Pleasant surprise from Amex

[Anonymous]

Has anyone that did not receive the offer tried calling in to request it?  I'm thinking about it.  Card was opened in late 2014, love it, but would love it even more with BCP benefits, even if for a short time. 

[iv]

Just do make sure you read the fine print - the bonus % applies ONLY to the primary cardholder, not to any AUs.

[Anonymous]

I have already hashed it out I would do better with the BCP over the regular version. If I spread my spend out between all of my current cards then I wouldn't. It really encourages loyalty. A couple thousand bucks a year on the regular 1% daily purchase makes up the difference where you would be inclined to use a quicksilver or something else.

I have been declined for that card but I'm not a hater. I only hate u.s. bank and Bank of America heh. I don't hate Citibank either they hate me.

[Anonymous]

American Express is not as cool as chase as giving you offers you were not invited for. with Chase you can say hey my coworker got a Bonus and I didn't and they will add points. American Express does not do that very often, and this was an emailnvitation for OP.

[yfan]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So in other words they're screwing the people who are paying the $95 annual fee on the preferred version to give you 2 1/2 months of what they get for rewards on your no annual fee card. 

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That's one way of looking at it. Another is a limited time trial. Amex is giving targeted people the benefits of the Preferred card in order to entice them to upgrade and pay the fee so those benefits will become permanent.

[Anonymous]

I'm with disdreaming. This isn't the value proposition I signed up for. It's like when new cable customers get discounted rates, but existing ones get the rates thrown through the roof. If Amex is going to give these bonuses to the BCE members, I wish they'd at least discount my fee.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm with disdreaming. This isn't the value proposition I signed up for. It's like when new cable customers get discounted rates, but existing ones get the rates thrown through the roof. If Amex is going to give these bonuses to the BCE members, I wish they'd at least discount my fee.

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In what way has the value proposition changed?  (6% on blah blah blah).   Yes, relatively some people get a good offer for some time, but life if full of that.

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm with disdreaming. This isn't the value proposition I signed up for. It's like when new cable customers get discounted rates, but existing ones get the rates thrown through the roof. If Amex is going to give these bonuses to the BCE members, I wish they'd at least discount my fee.

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In what way has the value proposition changed?  (6% on blah blah blah).   Yes, relatively some people get a good offer for some time, but life if full of that.

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The value proposition is the returns weighed against the cost. Now that Amex is giving away the same rewards to a card without an annual fee, the card with the fee isn't as valuable. BCP is already dicey compared to 2x Sallie Mae, but I've kept it in order to maintain my AF in light of potential increases in grocery expenses. Now that I know that Amex is happy to give those same rewards to BCE, I have less incentive to keep the BCP, and as I was already on the fence, I'm more likely to downgrade or close the card while shifting my spend to other cards.

[Anonymous]

Put another way, if you spend the full $6k over the year, spread evenly, you get 3.75% back with BCE and 4.4% with BCP. Amex halved the benefit of BCP over BCE, and if you aren't going the full amount, the break even point moves from $3167 to $4222. And that's just straight value, without considering the frustration of the lower tier customers getting perks that they didn't pay for.

[Anonymous]

Amex lost the Costco business. Costco customers were converted to Citi Costco Anywhere Visa with similar rates. Amex is enticing the eroding customer base with a beefed up cash back incentive.

Costco Anywhere Visa  = 4% GAS / 3% Restaurants and Travel / 2% on Costco purchases / 1% on everything else

Amex Bluecash Everday card = 3% + 3%  Supermarkets / 2% +1% Gas / 2% +1% Department Stores