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While I agree the time it takes for rewards to report is way to long. I don't mind the $25 redemption because I let my rewards build up until I actually have something to use them for. Like a vacation or large unexpected purchase, etc.
@MrDisco99 wrote:
I’m having a very frustrating experience with my BCE and thought I should share with you all as a cautionary tale.
I racked up some charges back in September that should have taken me to the $50 redemption threshold. I sock drawered the card and I made a partial payment in October with the idea that I’d have 50 reward dollars to redeem next statement and I needed to have a balance to credit it toward.
So November rolled around and no statement. I called to find out what was up. Turns out because I changed the due date to earlier in the month, that statement period ended up being a long one because essentially they’d skip November. He assured me I would not need to make a payment in November so I let it ride. That actually worked out fine but it meant I had to wait an extra month for what came next.
Today my December statement printed. I only have 49.97 reward dollars.
Apparently one of my purchases was an Amex offer where I got cash back. The cash back is subtracted from the purchase amount when they calculate rewards.
So now I have to make a $3 purchase (or $1 at a grocery store) to get my reward balance up and pay the minimum this month and again in January and February because that’s how long I have to wait before I get to make that redemption. Thankfully I’m still at 0% interest.
This card will be permanently sock drawered after that if not cancelled outright. I’m so done with that reward program.
I will agree that the amount of time it takes for rewards to acrue is annoying... but I am on the BCP and it's totally worth waiting for two statements to get my rewards credited to get 6% on groceries. We feed a family of 3 (soon to be 4!) and we will max out the $6,000 every year on grocery spend. That's $360 back on groceries alone. Sure there is a $94 annual fee, but I'm also using for gas at 3% (when one of my other cards doesn't have a 5% quarterly bonus) and signing up family members and friend and earning $75 each!
I've also taken advantage of 3 different hotel special offers and have racked up $75 in cash back on 4 hotel stays, which were credited within a couple of days of the charges posting to my account.
I've signed up two in the last month and have already received both $75 bonuses, as well as getting my $250 credit sign up bonus added within a few days of hitting the required $1000 spend.
I've had the card for 2 months, and have earned and received $475 in statement credits so far. This isn't taking into account my normal category cash back that was earned so far. While their earning system may be a bit flawed compared to other cards, I certainly don't think it's worth SDing or cancelling your account. It's a powerful earner if you play the system right!
@Anonymous wrote:
@MrDisco99 wrote:
I’m having a very frustrating experience with my BCE and thought I should share with you all as a cautionary tale.
I racked up some charges back in September that should have taken me to the $50 redemption threshold. I sock drawered the card and I made a partial payment in October with the idea that I’d have 50 reward dollars to redeem next statement and I needed to have a balance to credit it toward.
So November rolled around and no statement. I called to find out what was up. Turns out because I changed the due date to earlier in the month, that statement period ended up being a long one because essentially they’d skip November. He assured me I would not need to make a payment in November so I let it ride. That actually worked out fine but it meant I had to wait an extra month for what came next.
Today my December statement printed. I only have 49.97 reward dollars.
Apparently one of my purchases was an Amex offer where I got cash back. The cash back is subtracted from the purchase amount when they calculate rewards.
So now I have to make a $3 purchase (or $1 at a grocery store) to get my reward balance up and pay the minimum this month and again in January and February because that’s how long I have to wait before I get to make that redemption. Thankfully I’m still at 0% interest.
This card will be permanently sock drawered after that if not cancelled outright. I’m so done with that reward program.I will agree that the amount of time it takes for rewards to acrue is annoying... but I am on the BCP and it's totally worth waiting for two statements to get my rewards credited to get 6% on groceries. We feed a family of 3 (soon to be 4!) and we will max out the $6,000 every year on grocery spend. That's $360 back on groceries alone. Sure there is a $94 annual fee, but I'm also using for gas at 3% (when one of my other cards doesn't have a 5% quarterly bonus) and signing up family members and friend and earning $75 each!
I've also taken advantage of 3 different hotel special offers and have racked up $75 in cash back on 4 hotel stays, which were credited within a couple of days of the charges posting to my account.
I've signed up two in the last month and have already received both $75 bonuses, as well as getting my $250 credit sign up bonus added within a few days of hitting the required $1000 spend.
I've had the card for 2 months, and have earned and received $475 in statement credits so far. This isn't taking into account my normal category cash back that was earned so far. While their earning system may be a bit flawed compared to other cards, I certainly don't think it's worth SDing or cancelling your account. It's a powerful earner if you play the system right!
You spend $125/week on groceries for three people?!
I live by myself and spend $30 and still have too much food to eat.
I'm sure you can save more than 6% back by either shopping somewhere else or cutting back and not overspending.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@MrDisco99 wrote:
I’m having a very frustrating experience with my BCE and thought I should share with you all as a cautionary tale.
I racked up some charges back in September that should have taken me to the $50 redemption threshold. I sock drawered the card and I made a partial payment in October with the idea that I’d have 50 reward dollars to redeem next statement and I needed to have a balance to credit it toward.
So November rolled around and no statement. I called to find out what was up. Turns out because I changed the due date to earlier in the month, that statement period ended up being a long one because essentially they’d skip November. He assured me I would not need to make a payment in November so I let it ride. That actually worked out fine but it meant I had to wait an extra month for what came next.
Today my December statement printed. I only have 49.97 reward dollars.
Apparently one of my purchases was an Amex offer where I got cash back. The cash back is subtracted from the purchase amount when they calculate rewards.
So now I have to make a $3 purchase (or $1 at a grocery store) to get my reward balance up and pay the minimum this month and again in January and February because that’s how long I have to wait before I get to make that redemption. Thankfully I’m still at 0% interest.
This card will be permanently sock drawered after that if not cancelled outright. I’m so done with that reward program.I will agree that the amount of time it takes for rewards to acrue is annoying... but I am on the BCP and it's totally worth waiting for two statements to get my rewards credited to get 6% on groceries. We feed a family of 3 (soon to be 4!) and we will max out the $6,000 every year on grocery spend. That's $360 back on groceries alone. Sure there is a $94 annual fee, but I'm also using for gas at 3% (when one of my other cards doesn't have a 5% quarterly bonus) and signing up family members and friend and earning $75 each!
I've also taken advantage of 3 different hotel special offers and have racked up $75 in cash back on 4 hotel stays, which were credited within a couple of days of the charges posting to my account.
I've signed up two in the last month and have already received both $75 bonuses, as well as getting my $250 credit sign up bonus added within a few days of hitting the required $1000 spend.
I've had the card for 2 months, and have earned and received $475 in statement credits so far. This isn't taking into account my normal category cash back that was earned so far. While their earning system may be a bit flawed compared to other cards, I certainly don't think it's worth SDing or cancelling your account. It's a powerful earner if you play the system right!
You spend $125/week on groceries for three people?!
I live by myself and spend $30 and still have too much food to eat.
I'm sure you can save more than 6% back by either shopping somewhere else or cutting back and not overspending.
Just one of those individual differences and point of view. We spend about $350 a week for two of us, any reduction I get via rewards (now usually using discount gift cards) is just an added plus, and not as a way to optimize(minimize) grocery spend.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:You spend $125/week on groceries for three people?!
I live by myself and spend $30 and still have too much food to eat.
I'm sure you can save more than 6% back by either shopping somewhere else or cutting back and not overspending.
How the heck do you live off of 30 dollars a week in food? That is crazy cheap.
Food and booze are two things I indudge in with life other then that I work like no one else at work, but you touch my steak and wine and one is willing to lose their arms
@CreditCuriousity wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:You spend $125/week on groceries for three people?!
I live by myself and spend $30 and still have too much food to eat.
I'm sure you can save more than 6% back by either shopping somewhere else or cutting back and not overspending.
How the heck do you live off of 30 dollars a week in food? That is crazy cheap.
Food and booze are two things I indudge in with life other then that I work like no one else at work, but you touch my steak and wine and one is willing to lose their arms
Shop at Aldi, and I eat out once or twice but only for $5 or so at a time.
I once hit my Sallie Mae cap with a piece of meat.
@wasCB14 wrote:I once hit my Sallie Mae cap with a piece of meat.
Eating well I see! RIP SM, come to think about it once the SM went dead I eat out a heck of alot more.
I certainly give me CSR a workout every weekend with eating out (meat) and wine.
While I value the analysis of my grocery spending, my shopping habbits aren't in question here, it's whether or not the card is viable for cash back and worthy of being cancelled or SD'd.
Keep in mind there are also currently 97 special offers available for BCP, such as spend $50 at Crate and Barrel get $10 back, spend $50 at GNC get $10 back, spend $15 at Harry's Razors get $5 back, etc.
If you check the offers, and spend accordinly you can really maximize your rewards on the card. And as long as you don't rely on the incoming rewards to pay the bill, who cares how long they take to post to the account? I mean, my Citi DC posts when the statement closes, but again, I don't use the cash back to pay the bill, so I don't pay much attention to it.
American Express has tons of valuable relationships with their merchants. I recently cashed in on a deal that was a $40 statement credit for spending $200 on Hilton Hotels. Thats 20% cash back on just one purchase!
@CreditCuriousity wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:I once hit my Sallie Mae cap with a piece of meat.
Eating well I see! RIP SM, come to think about it once the SM went dead I eat out a heck of alot more.
I certainly give me CSR a workout every weekend with eating out (meat) and wine.
A full natural-feed ribeye roast. Granted, it fed a lot of people with some left over.
I've moved since Sallie was discontinued. I'm just a few miles from a Costco, and the closest traditional grocery store is overpriced with mediocre freshness. Not surprisingly, my traditional grocery spend is minimal....mostly milk, bread, and a few vegetables Costco doesn't carry.