topic Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game in Credit Cards

BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

Varsity_Lu — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 21:33:39 GMT

I was approved for BCP on Feb 28, 2024 and I got the $300 SUB and no AF for the first year. Since I moved my statement closing date, I was just charged my second year annual fee 2 days ago. We spend a ton on groceries and I've already almost maxed out my $6k cap for 2025. My wife also has a BCP so we will be switching to her card for the next 4 months of groceries. Since I am almost at my max anyway, I decided to try my hand at the downgrade upgrade game and PCd my card to BCE. My thinking is this: I won't really need my BCP until May 2026 because we can use my wife's now and when it resets in January, we can use her BCP for the first 4 months of 2026. My gambit is that AmEx will offer me an upgrade to BCP within the next 12 months hopefully with a SUB and no AF for a year. I've already basically gotten 2 years of rewards out of it for no fee. If I wait until next April to upgrade, I could potentially get max rewards for 2026 and 2027 with no fee. This may be the stupidest thing I've ever done. Or it could be spectacular! Wish me luck.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

coldfusion — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 22:30:55 GMT

We've had multiple members be successful at this game over the last several years, here's hoping you get to become one them.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

Varsity_Lu — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 22:59:12 GMT

@coldfusion

I figure the worst case scenario is that I don't get an offer and decide to app for it in March of next year if I still see it as valuable to me. Even then I still will have saved 95 bucks on year 2.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

NoMoreE46 — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 01:20:49 GMT

There has been someone who has been successful with their BCP downgrade to the BCE and getting a BCP upgrade offer pretty quickly. The upgrade does not waive the $95 AF but has a bonus of like $75 for $1000 spend in six months.

User has been successful on this for four years.

@coldfusion wrote:
We've had multiple members be successful at this game over the last several years, here's hoping you get to become one them.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

Varsity_Lu — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 00:39:03 GMT

Looks like @FinStar has played this game several time successfully based on this thread:

Limits on BCE => BCP upgrade downgrade

It also looks like SUB with waived AF offers exist. We'll see what happens

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

mgood — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 01:24:01 GMT

I've had my BCP for a year now and my 0% interest period expires this month. I have the balance almost paid off and plan to downgrade to BCE after the fee posts. Hoping to get an upgrade offer in the future and play this game myself.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

Varsity_Lu — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 10:27:52 GMT

Well, I think they have already offered an upgrade. When I log in and go to cards, I don't get any personalized offers, but when I scroll down to BCP and expand the section, it says I can request an upgrade with a $75 SUB on $1k spent in the next 6 months.

A few questions: 1.) If I were to request the upgrade, is there a chance they would refuse it? I mean they use the word request for a reason. Has anyone ever been denied an upgrade? 2.) If I upgrade now, will they charge the full $95 AF or prorate it to my card anniversary date which is April 15? 3.) Will upgrading reset my annual fee anniversary date to the date of the upgrade? 4.) If I wait until next spring to upgrade, will that change anything?

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

Varsity_Lu — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 12:27:27 GMT

I think I found my own answers, at least to some of my questions. I read the fine print on the offer and the annual fee will be a "prorated Annual Membership Fee based on the time remaining until your next account anniversary date."

So, I think my best bet is to wait to upgrade until next April. I've almost maxed out my grocery rewards for 2025 and I don't see any reason to upgrade just for a few bucks on groceries. If I upgrade next April, I can get year 3 benefits for $20 ($95-$75 SUB). I could potentially get 2027 BCP benefits from Jan-April of 2027 and downgrade then. 4 years of BCP for $20? Who knows, I may have a different grocery card by then, too.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

unsungivy — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 12:36:22 GMT

Hold out until they give you an offer that waives the fee. I did. Eventually they offered it.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Successfully-held-out-for-a-better-offer/m-p/6779501

Uh... do you and your wife both have your PayPal Debit cards? The grocery category on that comes out better than the BCP anyways. It's 5% for up to 1k spend a month, and you can fund your PayPal account with a 1% debit card like Affinity or Quontic, making it 6%. It's also not limited to JUST Supermarkets, like BCP is. It covers other markets and included most Target and Walmarts (not "basic" Walmarts, but the supercenters, online, and Neighborhood Walmarts).

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

Varsity_Lu — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 16:15:23 GMT

@unsungivy wrote:

Uh... do you and your wife both have your PayPal Debit cards? The grocery category on that comes out better than the BCP anyways.

Ah, PayPal, my nemesis. I can't even start to tell you how much I hate their system. I have given it a fair shake several times and I have yet to make a successful transaction with that useless debit card. Between them limiting my debit transfers to $25 to my bank shutting my card down due to potential fraud to the astronomical holds that merchants place on sales resulting in declined transactions...sigh. My number one rule as a consumer is that a product must work. PayPal debit simply does not work. Full stop.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

Varsity_Lu — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 16:14:30 GMT

@unsungivy wrote:

Hold out until they give you an offer that waives the fee. I did. Eventually they offered it.

At this point I will wait until the start of 2026 before upgrading again. I can hold out until the end of April 2026 before we will need a reset BCP card.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

unsungivy — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 23:42:52 GMT

@Varsity_Lu wrote:
@unsungivy wrote:

Uh... do you and your wife both have your PayPal Debit cards? The grocery category on that comes out better than the BCP anyways.
Ah, PayPal, my nemesis. I can't even start to tell you how much I hate their system. I have given it a fair shake several times and I have yet to make a successful transaction with that useless debit card. Between them limiting my debit transfers to $25 to my bank shutting my card down due to potential fraud to the astronomical holds that merchants place on sales resulting in declined transactions...sigh. My number one rule as a consumer is that a product must work. PayPal debit simply does not work. Full stop.

🤷‍♀️ Sorry about that. Not every product is for every customer. Did your wife have the same issues?

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

crystal626 — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 20:09:52 GMT

I always wait until they offer a waived AF. This last time they gave me $150 for $1K of spend and a waived AF. I have the Custom Cash and Rewards+ so we get 5.55% on groceries anyway. Only makes sense to use the BCP with no AF since that's actually 6%.

Re: BCP Downgrade Upgrade Game

LuckyShatter — Thu, 22 May 2025 17:05:59 GMT

I have just hit 6 months on my BCE, and saw an offer on the home page for an upgrade to the BCP. $75 back for $1000 spend in 6 months, but no language suggested a waived AF. I clicked on it to investigate and then a new page said no such offer was available for my card and then page reverted back to the standard "apply for the BCP here".

I heard the offers normally come in after having the card for a year? And perhaps they're still doing 75, 100, 150 back with waived 1st year fee? This is probably when I should look upgrade?