My brother has been using the American Express Blue Cash card for some time and I decided to switch over. In the past it wouldn’t have been worthwhile for me to switch over as I didn’t charge much. However the times have changed and I’ll finally make the plunge.
The American Express Blue Cash card gives you for year-to-date expenditures 1% at gas stations/supermarkets/drug stores and 0.5% everywhere else up to $6,500. Then for year to date expenditures $6,500.01 and up you’ll earn 5% at gas stations, supermarkets, and drug stores plus 1.5% everywhere else. Obviously this card is geared towards high spenders and will only benefit people who spend enough in the 2nd rewards tier.
Here’s why the Blue Cash card works for me. Every month I charge roughly $3,000 to $3,500 to a variety of my credit cards. That means I can hit the 2nd tier of rewards in only 2 months if I use my Amex card for all my purchases. The card also comes with no annual fee. The 1.5% cashback on everything is a big plus for me as a lot of my spending is categorized as a general purchase. There’s also no cap on the amount you can earn in a given year. One of the factors here is also convenience. I don’t have to keep track of multiple reward cards and some cards cap rewards at $300 or so annually.
Here’s the rewards breakdown:
- Assume I’ll earn 0.5% on the first $6,500 for general purchases which will put me into the second tier. That’s $32.50 in cashback.
- Aproximately $3,000+ per month in general purchases so roughly $36,000 total spend. Discount the first $6,500 in charges and that’s $29,500 that earns 1.5%. That’s $442.50 in cashback.
- I spend roughly $200 on supermarket and gas purchases a month. That’s $2,400 annually. At 5% that’s $120 in cashback. The card also came with a promotional 0% APR on purchases and a decent credit limit so I can earn a little bit of extra money off the float from my spending.
Add up the totals and I can expect somewhere around $595 in cashback each year with the same patterns of spending.
Blue Cash
