topic Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred? in Credit Cards

Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

jonblaze24 — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:28:39 GMT

Was browsing around my Amex page yesterday and noticed there was an offer to upgrade from my Blue Cash Everyday to Blue Cash Preferred. Does anyone have any feedback regarding this?

The 6% back for groceries sounds amazing, and overall it seems like its much better rewards than the BCE. I can handle the $95 annual fee, but I guess my concern would be credit limit. I was just recently 2.5x'd on my BCE, would there be a chance of them giving me a lower limit if i upgrade or is that not a thing?

Would love to hear feedback, thanks guys!

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

K-in-Boston — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:45:03 GMT

There would not be any changes to your account number or credit line. The only things that change are the introduction of the annual fee and the change in rewards terms. If you spend $3167 or more in groceries annually and you are currently placing them on BCE, the BCP would be a better option. (Also the math gets more favorable if you have streaming purchases or don't have better rewards for any gas and transit purchases.)

Are they currently offering a bonus for upgrading? If not, it might be worth holding out until there is one as they are quite common for upgrades from BCE to BCP and ED to EDP.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

jonblaze24 — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:52:05 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
There would not be any changes to your account number or credit line. The only things that change are the introduction of the annual fee and the change in rewards terms. If you spend $3167 or more in groceries annually and you are currently placing them on BCE, the BCP would be a better option. (Also the math gets more favorable if you have streaming purchases or don't have better rewards for any gas and transit purchases.)

Are they currently offering a bonus for upgrading? If not, it might be worth holding out until there is one as they are quite common for upgrades from BCE to BCP and ED to EDP.

Thank you for your response. Seems the only things they are offering is the $75 in statement credit and the 6% back in groceries/streaming. 3% gas. Doesn't seem like anything that really warrants an upgrade.

As far as credit limits go, would one have a better shot at higher limits than the other? I'm very new to Amex and am building my credit back to where I am starting to finally see some favorable increases in CL's (with all cards).....as stated before they just 2.5x'd my BCE about two months ago, would upgrading give me a better shot at an even higher CL?

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

dragontears — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:59:34 GMT

@jonblaze24 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
There would not be any changes to your account number or credit line. The only things that change are the introduction of the annual fee and the change in rewards terms. If you spend $3167 or more in groceries annually and you are currently placing them on BCE, the BCP would be a better option. (Also the math gets more favorable if you have streaming purchases or don't have better rewards for any gas and transit purchases.)

Are they currently offering a bonus for upgrading? If not, it might be worth holding out until there is one as they are quite common for upgrades from BCE to BCP and ED to EDP.
Thank you for your response. Seems the only things they are offering is the $75 in statement credit and the 6% back in groceries/streaming. 3% gas. Doesn't seem like anything that really warrants an upgrade.

As far as credit limits go, would one have a better shot at higher limits than the other? I'm very new to Amex and am building my credit back to where I am starting to finally see some favorable increases in CL's (with all cards).....as stated before they just 2.5x'd my BCE about two months ago, would upgrading give me a better shot at an even higher CL?

I have seen no data that the BCP has a better chance of a CLI than the BCE. My BCE went to 30k credit limit before I quit asking for CLI.

I have upgraded to the BCP twice now and there is no change in how the account is reported.

I would wait until they offer you something to upgrade, first time I got $200 for upgrading and this last time was $150. I don't have enough grocery spend to make the BCP work for me long term so I will downgrade back to the BCE once the year is up.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

jonblaze24 — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 16:08:25 GMT

@dragontears wrote:
@jonblaze24 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
There would not be any changes to your account number or credit line. The only things that change are the introduction of the annual fee and the change in rewards terms. If you spend $3167 or more in groceries annually and you are currently placing them on BCE, the BCP would be a better option. (Also the math gets more favorable if you have streaming purchases or don't have better rewards for any gas and transit purchases.)

Are they currently offering a bonus for upgrading? If not, it might be worth holding out until there is one as they are quite common for upgrades from BCE to BCP and ED to EDP.
Thank you for your response. Seems the only things they are offering is the $75 in statement credit and the 6% back in groceries/streaming. 3% gas. Doesn't seem like anything that really warrants an upgrade.

As far as credit limits go, would one have a better shot at higher limits than the other? I'm very new to Amex and am building my credit back to where I am starting to finally see some favorable increases in CL's (with all cards).....as stated before they just 2.5x'd my BCE about two months ago, would upgrading give me a better shot at an even higher CL?
I have seen no data that the BCP has a better chance of a CLI than the BCE. My BCE went to 30k credit limit before I quit asking for CLI.
I have upgraded to the BCP twice now and there is no change in how the account is reported.
I would wait until they offer you something to upgrade, first time I got $200 for upgrading and this last time was $150. I don't have enough grocery spend to make the BCP work for me long term so I will downgrade back to the BCE once the year is up.

Really appreciate that feedback, I'll definitely keep an eye out for better offers when they come around.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

K-in-Boston — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 16:39:57 GMT

There should be no difference whatsoever for credit lines whether it's BCE or BCP. If the offer is $75 and a waived annual fee for the first year, that's a good offer. But if it's just a $75 bonus, I agree with @dragontears it's probably better to hold out for a better upgrade offer.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

wasCB14 — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:00:35 GMT

I've done:

$250 with AF due, $2k spend in 3 months (2019)

$150 with no AF for 12 months, $1k spend in 3 months (2021)

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

Howaboutthat — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:06:56 GMT

Take it, there's no annual fee a year then downgrade.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

TimFlorida — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:19:36 GMT

I just upgraded from Cash Magnet - No AF 12 mo. 0% interest for 12 mo. and $150 for 1k spend.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:19:43 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
I've done:
$250 with AF due, $2k spend in 3 months (2019)
$150 with no AF for 12 months, $1k spend in 3 months (2021)

I agree those are the "standard" offers. Haven't heard of $75 before.

OP, is this with or without an AF? If the AF isn't waived the first year, there is a cost to switching which you could make up with increased rewards but is not like the other no-brainer offers.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:20:21 GMT

@Howaboutthat wrote:
Take it, there's no annual fee a year then downgrade.

If there is an AF, $75 reward doesn't make it an automatic take IMO

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

jonblaze24 — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 19:29:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:
I've done:
$250 with AF due, $2k spend in 3 months (2019)
$150 with no AF for 12 months, $1k spend in 3 months (2021)
I agree those are the "standard" offers. Haven't heard of $75 before.

OP, is this with or without an AF? If the AF isn't waived the first year, there is a cost to switching which you could make up with increased rewards but is not like the other no-brainer offers.

It shows a $95 AF.....from the responses here seems like i should wait and see if they have a better offer.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

CreditInspired — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 19:39:03 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
There should be no difference whatsoever for credit lines whether it's BCE or BCP. If the offer is $75 and a waived annual fee for the first year, that's a good offer. But if it's just a $75 bonus, I agree with @dragontears it's probably better to hold out for a better upgrade offer.

I got the offer via email. $150 stmt credit after $1K spending first 3 months. Waived annual fee 1st year. The main reasons I upgraded: no credit check, CL and acct # remained the same, and I easily spend $6K+ annually in groceries--much to my surprise.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

CreditInspired — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 19:40:43 GMT

@TimFlorida wrote:
I just upgraded from Cash Magnet - No AF 12 mo. 0% interest for 12 mo. and $150 for 1k spend.

Oh, I think mine was the Cash Magnet, not the BCE.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

mgood — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 02:09:07 GMT

I don't know how many people have done the math for themselves on 3% BCE vs 6% BCP.

Looking just at groceries, no SUB or other rewards the card may offer.

If you spend $3166.67 per year on groceries, you make the same with either card:

$3166.67 x .03 = $95.00 with the BCE

$3166.67 x .06 = $190.00 then subtract the $95 fee and you made $95.00 with the BCP.

If you spend less than that, the BCE actually earns more than the BCP. (That's only $60.90 per week on groceries.)

Hit the $6000 cap:

$6000.00 x .03 = $180.00

$6000.00 x .06 = $360.00 then subtract the $95 fee and you got $265.00
The BCP earns $85 per year more on groceries at the $6k cap. (That's spending $115.38 per week on groceries.)

None of that is to say you should or should not change. Just something to take into consideration when making a decision.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 13:47:59 GMT

@mgood wrote:
I don't know how many people have done the math for themselves on 3% BCE vs 6% BCP.

Looking just at groceries, no SUB or other rewards the card may offer.

If you spend $3166.67 per year on groceries, you make the same with either card:

With the caveat that this is grocery spending on those particular cards. If you use say Discover or Freedom(Flex) on some quarters your overall spend may be less than the magic number.

And there are other situations. I spend much more than $6K on groceries, but I use other uncapped cards with 4.5 or 5% rewards, so the BCP with an AF and cap doesn't make sense. However, whenever I can upgrade for free I use the BCP and then downgrade.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

mgood — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 16:10:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@mgood wrote:
I don't know how many people have done the math for themselves on 3% BCE vs 6% BCP.

Looking just at groceries, no SUB or other rewards the card may offer.

If you spend $3166.67 per year on groceries, you make the same with either card:

With the caveat that this is grocery spending on those particular cards. If you use say Discover or Freedom(Flex) on some quarters your overall spend may be less than the magic number.

And there are other situations. I spend much more than $6K on groceries, but I use other uncapped cards with 4.5 or 5% rewards, so the BCP with an AF and cap doesn't make sense.

Exactly. It depends on what other cards you have available too. I get 5% quarters from both the Disco it and the CFF. (Same quarter this year, so that's a little less convenient.) I try to buy all the non-perishables I can during those quarters. Outside of that I get 2.55% (uncapped) on groceries from my PenFed Platinum, which also works at Walmart now. I figure I get close to 4% overall on grocery spend (averaged over the year). I'd have to spend $4750 to break even with that with a BCP and if I maxed it out at the $6000 cap, I'd make about $25 more with the BCP than with what I already have. So the BCP is on my list of things that might be nice to have, some day, but not a priority right now.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

SoCalGardener — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 20:20:21 GMT

@jonblaze24 wrote:
Was browsing around my Amex page yesterday and noticed there was an offer to upgrade from my Blue Cash Everyday to Blue Cash Preferred. Does anyone have any feedback regarding this?

The 6% back for groceries sounds amazing, and overall it seems like its much better rewards than the BCE. I can handle the $95 annual fee, but I guess my concern would be credit limit. I was just recently 2.5x'd on my BCE, would there be a chance of them giving me a lower limit if i upgrade or is that not a thing?

Would love to hear feedback, thanks guys!

I accepted my upgrade offer last year, but my SUB was different. I'm not sure now what its terms were--I'm sure I wrote about it at the time, though, so it may be around here somewhere--but it was either $150 CB after $1,500 spend in 3 months, or $300 CB after $3,000 in 6 months. The $95 AF was waived for the first year. I'm thrilled with the BCP and am very happy I took the offer.

I've read a couple of articles on NerdWallet that may be of interest to you, or anyone considering the BCP, especially compared to the BCE. The first one is a review of the BCP, and the other is a side-by-side comparison of the BCP and BCE.

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 21:35:43 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:

I've read a couple of articles on NerdWallet that may be of interest to you, or anyone considering the BCP, especially compared to the BCE. The first one is a review of the BCP, and the other is a side-by-side comparison of the BCP and BCE.

What I dislike about these sort of articles (side by side) is that it is a sort of artificial choice. IMO, there is almost no reason to get the BCE these days. Cap One Savorone is uncapped 3% on supermarkets (plus other useful categories such as dining), and, used only for supermarkets, the Citi Custom Cash gives 5% up to the same $6k limit (albeit have to spread it out evenly throughout the year!)

OK, as @wasCB14 can attest, the good reason for the BCE is to get the valuable upgrade offers!

Re: Amex BCE upgrade to BC Preferred?

wasCB14 — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 22:16:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:

I've read a couple of articles on NerdWallet that may be of interest to you, or anyone considering the BCP, especially compared to the BCE. The first one is a review of the BCP, and the other is a side-by-side comparison of the BCP and BCE.
What I dislike about these sort of articles (side by side) is that it is a sort of artificial choice. IMO, there is almost no reason to get the BCE these days. Cap One Savorone is uncapped 3% on supermarkets (plus other useful categories such as dining), and, used only for supermarkets, the Citi Custom Cash gives 5% up to the same $6k limit (albeit have to spread it out evenly throughout the year!)

OK, as @wasCB14 can attest, the good reason for the BCE is to get the valuable upgrade offers!

And occasional $0 Plan It fees.

But between downgrading BCP to BCE in Jan 2021 (having upgraded ED to EDP about two months before) and upgrading BCE to BCP again in Oct 2021, I didn't make any purchases with the card. 9 full months in the sock drawer.