough on my annual reset...
So far, after checking the last several bill statements, I did not find any changes in terms w/regards to maximum rewards.
nopoints is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 11:02 am
  #83  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Down South, The Desert
Programs: Marriot Rewards, Southwest Rapid rewards, Emerald Club, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,871
Originally Posted by hamokmonky
Not really wanting in on this arguement, but just wanted to say that the liklihood of VRs at CVS dying because of MSers is kind of a leap. Theres a lot of other things involved here, including fraud which is a huge deal with these cards. If it was soley because of MSers it wouldve died within a few months of coming out. Stuff like HIGC died because it was released on FT, but VRs? Doubtful. Maybe the noobs having access to OBC hurt a bit, but the noobs probably werent doing enough volume on their own to do anything. Infact, most of them probably werent even shut down. The HHs were going to bite it eventually, it was just a matter of time, and no one here really should have been surprised by it.
I don't blame FT for the VR fall. I think think CC offers and affiliate links led to folks climbing on that bandwagon.

Noobs might not have been using this card that often. But, the number of noobs grew drastically. Look at the join dates of folks on this thread alone.

There is a 50k limit for everyone now. My agenda and subsequent arguments about this are done. This thread can continue to exist, because the damage is already done. Everyone here that is tired of me railing against this thread can now return to regularly scheduled programming. "Oh well, on the the next." I believe that's the obligatory quote after the end of a deal around here.
TheDapperDon is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 11:05 am
  #84  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Down South, The Desert
Programs: Marriot Rewards, Southwest Rapid rewards, Emerald Club, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,871
Originally Posted by BeyondtheWrap
The link isn't even that big of a secret. I was able to get there accidentally by navigating from the front page of Amex's site.
I concur. But, you had to poke around to find it.
TheDapperDon is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 12:11 pm
  #85  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist No More..., Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 4,375
Originally Posted by TheDapperDon
I don't blame FT for the VR fall. I think think CC offers and affiliate links led to folks climbing on that bandwagon.

Noobs might not have been using this card that often. But, the number of noobs grew drastically. Look at the join dates of folks on this thread alone.

There is a 50k limit for everyone now. My agenda and subsequent arguments about this are done. This thread can continue to exist, because the damage is already done. Everyone here that is tired of me railing against this thread can now return to regularly scheduled programming. "Oh well, on the the next." I believe that's the obligatory quote after the end of a deal around here.
I think VRs fell more so due to all the fraud going on. Think about the system changes that happened where the cashier had to verify that the person was standing in front of you. If it was seriously an issue with CC users, then they would have pulled all prepaid products at the same time (i.e. VGCs/OV).
cdancer20 is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 12:22 pm
  #86  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Down South, The Desert
Programs: Marriot Rewards, Southwest Rapid rewards, Emerald Club, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,871
Originally Posted by cdancer20
I think VRs fell more so due to all the fraud going on. Think about the system changes that happened where the cashier had to verify that the person was standing in front of you. If it was seriously an issue with CC users, then they would have pulled all prepaid products at the same time (i.e. VGCs/OV).
Fraud is always in play. I'm pretty sure the memo mentioned something about fees though...
TheDapperDon is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 1:58 pm
  #87  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Los Angles
Posts: 2,101
Originally Posted by TheDapperDon
Fraud is always in play. I'm pretty sure the memo mentioned something about fees though...
Some people blame from everything to everyone. Fraud, money laundering, the blogs, points and arrows, new bees, hard hitters. What is left out is the prepaid card issuers, PP sellers and Credit Card banks offering 5% products as a fuel and stimulant for msing. Who thinks that they are not aware of this ft msing thread? Does anyone think of regulators stopped the scam by issuing bank for offering money laundering scheme? that the banks paid billions in fines?
prasha11 is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 2:43 pm
  #88  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist No More..., Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 4,375
Originally Posted by TheDapperDon
Fraud is always in play. I'm pretty sure the memo mentioned something about fees though...
I don't think that fraud was the only reason. I know that fees from credit cards were high. IMO it's just a high one in the list over just the increase in MS.
cdancer20 is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 2:46 pm
  #89  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Down South, The Desert
Programs: Marriot Rewards, Southwest Rapid rewards, Emerald Club, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,871
Originally Posted by prasha11
Some people blame from everything to everyone. Fraud, money laundering, the blogs, points and arrows, new bees, hard hitters. What is left out is the prepaid card issuers, PP sellers and Credit Card banks offering 5% products as a fuel and stimulant for msing. Who thinks that they are not aware of this ft msing thread? Does anyone think of regulators stopped the scam by issuing bank for offering money laundering scheme? that the banks paid billions in fines?
I agree that this wouldn't go on if the powers that be didn't make some money on this some type of way. The banks paid billions of dollars in fines because they stole from the public and then lied about it. That's why my conscience is clear when I MS.
TheDapperDon is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2015, 2:46 pm
  #90  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Down South, The Desert
Programs: Marriot Rewards, Southwest Rapid rewards, Emerald Club, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,871
Originally Posted by cdancer20
I don't think that fraud was the only reason. I know that fees from credit cards were high. IMO it's just a high one in the list over just the increase in MS.
I concur. I won't bring up the topic anymore. No more rants.
TheDapperDon is offline  


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