topic Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer in Credit Cards

Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 17:30:49 GMT

I was flipping through my AmEx Offers and there was an offer to upgrade my BCE to BCP with a $250 bonus if I spend $2000 in the first 3 months. I missed out on the sign up bonus for the BCE due to my poor credit at the time so I figured this is a good way for me to get a sign up bonus without a hard pull or new account. The AF is not waived though so net is $155 bonus. I plan to move all spend from other cards to the BCP as $155 for $2000 of spend works out to 7.5% cash back, before the 1-6% the card will give me.

However I don’t think my spending calls for keeping the $95af around for a 2nd year. Do you think I’ll have any problems downgrading just before the next AF hits in a year, or should I wait til the 2nd AF and then downgrade and request a refund?

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

ScoreSizzle — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 17:57:00 GMT

How much do you spend on groceries every month?

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

ScoreSizzle — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 18:03:07 GMT

From what I've read on these forums you can PC once a year.

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 18:07:02 GMT

Wait until the annual fee drops then downgrade and get a refund. Otherwise you may piss off Amex. Might wanna call and mention the offer, see if you can get the annual fee waived. They gave me basically the same offer but waived the fee so there may be a chance you can get a rep to waive it for you

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 19:13:09 GMT

Thanks,

Did you get them to waive the AF on the $250 bonus, or was it the $150 bonus with no AF the first year?

I don’t spend much on groceries maybe 400 a month max. I eat out a lot. So it won’t be worth it after the first year. I spend a couple hundred a month on gas also.

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 19:48:17 GMT

Hm, honestly I don't recall - at the time I was doing SUBs so I don't remember if it was $150 or $250 because I ignored it regardless...I'd still call and try to get them to waive the fee if I were you though

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 19:59:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks,

Did you get them to waive the AF on the $250 bonus, or was it the $150 bonus with no AF the first year?

I don’t spend much on groceries maybe 400 a month max. I eat out a lot. So it won’t be worth it after the first year. I spend a couple hundred a month on gas also.

If you are spending $400 per month on just groceries, that already makes the annual fee worth it compared to the BCE.

@4800/year for BCE @3% = $144

@4800/year for BCP @6% = $288 - $95 AF = $193

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 20:28:13 GMT

You’re right, but I think realistically I’m probably more in the 2-300 range on groceries usually

I did call earlier to ask them to waive the af, but no such luck

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 20:52:37 GMT

It's worth upgrading for the bonus, but remember grocery shows up on discover it (no annual fee, 5% cash back, 10% in year 1) and chase freedom like once a year, so if you get both of those cards the disparity between the BCe and BCP will be even smaller, as you can justifiably use discover it or chase freedom as an alternative to the BCP.

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

MrDisco99 — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 05:42:32 GMT

You should be able to downgrade after one year with no problem.

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 20:53:39 GMT

I got this offer as well. I spend around 1000 dollars a month on groceries so if I only spent the bonus on groceries that would give me $250 + $120 - $95 on 2k spend. So $275 net. I probably will do it eventually but have a lot of other bonuses I want to get at this time.

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 03:05:08 GMT

If you go with the PC from BCE to BCP, are you hit with the AF immediately?

Re: Amex BCE to BCP Upgrade Offer

simplynoir — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 03:26:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you go with the PC from BCE to BCP, are you hit with the AF immediately?

According to T&C since I have the same upgrade offer on my BCE:

Annual Membership Fee: Approximately 45 days after your account is upgraded, you will be charged a prorated Annual Membership Fee for your new Card based on the time remaining until your next account anniversary date. You will also receive a prorated refund for any annual fee paid on your previous Card.

What interests me is the how they'll prorate the AF based on your anniversary date on your current card. Figured they would just charge it right away and "restart" the anniversary date from day of the upgrade.