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Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash

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Anonymous
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Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash

I pulled the trigger and signed up for an AMEX Blue Cash Card this evening. Initial credit line of $15,500, which surprised me. I have solid FICO scores (TU 755, EQ 760, EX 774), so I was expecting to be approved, but not with such a generous credit limit for as young as I am (24). This will primarily be used to replace my Citi Dividend Platinum Select card, which has slashed its rebates in the past year. My question is: From reading, it's a love/hate relationship with AMEX. Are there any tips to dealing with them? The card will be used for daily activity and I am a PIF customer. Thanks!

Message Edited by jessep28 on 08-01-2008 09:44 PM
Message 1 of 10
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Anonymous
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Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash



jessep28 wrote:
I pulled the trigger and signed up for an AMEX Blue Cash Card this evening. Initial credit line of $15,500, which surprised me. I have solid FICO scores (TU 755, EQ 760, EX 774), so I was expecting to be approved, but not with such a generous credit limit for as young as I am (24). This will primarily be used to replace my Citi Dividend Platinum Select card, which has slashed its rebates in the past year. My question is: From reading, it's a love/hate relationship with AMEX. Are there any tips to dealing with them? For my use of the card: 1) This card will be for daily activity 2) It will be paid in full every month Thanks!


Congrats on your approval, and welcome to the Amex family!
 
As far as tips on the care and feeding of a brand new Amex card, see haulingthescoreup's excellent post here:
 
 
As I'm sure you discovered when researching the card, you need to spend a lot of money on Blue Cash every year to make it worthwhile, so if you want to get the most out of it that you can, make sure you really use it for all of your everyday expenses and always PIF (as you said you would).  Amex loves heavy usage anyway, as long as you don't carry a balance.  Congrats again!
 


Message Edited by cheddar on 08-01-2008 09:47 PM
Message 2 of 10
Anonymous
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Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash

I usually average 600-700/mo, so I don't think meeting the $6500 floor will be a problem, unless I run into a disproportionate number of retailers & vendors who don't take AMEX.

Message Edited by jessep28 on 08-01-2008 09:51 PM
Message 3 of 10
Anonymous
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Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash



jessep28 wrote:
I usually average 600-700/mo, so I don't think meeting the $6500 floor will be a problem, unless I run into a disproportionate number of retailers & vendors who don't take AMEX.

Message Edited by jessep28 on 08-01-2008 09:51 PM

Oh, that's really not much for Blue Cash.
 
The second tier of rewards are not retroactive.  You earn 0.5% and 1% on your first $6500 annually, and then 1.5% and 5% on everything after that.
 
At $700 a month, that's only an average return of 1.9% on everyday purchases and 0.6% on non-everyday purchases. Smiley Sad
 
But don't let me rain on your parade. lol
 
Message 4 of 10
Anonymous
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Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash

I thought it was retroactive, oh well. Should have done the math on their little calculator (and I am an accountant too). I can more than likely find more expenses to put on the card. I have $100-200 worth of monthly activity go through my checking account that I can just transfer over to the AMEX card and boost that over to $1k+ a month, no problem.

Message Edited by jessep28 on 08-01-2008 10:30 PM
Message 5 of 10
Anonymous
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Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash



jessep28 wrote:
I'm an accountant and didn't catch that, oops. I added another $100-200 (cell phone bill, etc), so we will see. Cash rewards will still be greater than what I get from Citi, so I guess that's a plus. Still far better than what I get from US Bank on my check card (.25%!).


Yep, it's still a good card.  Please don't let my little comments discourage you!  Congrats again!
 
Message 6 of 10
Anonymous
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Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash

I'll try not to! After reading your great post on minimum spending levels, I guess I should have gone with Chase Freedom. However, to pull myself out of a ditch, I didn't have an AMEX card in my portfolio, so that's my new justification for getting the card Smiley Happy (even though I can just switch the Citi or my BOA card over to their AMEX products). Thanks for all your help.
Message 7 of 10
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash

I was just playing with their simulator, and if it weren't for the fact that I already have a 5% gas card, it might be worth it. But as long as PenFed is around, I don't think that we could break even. Not without buying so many groceries that we'd each put on 100 pounds in a year. Although that would help boost the drugstore spending, lol.
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 8 of 10
Anonymous
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Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash



jessep28 wrote:
I pulled the trigger and signed up for an AMEX Blue Cash Card this evening. Initial credit line of $15,500, which surprised me. I have solid FICO scores (TU 755, EQ 760, EX 774), so I was expecting to be approved, but not with such a generous credit limit for as young as I am (24). This will primarily be used to replace my Citi Dividend Platinum Select card, which has slashed its rebates in the past year. My question is: From reading, it's a love/hate relationship with AMEX. Are there any tips to dealing with them? The card will be used for daily activity and I am a PIF customer. Thanks!

Message Edited by jessep28 on 08-01-2008 09:44 PM

jessep, congrats!  I love my AMEX cards.  My advice: Don't give them any reason to mess with you because they can be real jerks.  When I first got my Blue last year, I checked my credit report and they had 4 soft pulls within a month!  I wasn't even using the puppy that much the first month.  Talk about paranoia!
 
 
Message 9 of 10
Anonymous
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Re: Took the Plunge - AMEX Blue Cash

A couple more questions, this time regarding financial review & travel.

1) What triggers a financial review?

2) How strict are they on AGI? I just ask this because I was a student last year, so my income was about half in 07' as it will be in 08'. Also, I bumped up my income 12% over base assuming a middle of the road bonus.

I don't think there will be a problem though since I have very high FICO scores and low utilization (UNDER 5%).

Also, how do AMEX card holders like their travel services over Travelocity (I know they run the AMEX engine) and Orbitz? Thanks!

Message Edited by jessep28 on 08-03-2008 11:37 AM

Message Edited by jessep28 on 08-03-2008 11:46 AM
Message 10 of 10
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