How aggressive can I be about BCP upgrade?

[wasCB14]

I finally upgraded my BCE to a BCP, responding to one of the "$250 for $1k spend" upgrade offers. I doubt the card will make sense for me to keep in the long run with limited grocery spend and a focus on miles, but I figure I can keep the card for three years before downgrading and still be comfortably ahead. I doubt that will attract concern about AA.

How aggressively have people gotten away with downgrading a card after a targeted upgrade offer?

Should I keep BCP for at least a year? Two years? I think I heard someone say they had been churning the upgrade offers, making the same account go from being a BCE to a BCP and back again many times.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think i would sweat it any more than if I were contemplating opening a card fresh for a SUB. A year as a BCP is likely enough that you could downgrade without AA. I’d wait for more opinions though.

[pinkandgrey]

Amex’s own site has the “12-month rule.” A year would be the minimum to avoid Amex’s displeasure. AA might not happen, but you may lose eligibility for future SUBs/offers. However, even if you wait more than a year, if you do it often, Amex will take notice. 

[wasCB14]

Thanks. Maybe I'll consider a downgrade after 24 months.

Does anyone know if Amazon channels get 6% on BCP? On Savor they only got 1%.

[Anonymous]

I've done the up/down/up/down thing a few times now.  I downgrade when the AF comes up again and then wait for the temptation e-mail for the upgrade bonus to show up again and repeat the cycle again.

I haven't had any AA doing this over the years.  Outside of the bonus to upgrade it's about equal for the 3% vs 6% w/ the perk of the extra $250 on upgrade years.  

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

Thanks. Maybe I'll consider a downgrade after 24 months.

Does anyone know if Amazon channels get 6% on BCP? On Savor they only got 1%.

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I would think those would be the digital platform purchases that AMEX days don’t count. 

[NRB525]

When was the last BC / BCP cycle?
I would wonder, with the change in SUB language late in 2018 whether this sort of upgrade cycling would still be offered.

[Anonymous]

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@NRB525 wrote:
When was the last BC / BCP cycle?
I would wonder, with the change in SUB language late in 2018 whether this sort of upgrade cycling would still be offered.

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I just upgraded again 12/2018 and got paid out the SUB immediately after hitting the MSR.  There's no lifetime language on upgrades and thus you can collect when there's an offer to do it each time.  The $250 is more lucrative than the old $150 one.

[wasCB14]

Is my spending immediately eligible for 6% and the $1k minimum spend?

Or should I wait a few days?

For the Amex website "card stack" in the upper right to show a BCP instead of BCE?

For the card to arrive?

[Anonymous]

The reps will say immediately.

I found just to be on the safe side I wait until the BCP info shows on the page and each time I've done it that way the SUB posts right after the qualifying charge posts.  Usually it only takes 24-48 hours to change the language on the page.