Which one is better: BCP or BCE

[LS2982]

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@-Cain- wrote:
Costco will be 1%.

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Always something!!!

[-Cain-]

I hardly step foot in a supermarket anymore, love me some Costco.😃.

[Travis-84]

The BCE has a 100 bonus for spending 1k in 3 months.  The BCP has a 150 bonus.  Assuming you can make this, then the first year annual fee is effectively 25.00, and it makes the BCP a much better deal.  Track your usage over a year and then find out which one is best.

You could also mess around in excel and have it figure out which is better if you key in how much you spend month in each catagory.

[LS2982]

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@Travis-84 wrote:

The BCE has a 100 bonus for spending 1k in 3 months.  The BCP has a 150 bonus.  Assuming you can make this, then the first year annual fee is effectively 25.00, and it makes the BCP a much better deal.  Track your usage over a year and then find out which one is best.

You could also mess around in excel and have it figure out which is better if you key in how much you spend month in each catagory.

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I'm liking that 6% on groceries and 3% on gas. I can make that work real nice for me and DW! But I need to find a good store she'll get quantity out of and not crazy pricey either. Sams does it for us but only 1% and it would have to be at Costco.

[Anonymous]

Well, it depends on your usage.  If your supermarket purchases are large, you many consider the BCP since it offers 6% back. In my case, it is the better choice.  I made up for the annual fee in around 1.5 months. 

[Coldness]

I'm kind of on the other side of the fence...

I was recently approved for a BCE (came in mail yesterday! weeee!).

I did the math on it and BCP did yield a good $120 or so more a year for me (so, $45 more after the annual fee). However, I do not like the concept of annual fees and will probably end up closing my Zync even with its cheap fee.

Here's the problem - what if I become ill or go out of town for a while and do not shop at grocery stores or buy much gas? Bam, I suddenly got screwed and won't beat out the BCE for the year. I don't want to stop using the card for awhile for any reason and end up having it be a burden. And it's highly likely - who knows when something else will come in down the road with better rewards? Heck, I won't be using my BCE for gas 6 months out of the year due to Discover's rotating categories as it is. Plus, sometimes "warehouse" stores have some darn good deals that 6% or 3% off won't make up for, so not all of my grocery shopping is going to happen at actual grocery stores during the year. 

I do love the flat 1% on "everything else", though. Discover really needs to drop their $3k threshold with that... 

[Tonya-E]

As everyone has stated, it depends on the spending habits.  So far I have earned roughly $225 in cash back rewards on the BCP since December (including the $150 bonus). It has paid it's annual fee for about 3 years already even with the rewards having a month delay.  If your spending habits exceed the annual fee enough then the BCP is the way to go. You can do a side by side comparison on the site though based on your average monthly spending.  It's a good tool to use to determine which is better for you.

[Anonymous]

I totally forgot about the $150 bonus!

[clocktick]

I estimated what I spend in food, gas and department store purchases and did the math with both cards (minus the $75AF of course) and the BCP still came in slightly ahead for me.  I would just run the numbers and see what's best for you personally.  I also get my prescriptions, and drug store type items (ibuprofen/toilet paper/greeting cards, etc.), at the grocery store so that probably helps as well. 

[bichonmom]

I've been comparing the two, also... in plans for my future app.

This page has a good comparison: http://bluecashcards.americanexpress.com/home/#/

Right now, they're giving $150 cash back for BCP and $100 cash back for BCE. So, if that's still avail when you app, the additional $50 you get for BCP offsets the $75 AF.

But if your wife, like me, seldom goes to a grocery store anymore, then it's probably not worth the $75 AF for the BCP. If you guys shop @ Costco a lot though, you might want to get the Costco card because #1, no AF and #2, it gives 3% on gas (like BCP does), plus 1% @ Costco (which you'd also get w/BCP). Unless you shop a lot at Dept. stores, the Costco card is just as good as BCP, but w/o the AF.