I’m torn. This weekend at the Family Travel for Real Life Conference just outside of Dulles Airport, someone mentioned that you can still apply for the American Express “Old” Blue Cash Card.
The card provides up to 5% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations & select U.S. drugstores (Everyday Purchases). Up to 1% Cash Back on other purchases. For your first $6,500¹ spend in a reward year², you will earn 1% on Everyday Purchases³ (5% after 6500⁴), and 0.5% on other purchases (then 1%).
My friend Shawn from Miles to Memories says he has the card and uses it every day, which begs the question on whether I should take the plunge and apply for it as well. I have 4 American Express cards as it is, but use each differently:
- American Express Platinum card for the lounge access, travel benefits and foreign spending.
- American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card for every day spend, gas and grocery store purchases.
- American Express Delta Reserve Card for the annual First Class companion pass (I’ll probably cancel this card at the end of the year).
- American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card for SPG stays, and spend towards free SPG nights and airline mile transfers.
To elaborate, American Express came out with newer versions of the Blue Cash card with earning caps, different award earning rates. I’m debating whether I should add in a 5th Amex card to my repertoire, and what exactly I’d use it for and when. To further complicate things, I’m also debating on getting the Amex Everyday Preferred card, too, and canceling my American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card before the annual fee hits.
Decisions, decisions. Does anyone have any experience with the older version of the Amex Blue Cash card? Should I apply for it?
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
Why blog about it ?
Last I heard Amex limited a person to 4 personal cards at any one time. That was the word over at Flyertalk anyways. If true, consider that in your decision. Another factor is your spending on the Amex Premier Rewards for airfares since that earns you 3X points.
No solution offered just more factors to consider. Good luck
I confirmed with Amex that there’s no limit to the amount of cards you can have, so interestingly, that goes against what I’ve heard before (and what you’ve heard as well, I assume). I used to put airfare on my PRG card, but to be honest, airfare is so much better spent on my Barclaycard Arrival+ where I can just redeem it as a statement credit. It doesn’t entice me to put it on the PRG anymore.
I was going to apply for it as part of my latest churn but decided against it. I don’t do a ton of MS and I couldn’t think of when or why I would ever use this card unless I started ramping up my MS, so I just decided to skip it.
If you do much MS, then it’s a clear yes (assuming that your geographical constraints allow you to take full advantage). I don’t know of any other card that can be quite as lucrative right now.