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Old Amex Blue (2016 onwards)[not taking new applications]

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Old Jan 26, 2016, 7:19 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: ChrisFlyer66
This thread includes all posts for 2016 onwards. The previous 2013- 2014 megathread is here. The 2015 thread is here.

This card is no longer available to new applicants!

Bonus category spending is now capped at $50,000 per year.

Oct 22, 2014 onwards: Many people getting cancellation email from Amex.

Amex may continue to close accounts for excessive spend in bonus categories. 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.

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 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)

¹ First '$6,500' is spend on all purchases.

³ '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 Amex Blue (2016 onwards)[not taking new applications]

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Old Apr 10, 2019, 5:45 am
  #451  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 42
Originally Posted by msthegame
My billing statement is not reporting my rewards balance details, is this somewhere else now?
AMEX has elected not to include this information in the statements. You now have to go online, select Statements and Activity, and enter your Rewards Year start date and the end date to see your purchases within your Rewards Year.
atc1 is offline  
Old Apr 10, 2019, 6:57 am
  #452  
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 224
Originally Posted by Clueless12
I have (3) OBCs and WMNM gives 5% in my area. You can try your store and then go to the "new version" view a few days after the charge has posted to see how much is being given.
How do you select "new version"? Thanks a lot!!

Never mind, I found it under statements and activity tab

Last edited by I Fly Delta Jets; Apr 10, 2019 at 7:04 am
I Fly Delta Jets is offline  
Old Apr 10, 2019, 8:13 am
  #453  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, MA
Programs: AAdvantage EXP
Posts: 278
Originally Posted by atc1
AMEX has elected not to include this information in the statements. You now have to go online, select Statements and Activity, and enter your Rewards Year start date and the end date to see your purchases within your Rewards Year.
Right, but that only gets me the total. Is there now no way to see how much each transaction earned? I used to occasionally have a store NOT code as gas or supermarket and that was immediately obvious from the breakdown. It's also helpful to verify that the transition to 5% occurred correctly after the initial $6500 spend. I guess Amex doesn't want me to have that information anymore.
lmagnott is offline  
Old Apr 10, 2019, 8:26 am
  #454  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 42
Originally Posted by lmagnott
Right, but that only gets me the total. Is there now no way to see how much each transaction earned? I used to occasionally have a store NOT code as gas or supermarket and that was immediately obvious from the breakdown. It's also helpful to verify that the transition to 5% occurred correctly after the initial $6500 spend. I guess Amex doesn't want me to have that information anymore.
Click on Statements and Activity>Preview New Version>Cash Back Rewards Overview.
You will see the rewards per transaction for each billing period.
atc1 is offline  
Old Apr 10, 2019, 11:25 am
  #455  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott/SPG Platinum
Posts: 496
Originally Posted by atc1
Click on Statements and Activity>Preview New Version>Cash Back Rewards Overview.
You will see the rewards per transaction for each billing period.
or on home screen of OBC, you can click directly on "View Reward Details" underneath "Explore Rewards", you will see the same thing discribed above.
coolguy100 is offline  
Old Apr 10, 2019, 1:37 pm
  #456  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, MA
Programs: AAdvantage EXP
Posts: 278
Originally Posted by coolguy100
or on home screen of OBC, you can click directly on "View Reward Details" underneath "Explore Rewards", you will see the same thing discribed above.
Yes, I've seen that page, but there are no transactions listed for me, just a total under pending reward dollars. Good to confirm that's where it's supposed to be, though. Maybe there's a delay (just got my second statement of the year earlier this week).
lmagnott is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2019, 10:57 am
  #457  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, MA
Programs: AAdvantage EXP
Posts: 278
Originally Posted by lmagnott
Yes, I've seen that page, but there are no transactions listed for me, just a total under pending reward dollars. Good to confirm that's where it's supposed to be, though. Maybe there's a delay (just got my second statement of the year earlier this week).
Update: the transactions from Feb showed up this morning. So not only a full statement period behind (which I already expected), but 3+ days after the next statement. At least the information is available. Thanks to all who helped me find it.
lmagnott is offline  
Old May 31, 2019, 11:51 pm
  #458  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: going left
Programs: Dime con quien andas,y te dire quien eres
Posts: 367
Claw Back

GC purchases at WMNM in April showing RDs as "FORFEITED".
This combined with Simon... not too good.
Goofy Foot is offline  
Old Jun 1, 2019, 8:10 am
  #459  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: SAN
Programs: Delta Gold. Hilton Diamond. Hyatt Explorist.
Posts: 1,674
Originally Posted by Goofy Foot
GC purchases at WMNM in April showing RDs as "FORFEITED".
This combined with Simon... not too good.
Did you have any GC purchases at other grocery stores or at drug stores?
ChrisFlyer66 is offline  
Old Jun 1, 2019, 1:27 pm
  #460  
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,837
Originally Posted by Goofy Foot
GC purchases at WMNM in April showing RDs as "FORFEITED".
This combined with Simon... not too good.
was it mixed with something else or just a VGC?
lumangoy is offline  
Old Jun 1, 2019, 2:07 pm
  #461  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott/SPG Platinum
Posts: 496
Originally Posted by Goofy Foot
GC purchases at WMNM in April showing RDs as "FORFEITED".
This combined with Simon... not too good.
where did you see "FORFEITED"? on the statement or Reward Dollars Activity?
coolguy100 is offline  
Old Jun 1, 2019, 11:17 pm
  #462  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: going left
Programs: Dime con quien andas,y te dire quien eres
Posts: 367
This showed on my rewards activity statement.
35k in GC purchases in ~ 4 days. Had purchased Metas previously at Vons, but LP cracked down on large purchases so I
went over to WMNM. No mix or combined with organic.

So, yeah.
First time experiencing this and I've always hit it hard. I have 4 Old Blues. All went like clockwork.

Surprising that I have not seen other reports about this. I should just dial it back a bit I guess.
Goofy Foot is offline  
Old Jun 2, 2019, 5:01 am
  #463  
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 319
Originally Posted by Goofy Foot
This showed on my rewards activity statement.
35k in GC purchases in ~ 4 days. Had purchased Metas previously at Vons, but LP cracked down on large purchases so I
went over to WMNM. No mix or combined with organic.

So, yeah.
First time experiencing this and I've always hit it hard. I have 4 Old Blues. All went like clockwork.

Surprising that I have not seen other reports about this. I should just dial it back a bit I guess.
At least they didn’t do a shut down. It will be interesting to see if you get 5% on the card going forward and if any of your other OBCs are affected.
Clueless12 is offline  
Old Jun 2, 2019, 7:09 am
  #464  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,688
Originally Posted by Goofy Foot
Surprising that I have not seen other reports about this. I should just dial it back a bit I guess.
Fees of VGCs are $1 lower at NM than drugstore fees they raised to $5.95 which is at par with fees at supermarkets selling meta GCs. RDs from OBCs have slim profit margins after fees, not counting the challenges/obstacles these days in draining VGCs.


Related issue pertaining to MR instead of RD, this was posted on DDF regarding $25K clawback of MR where at least 2 of them reported same thing:
I just got an email from Amex that "After careful review of your MR account, we have removed points in your account... We recently noticed point accrual or redemption activity indicates a manner that is not appropriate..." They go on to include the paragraph from Terms "If we in our sole discretion determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse...."
After logging into my account I noticed a points adjustment of 25k. Anyone have this happen to them? And any chance Amex will continue to pursue further investigation into my account (FR or account shutdown)?
another post where the account was shutdown with 300K+ MR forfeited:
Amex closed a friend of mine's account with 300k+ MR points. Rep says due to "inactivity". No notice was given (rep claims they warned of closure due to inactivity during a phone conversation a few months ago when AH called to downgrade from a Biz gold to green, which according to AH is not true).

Points are gone and Amex says there's nothing to be done. Any advice other than small claims court?
This proves the RATS are on a vicious rampage, axp must be so proud of them.

IF, as OP experienced, where purchases from NM has been marked as ineligible for RD, it's possible huge drugstore purchases will be scrutinized next.
Mamibear is offline  
Old Jun 2, 2019, 8:08 am
  #465  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott/SPG Platinum
Posts: 496
Originally Posted by Goofy Foot
This showed on my rewards activity statement.
35k in GC purchases in ~ 4 days.. I have 4 Old Blues. All went like clockwork.
so this 35k VGC in 4 days were on one OBC or spread over on several OBC? all the 35k VGC rewards showed "FORFEITED" or only part of 35k VGC rewards showed "FORFEITED"? thanks
coolguy100 is offline  


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