American Express announced today the ability to redeem cash back on the Blue Cash Everyday card with no minimum. The same new system in in place for the Blue Cash Preferred card and the Cash Magnet card as well. Previously there was a $25 minimum.
(Back in the day, they used to require redeeming in $25 increments. Then they changed it to being able to redeem any amount over $25. Now they’ve changed it to allow even redemptions less than $25.)
Personal anecdote: I had an orphaned balance under $25 on my Old Blue Cash card for a few years. Finally, last year, I put a few hundred dollars of spend on it to push me over $25. I could have waited a bit longer. 🙂
Statement closed a few days ago on the Cash Magnet, made the payment and the rewards cash from that statement’s purchases was made available the next day, just like with the MR cards. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think previously it would basically take until the next statement closing date after you made the payment for Amex cash back to be made available. Between the removed minimum and faster rewards posting, Amex’s cash back seems to be competitive now, except that you can’t deposit to a bank account.
Glad I caught this in the weekly best posts. Also have an Old Blue Cash with a small amount or rewards from spending on amex offers. Right now working othe 3x Exxon $5.
But can anyone give a good reason to use this card (i don’t MS)?
It has no benefits (only Shoprunner, Amex Events, Global assist), its reward rate sucks under 6.5k spend and is only marginally better than other cards above that. I just use it for the amex offers.
This is a real question, ideas welcome. Thanks.
We changed our old Blue Cash recently, it’s a useless and outdated card for normal people. If you spend a lot you should use a card with better benefits like extended warranty, travel protections, etc. and if you don’t spend a lot there’s plenty of free cards with good multipliers, the 0.5% on the Blue Cash is terrible.
thanks for confirming. yeah, i have a number of other cards i use. I just keep OBC to have an Amex. I haven’t PC’d yet because i’m lazy on this and don’t think their cards are that great.
The new BCE’s 3% online shopping category is pretty good for a no-fee card. We switched to the Cash Magnet before that recent BCE change was announced, and then almost immediately got an offer to upgrade the Cash Magnet to the BCP with $0 AF for the first year on top of a modest intro bonus ($150 for $1000 spend I think). 6% on groceries for a year is great.
Ok I logged in to bce to redeem my orphan cash and was offered upgrade to bcp. No fee first year then $95 get $150 statement credit after $1000 spend in 6 months. Took it. I could grind it out at grocery store or just meet in mostly one charge when my auto insurance bill cuts next month.
Hubby got no offer on his bce, but he already had a very active bcp. And 9¢ rewards I think because there was a Hilton offer on that card back in the day and I was finally able to redeem after the Hilton spend generated some cash back.
Hey yeah I need to check my blue cash cards. I rarely use them. The bcp was annoying because some months I would not quite earn $25 and I would have to wait a month to redeem.
It’s about time
Working on Plat Busn Premium as well
Great!!! Just redeemed and got more
$16 freed up nice
Next they can reduce the ridiculous amount of time it takes for the cash back to appear
It looks like they did. Statement closed recently, made the payment and within 24 hours the rewards cash from that statement is available, just like how it is with the MR cards. From what I remember, it would have basically taken until the next statement to close to get the points before.
With these changes, it seems like these cards are actually worth using now.
Great. My $8 has been sitting in the card for a while