Blue Cash from American Express Review

It's pretty cool when you can get cash back for everyday purchases and even on some bills. The American Express Blue Card with Cash Back is just such a card that can enable one to achieve this goal. The card off claims that you can earn up to 5% cash back, but American Express is somewhat ambiguous as to what it is exactly that you can get the 5% for. As of the date of this article the words "cashback" or "cash back" are not even mentioned on the terms and conditions of the American Express website. One can in fact call American Express at 1-800-223-2670 to get the latest terms and conditions of the Blue Cash Card. Residents of New York can also contact the New York Banking Department via telephone to obtain a comparative list of credit card rates, fees and grace periods, by calling 1-800-518-8866.

I am not a big fan of their special rule for credit card purchases. Basically, If you have issues with property or services that you purchased with the card, and you have tried in good faith to correct the problem with the merchant, you may have the right not to pay the remaining amount due on the property or service. That is a good thing, but the bummer is that you must have made the purchase in your home state or, if not within your home state, within 100 miles of your current mailing address; and the purchase price must have been more than $50. Still , this in itself is not a matter of great concern for most people.

One of the Blue Cash Card's key selling points is the ability to earn up to 5% on "everything from telephone and cable bills to parking and transportation expenses". In concept this sounds reasonable and like a good offer. Yet as much as I search their site and the available literature that I have I simply can't find exactly what it is that I can save 5% on, much less what I can save 1% to 4% on. Now I'm saying this because any such information on this subject is actually lacking in the terms and conditions. However, the literature and American Express website information I do have clearly states that if you spend $0 - $6,500, you will get back 1% cash back on everyday purchases and 0.5% on all other purchase annually for each Rebate Year (12 consecutive billing periods). If you spend over $6,500 in the same timeframe your cashback at the rate of 5% and 1.5%. These days, charging $6500 within a year is not a very difficult thing to do, so minus the other associated fees, the overall value of the American Express Blue Cash Card is one to be reckoned with. It would be an improvement to see the actual terms of the cashback plan in the posted terms and conditions instead of just the promotional material.