Finally got my BCE

[MCHammerFan]

I finally got my BCE in the mail with the cardholder agreement and activated it (Also according to Amex apparently my Experian score is 769), to be honest I am excited to have my first Amex card so here are my impressions.

• They gave me the highest APR of 22.94% That's even higher than my Bank of America Platinum Plus Visa! That  was my first major CC other than my Capital One Platinum with the paltry $500 CL and 24% APR (24% and I'm even sure if there was a decimal point there. The card screams subprime to me). I applied to the card a year ago.
• The CL I got for the BCE was 2K which is the same as my BoA card. From what I read CLI requests are soft pulls vs BoA with hard pulls so thats a plus.
• Paypal seems to have a nice special message for the Amex users. Basically along the lines of "Some vendors do not always accept Amex through Paypal" I'm a heavy  Paypal spender. I chose the BCE over the Freedom due to the constant 3% on groceries since I constantly buy from grocery stores and a boatload of the Freedom rotating categories I never touch. I probably will look into the Sapphire or Marriot Rewards visa when I travel though.
• They have a nice export to Quicken feature, though I still use Excel spreadsheets like the dinosaur I am.
• The card is clear...I thought it was gonna be a nice pale grey but a minor quibble.
• Intro APR of 0% is nice but I hear horror stories of people's CL being lowered for carrying a balance. Any card that has interest rates I always PIF for that statement period. I will take advantage of that 0% APR, but with a little reservation.
• What on earth is that "Check Spending Ability" button on the account summary page? It like I have to ask Amex permission to use the card each time.

My Bank of America card however is now going to "If the crap hits the fan" emergency card and the Cap One card is still my go-to for my international purchases which is...almost every month.

How are your interest rates for the BCE? And do you know if I wanted to negotiate a lower interest rate for both my BCE and the BoA card do you know if they will do hard pulls?

Well, here's to earning cash back for responsible credit use and off the the garden with many others.

[jefftca925]

Congrats on the approval. As far as the interest rate goes, I'd wait to discuss that with them until you NEED it. And that should only be in a situation that you are making a single large purchase that you will have to carry for a few months. Amex likes PIFers...so I wouldn't go there with them immediately. Amex likes usage so if you're going to try for a CLI at the 61 day (or so) mark, use that card a lot and PIF! The "check spending ability" button is on every card...why? I don't know. It's more for the charge cards though as they typically have no preset limit. Enjoy the card most of all! Amex is a GREAT company.

[alph4]

Actually had to check my online statement to see my APR as I always PIF and have never looked. It's 17.24%. I looked on the website, and it said there were 3 interest rate brackets, 17.24, 20.24, and 22.24. You said yours is 22.94?

By the way, it doesn't really matter for what we're discussing but I have the Blue Cash Preferred instead of the everyday.  You said you constantly go to grocery stores... have you calculated it out to see if Preferred would net you more rewards after accounting for the annual fee?

Don't worry about the Check Spending Ability.  That is mostly for the charge card folks who don't have a credit limit and want to see if a "big" purchase would be approved before they go to a store. Like a $5000 charge at the Apple Store or something like that.  Since you have a credit limit there is no use for you on this feature.

CLI requests are soft pulls with Amex. You can request up to 3x your current limit without having to talk to anyone.  They originally started me at $2000 as my first credit card in 2008.  I have been very conservative in raising the limit and today it sits at $7500.  If I was really trying I could have probably gotten it well past $15,000.  But I try to be as conservative as possible with Amex.

[MCHammerFan]

Wow, I dun goofed with that. I do indeed have the highest tier of 22.24% I'm not sure how I thought of 22.94% When I did the calculations I would indeed earn more with the BCP based on my spending last year, but I wanted to further analyze my spending habits  more before making the dive to the BCP (I'm going to be entering grad school later this year). Right now I estimated I would lose about $8 on cash back after the annual fee.

[lanc]

Amex is so quirky I had a lower score than you (744) and they gave me 7500 limit.  I don't know my apr because I got the fico score and the card and agreement hasn't came in yet....I'm wondering if AMEX has a formula for balance carriers.  I hear horror stories of people carrying balances but then they offer 12 months 0 apr and they have to make money off of some people to be in the lending business.  I'm thinking of running a balance but paying it off in 3 months because they offer 100$ reward if you spend 1000 in the first 3 months. I bet there crazy computers have algo if you payment drops below lets say 20% (5 months for repayment).  I'm going to always do 33% to be safe...there has to be a formula...