topic Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue in Credit Cards

What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Red1Blue — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:05:35 GMT

I promise no more apping for next 6 - 12 months. I am curious. What is the difference between Amex Blue and Amex Clear. In most of the postings I read that people are going for blue. I have not heard people talking about Clear on this board.

May I askm what is the primary differences between the 2 cards and which card do you prefer? What are the reasons you prefer that card?

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:16:24 GMT

concorduser wrote:
I promise no more apping for next 6 - 12 months. I am curious. What is the difference between Amex Blue and Amex Clear. In most of the postings I read that people are going for blue. I have not heard people talking about Clear on this board.

May I askm what is the primary differences between the 2 cards and which card do you prefer? What are the reasons you prefer that card?

The primary selling point of Clear is that is has no fees associated with it. No annual fees, no overlimit fees, no late fees. You get rewards in the form of Amex gift cards.

Blue, on the other hand, lets you participate in Membership Rewards Express, which is a much more flexible rewards program. Actually, now that you have the Platinum charge card (congrats again!), if you had Blue it could participate in the regular Membership Rewards program.

IMO, Blue is the better card. The no-fees aspect of Clear is good if you're planning on being late with your payments and going over the limit. But if you're planning that, you have other issues to deal with.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Red1Blue — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:21:52 GMT

Thanks Cheddar. I do PIF every month so I guess Clear is not the right card for me. I'll check out the Blue Card features. It really does not make sense for me to have too many card. I guess, I would rather wait few months and see if I can get the Plum Card for my Business. I wonder how hard it is to get the Plum Card. My business is 6 year old and have very good credit with Citi and other cards. I am hoping to expand the business nationwide this year. That is the reason I am happy when they said I am approved for Platinum Card. I also have to work on getting 3 paid collections off of my EX and few lates. That is my goal for the next 3 months.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:25:58 GMT

concorduser wrote:
Thanks Cheddar. I do PIF every month so I guess Clear is not the right card for me. I'll check out the Blue Card features. It really does not make sense for me to have too many card. I guess, I would rather wait few months and see if I can get the Plum Card for my Business. I wonder how hard it is to get the Plum Card. My business is 6 year old and have very good credit with Citi and other cards. I am hoping to expand the business nationwide this year. That is the reason I am happy when they said I am approved for Platinum Card. I also have to work on getting 3 paid collections off of my EX and few lates. That is my goal for the next 3 months.

I have to agree. You have the cream of the crop now when it comes to Amex cards (except the Centurion, but that doesn't really count). I don't think there's any reason to push it looking at the Blue and the Clear.

Remember, the fewer different cards you use, the faster your rewards points accumulate!

Getting new credit is only one half of the repair process. Maybe focus on the other half and let this Platinum card work its magic for a while.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:29:36 GMT

to someone like me they both look like gold...........

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Red1Blue — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:33:18 GMT

Maxima, you are on the right track. You'll get it soon. As of June 07, my scores were low 500's due to my bad health in 2005. Though I was making $15k / month, I could not even rent a apartment. That is when I have decided to turn things around and started cleaning up. Hopefully I should be joining the 700 club any time soon. Keep up your chin and hope for the best. It will happen and soon you'll join the ranks of 700 Club and Amex Platinum League.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:58:33 GMT

I have Blue for Students and the reg. Clear. The prob. is- I think it is the Clear, that you have to have charged 6500 before rewards kick in and they are not retroactive. Be very careful w/ the rewards cards to make sure you can "push enough through" to make them be effective.

However Amex has been very generous to me w/ CLI's. I cannot complain.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:42:44 GMT

netpanther wrote:
I have Blue for Students and the reg. Clear. The prob. is- I think it is the Clear, that you have to have charged 6500 before rewards kick in and they are not retroactive. Be very careful w/ the rewards cards to make sure you can "push enough through" to make them be effective.

However Amex has been very generous to me w/ CLI's. I cannot complain.

I think you're thinking of the $6500 annual spending threshold to get the higher tiered rewards on Blue Cash. I don't believe the Clear has a minimum spending threshold to begin receiving rewards.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:58:00 GMT

Plat served me well for about 15 years...strive to be offered a black.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:01:12 GMT

Lady_Scarlet wrote:
Plat served me well for about 15 years...strive to be offered a black.

Do you spend $250K a year on your Platinum? That's the first requirement to be offered a Black.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:03:41 GMT

I think the Blue is an easy to get compared to the Clear card. I read a lot on the board about people getting the Delta gold and converting to Blue. But never to Clear.

Clear was the first AMEX credit card I applied for and was approved. I got the Blue, Optima Plat and Gold Rewards Plus aftewards.

I don't plan on ever being late with my credit card payments or going over my lmit. But it's nice knowing I am not paying for ANY FEES including..balance transfers.

In my opinion Clear is better. The credit limit is high, at least with mines and not everyone has it.

Message Edited by ragcajun on 01-27-2008 04:02 PM

Message Edited by ragcajun on 01-27-2008 04:03 PM

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Red1Blue — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:07:28 GMT

Thanks ragcajun. I hear lot of people getting blue. I have not heard many asking for clear. That is why I am curious. I think I am going to pass for now. All I need is one good biz card for my business. It could be Plum Card or one of the major Visa/MC. That is it. I am all done.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

MidnightVoice — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:21:55 GMT

I didn't like the Clear rewards program, so I applied for Blue

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

atldragon — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:23:08 GMT

Concord,

I have delta, blue, one, and of course the plat. I had the clear but I figured I had to many cards from amex so guess which one i canceled. If you go over the llimit or late with amex, well.......yeah, there is no fee..........but i can almost guarantee there will be a penalty............know what i mean?

BTW..........how are you enjoying your Plat card? Dont you love just whipping that thing out. But honestly, Im striving to be in Lady Scarlets club. Geez..........scarlet, can I hang out sometime?

Message Edited by atldragon on 01-27-2008 07:23 PM

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:08:20 GMT

MidnightVoice wrote:
I didn't like the Clear rewards program, so I applied for Blue

MV, maybe you can answer something that has puzzled me for a long time? What exactly is the difference between the Membership Rewards Express that comes with the Blue, and the standard Membership Rewards program that comes with the charge cards?

I've tried to find a detailed explanation on the Amex website many times, to no avail.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Red1Blue — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:24:57 GMT

Yes, I am curious too to find out what is the difference between the rewards program cheddar mentioned. I also understand the points are not interchangeable between the two programs. Am I correct?

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

MidnightVoice — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:48:02 GMT

It seemed to me when I read it (and it was NOT very clear) that Clear gave Amex gift cards and Blue gave points that could be spent in various places (and for me that is Barnes and Noble), so I am happy.

Other than that, as I PIF, there didn't seem a whole lot of difference

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:09:42 GMT

MidnightVoice wrote:
It seemed to me when I read it (and it was NOT very clear) that Clear gave Amex gift cards and Blue gave points that could be spent in various places (and for me that is Barnes and Noble), so I am happy.

Other than that, as I PIF, there didn't seem a whole lot of difference

I understand that Clear has its own gift card based rewards program.

I was asking about the difference between the Membership Rewards program that the charge cards participate in vs. the Membership Rewards Express program that the Blue card belongs to.

No worries, though. I guess I could just call them and ask once I'm trying to decide what I'm going to convert my Skymiles to in 9 months or so.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:42:43 GMT

The most recent difference I ran into was no double points for booking travel with them online. I know I didn't answer you question, but just sharing personal experiences.

Re: What is better? Amex Clear or Amex Blue

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:09:15 GMT

Cheddar, I was wondering the same thing earlier today, so I looked it up. Here's the press release from Amex themselves:

http://home3.americanexpress.com/corp/pc/2007/mrtier.asp