American Express Blue Cash Now Offers Unlimited Rewards

Contributed by mm | October 17, 2006 8:43 AM PST

Just as other credit card issuers are scaling back on reward programs, CardWeb reported that American Express recently removed spending cap on its Blue Cash reward card.

American Express has made its "Blue Cash" card richer by recently removing the spending cap. Cardholders receive up to 5% in cash back rewards for purchases made at gas stations, grocery stores and drug stores and up to 1% spent elsewhere.

After this revision, the cashback terms of Blue Cash card runs as follows:

- For the first $6,500 purchase of the year, you will receive 1% cashback for "everyday purchases" at gas stations, supermarkets and drugstores, and 0.5% cashback for everything else.

- After $6,500, you will receive 5% cashback for everyday purchase and 1% cashback for everything else.

The change will certainly make American Express Blue Cash one of the juiciest reward card out there. Nevertheless, to take full advantage of it, you will have to swipe this Amex card for most of your daily purchases.

Probably the best strategy will be to charge the first $6,500 on non-everyday purchases, and during this period, charge your everyday purchases during the period on other reward cards like Citibank's Driver's Edge (6% reward on everyday purchases for the first 12 months and 3% thereafter). Once you hit the $6,500 mark, you may use this card everywhere it is accepted for the maximum cashback possible.

This Post Has Received 6 Comments. Share Your Opinions Too.

William Commented on October 18, 2006

FYI: Citi Dividend still offers 5% on everyday purchases. They didn't scale back at all. Just verified with them.

Anonymous Commented on October 19, 2006

Depends on the card. The Dividend Platinum Mastercard is definitely down to 2%. Many people have gotten the notification letter already, and it's now advertised as 5% on their webpage. http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/cardserv/divplat/index.jsp

pab Commented on October 20, 2006

"Anonymous" is correct, the Citi Dividend card is definitely down to 2% cash back for purchases at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations, convenience stores, and utilities, and 1% on everything else up to an annual cap of $300.

However, is it possible that certain Dividend cards have not been updated or will not have their existing benefits reduced as "William" commented? I just called the customer service number on the back of my card and was assured that my cash back rebates are still at 5% and that they had not been lowered to 2%. This is confusing because I thought that I saw an article that all Dividend card benefits were going to be reduced, but on the other hand I have not received a change in terms or conditions in the mail. To be sure, I will check with my Citibank personal banker and will post another comment if I find out anything different.

In addition to carrying the Citi Dividend MasterCard, I also currently carry the Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage World MasterCard which gave me an opening bonus of 25,000 American Airlines miles (now down to 20,000 miles on the Citi Cards Web site) and one year without the $85 annual fee.

At Citibank, I have an interest-bearing checking, 5.00% e-Savings, 6-month CD, and overdraft line of credit that my Citi credit cards are conveniently linked to online, so I am not currently considering any cards from another company.

Additional Citi Cards that I have considered:

* Citi Driver's Edge card: 6% rebate for supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations for the first 12 months (3% after that), and 1% on everything else -- rebates can be used for a vehicle purchase or service repairs -- no annual fee

* Citi Professional card: Earn 3% cash back (or 3 Thank You Points for every $1 spent) for auto rentals, at restaurants, gas stations and certain office supply merchants and 1% on everything else (or 1 point for every $1) on everything else -- Card also includes Online Expense Reporting Tool, Quarterly and Annual Account Summaries, and Free 24-hour business assistant -- the Citi Cards Web site is offering a 10,000 ($100) point bonus for opening the card -- no annual fee

* Citi Diamond Preferred card: 5 Thank You Points for every $1 you spend at supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations for the first 12 months (1 point for every $1 that), and 1 point for every $1 on everything else -- the Citi Cards Web site usually offers a 6,000 ($50) or 10,000 ($100) point bonus for opening the card -- no annual fee

FYI: Thank You Points can be redeemed for gift cards, airfare, merchandise, etc. (10,000 points = $100 gift card and 25,000 points = round-trip airline ticket for the continental U.S.).

William Commented on October 22, 2006

I called once again to verify that my existing benefits have not been reduced. Citibank is still telling me i'm at 5% for gas, market, pharm...

Perhaps they only scaled back only a select number of people??? Not sure what they use to determine, but I put on over 25K per year on my dividend card...

RK Commented on December 11, 2006

They advertise Big....saying 0% APR upto 15 months. I just applied and got 0% APR for 6months. When I called, they told me it is 'upto' terminology. Believe me I got very good credit score.

I hate their terminology. I got green from american express, i spend $900.00 this month. In the cash rebate section,
They mentioned that $447.0 is eligible for cash rebate and i got rebate of $3.37. If this is my Citi-dividend card, I would have got atleast $11 or $12.

Simply I hate their 'upto' and 'eligible' terminology. I have been happy with their cards whether it is points or rewards or cash back.

So Don't get cheated by their marketing terminology.

MCG Commented on December 22, 2006

Had a question about the Blue Cash rewards...

If I spent $7,000, would I receive 5% for eligible purchases and 1.5%? Or would I need to spend $1302 to receive the 5% for eligible and 1.5% for non eligible?