$250 Upgrade Bonus for Amex Blue Cash Card
American Express is sending out upgrade offers to Blue Cash cardholders. We’ve seen these offers in the past, but more people are being targeted. There’s two different versions of these offers, to upgrade to a Blue Cash Preferred card.
The Offers
- Earn a $250 statement credit when you upgrade your card to Blue Cash Preferred. Offer valid after you spend $2,000 in purchases within 3 months
- Earn a $150 statement credit when you upgrade your card to Blue Cash Preferred. Offer valid after you spend $2,000 in purchases within 3 months
Amex Blue Cash Preferred Details
- 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6K per year in spend
- 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and select U.S. department stores
- 1% cash back everywhere else
- $95 annual fee
Analysis
The better bonus will give you a $155 profit even after paying the annual fee on the card. Then you can earn 6% cash back at supermarkets on up to $6K per year in spend.
You will get the upgrade bonus even if you’ve had the Blue Cash Preferred card in the past, plus it won’t count as another card towards Chase’s 5/24. On the other hand, you could be forfeiting an often better sign-up bonus on the Blue Cash Preferred card due to the lifetime rule at Amex. The $250 offer is a good one, but I’d be more hesitant on the $150 upgrade offer.
Conclusion
A nice upgrade offer from American Express, especially if you plan to maximize the supermarket category spend. However it is targeted so you need to have received an email in order to qualify. You could also check your accounts online.
Were you targeted? Will you upgrade? Let us know!
HT: Doctor of Credit
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Unless you have pretty high-tier point- or mileage-earning CCs, the upgrade seems like a no-brainer to me. With as little as $400 in monthly grocery spending and $100 in monthly gas spending, that’s an additional $14/month over the Blue Cash. Even if you also have the Discover It card (which offers 5% in a separate 3-month period for each of the two categories), that’s still $31/year in net earnings (9×$14 – $95) over the Blue Cash. The bonus is a sweet deal – it basically covers earnings you miss on this card while you work toward OTHER cards’ intro bonuses.