What's the point of AMEX blue?

[Devastator]

The regular Blue I mean, not the cash.  Just AMEX blue.....

Is it that it is easier to get than the Blue Cashes?  Some of their cards ae hard to figure out.

For example, between the Clear and the Blue Cash, they seem basically like the same card, though I understand Clear is very hard to get.  I wonder what alogorithms and analysis they use as if they're going to lend me money and let me spend money on their credit---how does it matter which card of theres I'm doing it through?

I'd like to get a revolving in a few months--I have the Zync now and have had it for just a year.

[Anonymous]

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@Devastator wrote:

The regular Blue I mean, not the cash.  Just AMEX blue.....

Is it that it is easier to get than the Blue Cashes?  Some of their cards ae hard to figure out.

For example, between the Clear and the Blue Cash, they seem basically like the same card, though I understand Clear is very hard to get.  I wonder what alogorithms and analysis they use as if they're going to lend me money and let me spend money on their credit---how does it matter which card of theres I'm doing it through?

I'd like to get a revolving in a few months--I have the Zync now and have had it for just a year.

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I would think if you've had the Zync for a year now you should be good to app for a Blue, Blue Cash.......as long as your Zync has been in good standing for the entire year you've had the card, AmEx likes to see some history, build a relationship with you.

How does your EX report look? Do you know your EX FICO?

I have 4 AmEx Cards, PR Gold, Blue Cash, Blue Cash Preferred and the Platinum Optima, all backdated to 91.

(Best Case Scenario) If you're wanting to app for an AmEx revolver its best to have your EX report (well, all your reports just in case they pull more than EX, unlikely, but possible) to look as appealing as possible, few inq's, low util, only one CC reporting a small bal, that's what I did when apping with AmEx (actually I always keep my reports like this).

If your util is high and you have several CC's reporting balances and you have many inq's and new accounts, you may not stand a good chance of being approved, you may want to get your util down and have just one CC reporting a bal, let the new accounts and inq's age at least 6 months then app.

But, if your report looks like the "Best Case Scenario" I posted above, you could be good to app for an AmEx revolver.

Of course YMMV, you may get approved regardless of what I've posted either way, Lenders, even AmEx never cease to amaze me.

Best of Luck!

[Anonymous]

It all depends on what type of rewards you are interested in.  Unlike the Blue Cash cards, the regular Blue earns Membership Rewards Express points, same as the Zync. It's just a revolving credit card  with a limit rather than a NPSL charge.  I think it was the first Blue introduced and is just still hanging around. BCE and BCP have only been out a few months.  Before them there was regular Blue Cash with a different reward structure.

The rewards on the Clear are in the form of American Express Gift Cards which appear to be sent out automatically, not sure about that though.

MR points can be accumulated and redeemed when you wish.

I don't know if the Clear is particularly harder to get.

ETA:  as Mustang said, if your reports look good, you should be fine after having a year's good history on the Zync.  So you have a Member Since date of 2010? If you wait to Jan. to apply, the new card will be dated 1/2010, which is better for AAoA.  So a card obtained now would actually be "younger" than a card issued in January.

[Odiseous]

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@Devastator wrote:

The regular Blue I mean, not the cash.  Just AMEX blue.....

Is it that it is easier to get than the Blue Cashes?  Some of their cards ae hard to figure out.

For example, between the Clear and the Blue Cash, they seem basically like the same card, though I understand Clear is very hard to get.  I wonder what alogorithms and analysis they use as if they're going to lend me money and let me spend money on their credit---how does it matter which card of theres I'm doing it through?

I'd like to get a revolving in a few months--I have the Zync now and have had it for just a year.

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The point of Blue, is that you get a 1% card, with access to the Membership Rewards Express Program (lowest of 3 levels), with no annual fee (Zync has the same rewards program & level). 

Blue Cash doesn't earn points for the program. All you get back is cash. And, who needs cash? 

Note: I haven't explored the rewards program very much (MB AmEx is at the 2nd level for the program) . But so far, it doesn't look all that good, compared to cash back. 

I imagine the Platinum card level has better rewards. But I don't have that level yet, so can't comment. 

[stan_the_man]

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@Odiseous wrote:

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@Devastator wrote:

The regular Blue I mean, not the cash.  Just AMEX blue.....

Is it that it is easier to get than the Blue Cashes?  Some of their cards ae hard to figure out.

For example, between the Clear and the Blue Cash, they seem basically like the same card, though I understand Clear is very hard to get.  I wonder what alogorithms and analysis they use as if they're going to lend me money and let me spend money on their credit---how does it matter which card of theres I'm doing it through?

I'd like to get a revolving in a few months--I have the Zync now and have had it for just a year.

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The point of Blue, is that you get a 1% card, with access to the Membership Rewards Express Program (lowest of 3 levels), with no annual fee (Zync has the same rewards program & level). 

Blue Cash doesn't earn points for the program. All you get back is cash. And, who needs cash? 

Note: I haven't explored the rewards program very much (MB AmEx is at the 2nd level for the program) . But so far, it doesn't look all that good, compared to cash back. 

I imagine the Platinum card level has better rewards. But I don't have that level yet, so can't comment. 

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I think the Membership Rewards Express points suck in terms of value. I pegged them at around .0068 cents per point for cash-equivalent uses, and only .005 for statement credits. That is a horrible rewards rate for Amex cards.

[Walt_K]

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@Odiseous wrote:

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@Devastator wrote:

The regular Blue I mean, not the cash.  Just AMEX blue.....

Is it that it is easier to get than the Blue Cashes?  Some of their cards ae hard to figure out.

For example, between the Clear and the Blue Cash, they seem basically like the same card, though I understand Clear is very hard to get.  I wonder what alogorithms and analysis they use as if they're going to lend me money and let me spend money on their credit---how does it matter which card of theres I'm doing it through?

I'd like to get a revolving in a few months--I have the Zync now and have had it for just a year.

---

The point of Blue, is that you get a 1% card, with access to the Membership Rewards Express Program (lowest of 3 levels), with no annual fee (Zync has the same rewards program & level). 

Blue Cash doesn't earn points for the program. All you get back is cash. And, who needs cash? 

Note: I haven't explored the rewards program very much (MB AmEx is at the 2nd level for the program) . But so far, it doesn't look all that good, compared to cash back. 

I imagine the Platinum card level has better rewards. But I don't have that level yet, so can't comment. 

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The primary value of Membership Rewards is transferring your points into frequent flier airline programs to redeem for travel, which you can't do with the Blue because it is an MR Express card.  If you have a second card that earns regular MR points,  your points earned on your Blue, including any points you previously earned before adding the full MR card, will convert to regular MR points and be eligible for transfer to FF programs.  If you're not interested in redeeming points for travel, then it is probably true that you would be much better off with a cashback card as the redemption rates on the merchandise and gift cards is pretty sub-par.  But if you are interested in redeeming for travel, especially premium class international travel, then there is a lot of value to MR points.

As for MR First, which is offered to Platinum and Centurion cardholders, I don't have it either (so take this with a grain of salt), but my impression is that it offers a few more redemption partners such as high end retailers.  But those still aren't generally good redemption values.  I don't believe that MR First has any additional airline transfer partners or gets any better transfer bonus offers than regular MR earning cardholders, e.g., PR Gold, Gold, Green, etc.

[Walt_K]

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@stan_the_man wrote:

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I think the Membership Rewards Express points suck in terms of value. I pegged them at around .0068 cents per point for cash-equivalent uses, and only .005 for statement credits. That is a horrible rewards rate for Amex cards.

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I don't have Zync so can't check this, but I assume you mean $0.0068 per point as opposed to 0.0068 cents per point.  Otherwise the redemption value is just ridiculous.  It can't be that bad.

Also, remember when comparing Zync to a cashback card, that just because it is .68 cents per point does not mean that it necessarily earns less than 1% cash back.  Zync earns more than one point per dollar in its packs, so that has to be factored in to figure out the equivalent cashback earning potential. 

[stan_the_man]

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@Walt_K wrote:

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@stan_the_man wrote:

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I think the Membership Rewards Express points suck in terms of value. I pegged them at around .0068 cents per point for cash-equivalent uses, and only .005 for statement credits. That is a horrible rewards rate for Amex cards.

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I don't have Zync so can't check this, but I assume you mean $0.0068 per point as opposed to 0.0068 cents per point.  Otherwise the redemption value is just ridiculous.  It can't be that bad.

Also, remember when comparing Zync to a cashback card, that just because it is .68 cents per point does not mean that it necessarily earns less than 1% cash back.  Zync earns more than one point per dollar in its packs, so that has to be factored in to figure out the equivalent cashback earning potential. 

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Yep, I meant $0.0068/point. (Which I believe was for Amazon.com transactions).