topic Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year in Credit Cards

AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 12:30:45 GMT

Email from AMEX this morning. 5% until 12/31 until you hit your $6000 yearly max, then 3% (1%+extra 2%). Email said I was already enrolled, no need to do anything.

Just an FYI.

Not sure if similar offer on other cards, this is my only AMEX at the moment.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

VanderSnoot — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 12:51:48 GMT

Sweet! Just in time for the holidays.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

coldfusion — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 12:57:32 GMT

The BCP is offering a similar promo for 5% CB at US gas stations, but since gas is not associated with the $6K grocery cap there is no related restriction.

You have to read the fine print for both promos though as there are "up to an additional $5 cash back" qualifiers listed.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 13:19:31 GMT

I would much rather have the grocery offer but I just got this instead

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

dlister70 — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 14:55:55 GMT

My email was for an extra 2% on gas. I suspect that they are targeting an area that you don't typically use the card for. My BCE is groceries only, so they sent me gas. Someone that uses it for gas only might get the groceries or department store email? Just a guess.

But even at 4%, I'm not going to use it for gas because I have a 5% card for that. It is nice that they auto-enrolled us though, so that it would work even if we didn't check the email.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 15:20:42 GMT

@dlister70 wrote:
My email was for an extra 2% on gas. I suspect that they are targeting an area that you don't typically use the card for. My BCE is groceries only, so they sent me gas. Someone that uses it for gas only might get the groceries or department store email? Just a guess.

But even at 4%, I'm not going to use it for gas because I have a 5% card for that. It is nice that they auto-enrolled us though, so that it would work even if we didn't check the email.

Sounds about right as I've only been using mine on gas to keep it active.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

DaveInAZ — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 15:31:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I would much rather have the grocery offer but I just got this instead

"Up to and additional $5 cashback"????? Darn, too bad Barney's closed up, I could have gone on a wild shopping spree with that 5 bucks.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 16:43:08 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
"Up to and additional $5 cashback"????? Darn, too bad Barney's closed up, I could have gone on a wild shopping spree with that 5 bucks.

My thought as well (well, the $5, not the Barney's!) but people here will tell you that $5 is $5.... And this is much better than the US Bank one, you need only spend $250 in the category to max out, whereas to get $5 from US Bank you needed to spend $2,500 over the qualifying $900

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 02:11:00 GMT

i didn't get any special offer email and when i log in i don't see any special offers either.

my card is a bit new so maybe that's why.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 03:01:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i didn't get any special offer email and when i log in i don't see any special offers either.
my card is a bit new so maybe that's why.

I had my BCE since 2013, and I have no auto-enrolled offers for anything lol.

It could be based on spending habits.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 05:53:25 GMT

so far i have only been using it for non-category spending just to hit my sub. i didn't take it to a grocery store yet either. this is a weird spending pattern for the bce for sure.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

calyx — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 19:22:23 GMT

I'd love to get the gas offer on my BCP, but I didn't get any offer at all.

And yup, $5 is $5

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

DaveInAZ — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 22:31:32 GMT

@calyx wrote:
I'd love to get the gas offer on my BCP, but I didn't get any offer at all.

And yup, $5 is $5

Yup, 5 bucks is 5 bucks, and American Express is supposed to be one of the more elite card issuers. At the risk of sounding ungrateful (because I am), Amex can keep their 5 bucks, because if that's all you can offer as a motivation to use your card more you keep it, you must need it more than I do.

The holiday season is major spend season for most, so many card issuers come out with promotions to entice you to put more of that spend on their card. From BBVA I have an offer of 4% rewards on groceries for the month of Nov., up to $30 additional rewards, a $750 spend, and that's on top of my current grocery rewards, 2%. From BoA I have an offer of 6% rewards for online purchases through 12/31 up to $150, a $2500 spend. From Cap One I have an offer of a $300 bonus for a $6500 spend by Feb. 7 2020, on top of QS 1.5% rewards.

So yeah, I'm a little underwhelmed by the Amex offer of 5 bucks. I actually think it cheapens their image - the image of an Amex cardholder they project doesn't jump up & down at the prospect of an extra 5 bucks.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 22:36:09 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@calyx wrote:
I'd love to get the gas offer on my BCP, but I didn't get any offer at all.

And yup, $5 is $5
Yup, 5 bucks is 5 bucks, and American Express is supposed to be one of the more elite card issuers. At the risk of sounding ungrateful (because I am), Amex can keep their 5 bucks, because if that's all you can offer as a motivation to use your card more you keep it, you must need it more than I do.

The holiday season is major spend season for most, so many card issuers come out with promotions to entice you to put more of that spend on their card. From BBVA I have an offer of 4% rewards on groceries for the month of Nov., up to $30 additional rewards, a $750 spend, and that's on top of my current grocery rewards, 2%. From BoA I have an offer of 6% rewards for online purchases through 12/31 up to $150, a $2500 spend. From Cap One I have an offer of a $300 bonus for a $6500 spend by Feb. 7 2020, on top of QS 1.5% rewards.

So yeah, I'm a little underwhelmed by the Amex offer of 5 bucks. I actually think it cheapens their image - the image of an Amex cardholder they project doesn't jump up & down at the prospect of an extra 5 bucks.

So you get 4% for the first $125 spend, then back to 2% for the remainder. If you have a better offer for grocery shopping, go with it. If not, you use the card without thinking about it. There isn't really much work in it.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

DaveInAZ — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 23:05:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So you get 4% for the first $125 spend, then back to 2% for the remainder. If you have a better offer for grocery shopping, go with it. If not, you use the card without thinking about it. There isn't really much work in it.

OK, I'll quit harping on it.

The BCE really doesn't work well for me as in my small city east of Tucson there's only Safeway and Walmart and Walmart is so much cheaper most of my grocery spend is there, and as my Walmart codes as grocery on Visa/MC my BBVA Visa does much better than BCE for me. But I'll get that 4% $125 spend, I like wine and Walmart's wine selection really awful, so Safeway gets my booze run.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 01:13:03 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
So you get 4% for the first $125 spend, then back to 2% for the remainder. If you have a better offer for grocery shopping, go with it. If not, you use the card without thinking about it. There isn't really much work in it.
OK, I'll quit harping on it.

The BCE really doesn't work well for me as in my small city east of Tucson there's only Safeway and Walmart and Walmart is so much cheaper most of my grocery spend is there, and as my Walmart codes as grocery on Visa/MC my BBVA Visa does much better than BCE for me. But I'll get that 4% $125 spend, I like wine and Walmart's wine selection really awful, so Safeway gets my booze run.

If it's groceries it's going to be 5%!. But it needs to be $250 at 2% extra to get the full $5 so to make the "$5 is $5" people happy, add some more bottles!

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

kdm31091 — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 01:18:11 GMT

Although I agree that 5 bucks is certainly not anything that exciting, we tend to get excited about equally small amounts of rewards in other situations. For example, people jump on a card offering 1% more on xyz category, even though in terms of dollars, it's likely you're only gaining that same $5, or even less, a month! So to me, if you're not excited by this offer, why be excited by small differences in spending rewards? (This is not targeted at a specific poster, just thinking out loud really)

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 01:37:46 GMT

i didn't get a special offer today either

but today i did spend big and got my bce $200 sub. shopped at a drugstore so i didn't get any 3% back. but it was more convenient and saved a lot of time so i don't care. about $4 in cashback lost.

Re: AMEX BCE extra 2% grocery bonus thru end of year

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 01:41:51 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
Although I agree that 5 bucks is certainly not anything that exciting, we tend to get excited about equally small amounts of rewards in other situations. For example, people jump on a card offering 1% more on xyz category, even though in terms of dollars, it's likely you're only gaining that same $5, or even less, a month! So to me, if you're not excited by this offer, why be excited by small differences in spending rewards? (This is not targeted at a specific poster, just thinking out loud really)

Little dollars, but also very little effort. Almost takes no thought.