Amex - Upgrade BCE to BCP and then downgrade?

[Anonymous]

The only difference between between BCE and BCP is

BCP hv a $95 AF but earn extra 3X at US supermarkets and 1X gas stations & select U.S. department stores.

There are no other difference on other benefits.

So I think it would be fine to downgrade

as Amex will understand that there are no reason for you to keep paying $95/yr. if u can't earn extra $95 with the BCP.

[Anonymous]

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@slvrhwk wrote:

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You need to remember that annual fee for the first year is not waived with BCP. So $95 fee will be applied when the first statement is generated after upgrade, making the effective credit $150 - $95 = $55.

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Good info, I was not aware of this.  I figured the AF hit at the 1 year mark, not right away.

[Anonymous]

http://img.guggy.com/media/1ICbblX7mx/animated/2/o/guggy.gif

[Anonymous]

My phone has some new meme tool in the text box, my aplologies.  360 plus your AF offset is a lot of CB

[Anonymous]

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@slvrhwk wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do it! upgrade to BCP will not hv a hard pull and wont create a new acc(won't hurt your score).

And if u plan to downgrade after one year,

This would be a free upgrade + $55 free money.

I know apply for a new BCP will give u $250 but that will hurt your credit socre.

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Yes, that's my thinking as well. And for sure I'm not applying for a new credit card, even if the reward is higher. This will be a soft pull, free money and higher cash back. Win-win. I just want to know if they will cause any trouble if I ask them to downgrade a year later.

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Is 55 dollars really worth the effort to upgrade and then to try and downgrade the card in a year? You aren't going to want to shut a card down with 50k liimit so if they say you can't downgrade in a year you are going to be stuck with a 40 dollar loss.   You can get new cards that are giving out 1000 dollars+ in value of sign-up bonuses.  If you want a BCP for the bonuses it is better to have both cards anyway.  As both limit you too 6k a  year on grocery at the bonus level.  So if you spend 1k a month and have both cards you will end up with a 4.5 percent return and you will have 155 dollars in your pocket. 

And it is a blanket statement to say a new card and hard pull will hurt your score.  My last 3 pulls on Experian have not affected my score.  Depending on your utiliization and your average age of accounts a new card can actually help your score.  I got a new account with 27k limit added and it raised my score 2 points as it brought my utilization to 4 percent. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I got a new account with 27k limit added and it raised my score 2 points as it brought my utilization to 4 percent. 

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What was your utilization prior?  It's extremely unlikely that an aggregate utilization change of 4% would impact score by 2 points.  In most cases, it would be 0 points or probably 10+ points if you crossed the 9% threshold. 

It's almost impossible to quantify how many points a new account can impact your score.  It takes usually a month, sometimes two before an account reports to the CB.  During that time, there are many moving parts.  The inquiry ages, AAoA may drop then go back up [across a threshold] and AoYA drops.  If there are any negative items on your credit report, they are obviously continuing to age.  Also, a 2 point change is trivial in and of itself and people report 2-3 point fluctuations all the time in their scores for no rhyme or reason.  All that above said, it's nearly impossible to make the statement that the reporting of a new account raised your score by 2 points.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I got a new account with 27k limit added and it raised my score 2 points as it brought my utilization to 4 percent. 

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What was your utilization prior?  It's extremely unlikely that an aggregate utilization change of 4% would impact score by 2 points.  In most cases, it would be 0 points or probably 10+ points if you crossed the 9% threshold. 

It's almost impossible to quantify how many points a new account can impact your score.  It takes usually a month, sometimes two before an account reports to the CB.  During that time, there are many moving parts.  The inquiry ages, AAoA may drop then go back up [across a threshold] and AoYA drops.  If there are any negative items on your credit report, they are obviously continuing to age.  Also, a 2 point change is trivial in and of itself and people report 2-3 point fluctuations all the time in their scores for no rhyme or reason.  All that above said, it's nearly impossible to make the statement that the reporting of a new account raised your score by 2 points.

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I guess it could be coincidence.  But I have credit check total and check daily on Experian.  Account appeared in middle of the month.  Score went up 2 points.  Could be a inquiry aging on the same day perhaps.  

[slvrhwk]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@slvrhwk wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do it! upgrade to BCP will not hv a hard pull and wont create a new acc(won't hurt your score).

And if u plan to downgrade after one year,

This would be a free upgrade + $55 free money.

I know apply for a new BCP will give u $250 but that will hurt your credit socre.

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Yes, that's my thinking as well. And for sure I'm not applying for a new credit card, even if the reward is higher. This will be a soft pull, free money and higher cash back. Win-win. I just want to know if they will cause any trouble if I ask them to downgrade a year later.

---

Is 55 dollars really worth the effort to upgrade and then to try and downgrade the card in a year? You aren't going to want to shut a card down with 50k liimit so if they say you can't downgrade in a year you are going to be stuck with a 40 dollar loss.   You can get new cards that are giving out 1000 dollars+ in value of sign-up bonuses.  If you want a BCP for the bonuses it is better to have both cards anyway.  As both limit you too 6k a  year on grocery at the bonus level.  So if you spend 1k a month and have both cards you will end up with a 4.5 percent return and you will have 155 dollars in your pocket. 

And it is a blanket statement to say a new card and hard pull will hurt your score.  My last 3 pulls on Experian have not affected my score.  Depending on your utiliization and your average age of accounts a new card can actually help your score.  I got a new account with 27k limit added and it raised my score 2 points as it brought my utilization to 4 percent. 

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I'll give Amex a call on the number mentioned in the email and check with them whether I would be able to downgrade if I can't justify the AF. That might be the best course of action.

[Anonymous]

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@slvrhwk wrote:

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I'll give Amex a call on the number mentioned in the email and check with them whether I would be able to downgrade if I can't justify the AF. That might be the best course of action.

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If you call them, I'd call them at least 2 if not 3 times and ask your question to multiple different people.  If you get the same answer multiple times, go with it.  I've asked the same question to 3 different Amex reps before and received 3 different answers (two completely opposing such as one "yes" and one "no") so now my rule with Amex is to always do this and look for consistency (or inconsistency) in their response before making decisions.

[Blodreina]

I'm all for maximizing the money we can get at the expense of banks/lenders, but I do have to say that this behavior is what likely contributes to rewards/bonus nerfing.  Enough people engage in this habit of upgrading/downgrading, and they'll stop offering the spend bonus (or pull a Discover and make it a "double your cashback after one year" type of thing lol).

I'm not saying that to influence anyone's behavior; each of you will do what you want anyway.  Just making an observation.