topic Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it? in Credit Cards

Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 22:50:40 GMT

Hey guys

So I just received a preselected offer on the Blue Sky ($0 annual fee) card. 30,000 bonus points after $500 spent in the first 3 months, worth up to $400 in travel purchases. I can totally see myself redeeming that bonus offer, since I have about $489.70 left to pay off by the end of October for my cruise in January 2014, split between my boyfriend and I, so I could redeem like $250 from the Blue Sky and redeem any miscellaneous expenses that result from the cruise with the rest. Going to Atlanta in February for a conference that is mostly PIF anyways thanks to the American Meteorological Society, so points could help toward baggage fees and rental cars. Also a 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases. APR after that would be 17.24%, but i always PIF when there's no 0% offers, so that's not a big deal.

I wasn't planning on applying for anything, but that offer looks really good for the Blue Sky. Just wondering if it's REALLY worth something to bite, or if the bonuses on the Blue Sky have done better. If it's not the greatest deal, then I'll pass. If it is, I think I'll take it and start my relationship with AMEX!

I have until August 19th, which is fine, because I'd like for a inquiry to drop off of experian anyways, due to fall off in the beginning of August...

cute packaging for it too, comes with a mini paper "passport" with a fake Blue Sky card in it!

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

myjourney — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 22:54:45 GMT

@daybreakgonesXe wrote:
Hey guys

So I just received a preselected offer on the Blue Sky ($0 annual fee) card. 30,000 bonus points after $500 spent in the first 3 months, worth up to $400 in travel purchases. I can totally see myself redeeming that bonus offer, since I have about $489.70 left to pay off by the end of October for my cruise in January 2014, split between my boyfriend and I, so I could redeem like $250 from the Blue Sky and redeem any miscellaneous expenses that result from the cruise with the rest. Going to Atlanta in February for a conference that is mostly PIF anyways thanks to the American Meteorological Society, so points could help toward baggage fees and rental cars. Also a 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases. APR after that would be 17.24%, but i always PIF when there's no 0% offers, so that's not a big deal.

I wasn't planning on applying for anything, but that offer looks really good for the Blue Sky. Just wondering if it's REALLY worth something to bite, or if the bonuses on the Blue Sky have done better. If it's not the greatest deal, then I'll pass. If it is, I think I'll take it and start my relationship with AMEX!

I have until August 19th, which is fine, because I'd like for a inquiry to drop off of experian anyways, due to fall off in the beginning of August...

cute packaging for it too, comes with a mini paper "passport" with a fake Blue Sky card in it!

Seeing how I know your background so well and you have stayed true to gardening so I assume your scores have rebounded even tho you have a lot of new accounts under 6 months...I think you should be ok for one more but there's a catch .............hummm

Friday night social / party ROFLOL

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 22:58:35 GMT

@myjourney wrote:
@daybreakgonesXe wrote:
Hey guys

So I just received a preselected offer on the Blue Sky ($0 annual fee) card. 30,000 bonus points after $500 spent in the first 3 months, worth up to $400 in travel purchases. I can totally see myself redeeming that bonus offer, since I have about $489.70 left to pay off by the end of October for my cruise in January 2014, split between my boyfriend and I, so I could redeem like $250 from the Blue Sky and redeem any miscellaneous expenses that result from the cruise with the rest. Going to Atlanta in February for a conference that is mostly PIF anyways thanks to the American Meteorological Society, so points could help toward baggage fees and rental cars. Also a 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases. APR after that would be 17.24%, but i always PIF when there's no 0% offers, so that's not a big deal.

I wasn't planning on applying for anything, but that offer looks really good for the Blue Sky. Just wondering if it's REALLY worth something to bite, or if the bonuses on the Blue Sky have done better. If it's not the greatest deal, then I'll pass. If it is, I think I'll take it and start my relationship with AMEX!

I have until August 19th, which is fine, because I'd like for a inquiry to drop off of experian anyways, due to fall off in the beginning of August...

cute packaging for it too, comes with a mini paper "passport" with a fake Blue Sky card in it!
Seeing how I know your background so well and you have stayed true to gardening so I assume your scores have rebounded even tho you have a lot of new accounts under 6 months...I think you should be ok for one more but there's a catch .............hummm

Friday night social / party ROFLOL

I actually don't have a lot of new accounts under 6 months!! Inquiries, I have one under equifax, otherwise everything else is old...most recent card was the sapphire, and that was November! I'm actually now at 2 years AAoA!

And ahahah i'll totally be there!! Considering I won't be pulling the trigger until the last minute (would like to get all my cards except for JCP which has a 12 month 0% financing on my new bed down to 0 with just the jcp reporting), I'm in the garden for a whole other month

Also myjourney I'm off this Friday!! I've been sick since Monday too, some kind of virus, hoping it's not meningitis due to the headaches and neck stiffness...tylenol and excedrin are doing WONDERS though for it...so I'll see you then! can't wait to partay!

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

myjourney — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 23:08:03 GMT

I think your good to go you have nice cards with nice limits ....Go get em!!!!!!!!!!

See your Friday Yay ....Party....

Feel better

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 23:10:53 GMT

@myjourney wrote:
I think your good to go you have nice cards with nice limits ....Go get em!!!!!!!!!!
See your Friday Yay ....Party....

Feel better

Thanks!

Also gonna keep the thread active, just want to see what everyone's opinion on the offer is...APR seems to be the lowest they approve for...

I read on flyertalk after some googling that they had a 37,500 bonus point offer sometime last year or the year before, but no one's seen anything like it since then...past years have also shown the 30,000 bonus points after $500 spend as the best offer.

Anyone remember that 37,500 bonus point offer? Was it for $500 or $1000 spend?

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

oscar_actuary — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 23:11:35 GMT

$400 easy dollars and no compelling reason not to,

Yes go get it.

They sent two to us yesterday. They must've forgotten that we already signed up. $800 is nice.

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

takeshi74 — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 23:16:13 GMT

Worth's always highly subjective so it's your call. It's not worth it to me but it seems worthwhile to you.

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 01:29:40 GMT

@oscar_actuary wrote:
$400 easy dollars and no compelling reason not to,
Yes go get it.

They sent two to us yesterday. They must've forgotten that we already signed up. $800 is nice.

Cool! Thanks for your advice...after doing some research, looks like a great offer!

@takeshi: definitely any targeted offer depends on personal worth...sure, $400 worth of travel is an awesome offer for this card, but if one doesn't travel, then it's entirely useless, because then you cannot apply the statement credits for their full value!

I guess my main question was: has anyone seen better on this particular card? If so, I won't take it. If not (and it seems like this is actually the best offer around for the card recently), then this is something for me to jump on!

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

09Lexie — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 01:32:44 GMT

Good luck if you decide to app!

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 01:35:27 GMT

@09Lexie wrote:
Good luck if you decide to app!

Thanks, Lexie! I'll keep everyone informed for when I go for it! Latest i can app is August 19th, so we'll have to see how soon I can get 5 of my cards down to 0 and reporting! Last statement posting date would be for my Shell Drive for Five card on July 28th, and then it's the waiting game for all 3 reports to catch up XD

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

09Lexie — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 01:37:06 GMT

Sounds like a plan!

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

oscar_actuary — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 04:24:13 GMT

@daybreakgonesXe wrote:
I guess my main question was: has anyone seen better on this particular card? If so, I won't take it. If not (and it seems like this is actually the best offer around for the card recently), then this is something for me to jump on!

I have not. Granted, I'm no CreditAddict, but I did a little research and found that this Points for only $500 spend is the best. I mean, even if you don't travel, you can trade the points for $300, right? (I plan on trading on Hotels, so I'm not sure). I like the no blackouts, no deadlines, etc, to boot.

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 04:46:09 GMT

Very true!

And at first i thought i saw a condition that would net me a lot of travel redemptions, which was the commuter rail and train...however with the way the redemptions work, my $13 one way or $26 round trip train tickets for the occasional weekend home wouldn't apply :/ only way it would was if i got a monthly pass which is like $200-something dollars, but considering on average i take the train once a month out of 9 months, not worth it

oh well, I know it'll definitely pay off for the cruise, and potentially the onboard spending we acquire, or another planned vacation! not to mention i'll likely be going to the annual AMS conventions each year, and when I reach the point where i cannot obtain any more scholarships, that means planning airfare and hotel to places such as Phoenix (may be able to get a scholarship for that trip!), or New Orleans (will likely have to pay out of pocket, unless a job pays for me to go!)

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 05:08:34 GMT

This was the offer that got me to apply for my first AmEx. I bought a $500 plane ticket SFO-JFK for to meet the minimum spend, and got the $400 statement credit so only had to pay $100 out of pocket.

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 05:22:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
This was the offer that got me to apply for my first AmEx. I bought a $500 plane ticket SFO-JFK for to meet the minimum spend, and got the $400 statement credit so only had to pay $100 out of pocket.

Nice! Good way to do it! I may actually put the rest of the cruise money on it right away to almost make the $500, put the credit towards it, and have the peace of mind of the 15 month 0% interest in case a big purchase comes up...such as textbooks though not a tremendous amount and can be easily PIF, it would allow me to make chunk payments over a 2-5 month timeframe to keep more money in my savings.

Blue Sky could also become my new everday card for non-rotating categories/non-dining purchases...redeeming for travel makes it effectively a 1.(3)% on everything card, beating my Freedom at 1.1%. Sounds good to me!

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 05:29:07 GMT

@daybreakgonesXe wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
This was the offer that got me to apply for my first AmEx. I bought a $500 plane ticket SFO-JFK for to meet the minimum spend, and got the $400 statement credit so only had to pay $100 out of pocket.
Nice! Good way to do it! I may actually put the rest of the cruise money on it right away to almost make the $500, put the credit towards it, and have the peace of mind of the 15 month 0% interest in case a big purchase comes up...such as textbooks though not a tremendous amount and can be easily PIF, it would allow me to make chunk payments over a 2-5 month timeframe to keep more money in my savings.

Blue Sky could also become my new everday card for non-rotating categories/non-dining purchases...redeeming for travel makes it effectively a 1.(3)% on everything card, beating my Freedom at 1.1%. Sounds good to me!

Remember, you can take those Freedom UR points, transfer them to your CSP, then transfer to United, Hyatt, etc. That 1.1% on Freedom is more like 2.2% if done properly, and that's being conservative.

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 05:39:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@daybreakgonesXe wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
This was the offer that got me to apply for my first AmEx. I bought a $500 plane ticket SFO-JFK for to meet the minimum spend, and got the $400 statement credit so only had to pay $100 out of pocket.
Nice! Good way to do it! I may actually put the rest of the cruise money on it right away to almost make the $500, put the credit towards it, and have the peace of mind of the 15 month 0% interest in case a big purchase comes up...such as textbooks though not a tremendous amount and can be easily PIF, it would allow me to make chunk payments over a 2-5 month timeframe to keep more money in my savings.

Blue Sky could also become my new everday card for non-rotating categories/non-dining purchases...redeeming for travel makes it effectively a 1.(3)% on everything card, beating my Freedom at 1.1%. Sounds good to me!
Remember, you can take those Freedom UR points, transfer them to your CSP, then transfer to United, Hyatt, etc. That 1.1% on Freedom is more like 2.2% if done properly, and that's being conservative.

I just have the regular ol' Sapphire, not the CSP :/ otherwise then my Chase arsenal would be perfect!! I wouldn't even want that AMEX just yet! Can't justify an annual fee on a travel card at this point in time...as a college student, I simply don't travel a whole lot for me to reap the rewards!

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 05:43:51 GMT

@daybreakgonesXe wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@daybreakgonesXe wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
This was the offer that got me to apply for my first AmEx. I bought a $500 plane ticket SFO-JFK for to meet the minimum spend, and got the $400 statement credit so only had to pay $100 out of pocket.
Nice! Good way to do it! I may actually put the rest of the cruise money on it right away to almost make the $500, put the credit towards it, and have the peace of mind of the 15 month 0% interest in case a big purchase comes up...such as textbooks though not a tremendous amount and can be easily PIF, it would allow me to make chunk payments over a 2-5 month timeframe to keep more money in my savings.

Blue Sky could also become my new everday card for non-rotating categories/non-dining purchases...redeeming for travel makes it effectively a 1.(3)% on everything card, beating my Freedom at 1.1%. Sounds good to me!
Remember, you can take those Freedom UR points, transfer them to your CSP, then transfer to United, Hyatt, etc. That 1.1% on Freedom is more like 2.2% if done properly, and that's being conservative.
I just have the regular ol' Sapphire, not the CSP :/ otherwise then my Chase arsenal would be perfect!! I wouldn't even want that AMEX just yet! Can't justify an annual fee on a travel card at this point in time...as a college student, I simply don't travel a whole lot for me to reap the rewards!

Ahh, got it. You still might want to consider hoarding the points until you get a CSP later on. It makes me sad when people only get $0.01 cpp with UR points.

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

daybreakgonesXe — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 05:46:10 GMT

Ahahaha yeah, that's a good idea! Guilty, I have been redeeming for statement credits, just because I see it go up to XX.XX amount of dollars and the cha-ching in the checking account just looks so nice...not to mention their slightly better redemption on gift cards are always on gift cards i wouldn't utilize anyways.

Anddd the hoarding begins :X

Re: Blue Sky 30,000, 0% Intro APR 15 months, worth it?

OptimalCS — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 11:02:19 GMT

Your decision depends a lot on your contentment and credit goals.

I totally understand the desire for the card. The questions I've been asking myself lately is: is this a card I ll end up closing in a few month or is it a keeper for the next 10+ years?

I'm in a gardening mode right now. Im anxious to hit that almighty 6 year AAoA mark. I'm at 4 yrs now.

Good luck!

"May the credit protect you"