Author Topic: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?  (Read 4646 times)

Trudie

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New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« on: September 18, 2015, 11:08:29 AM »
I have two different AMEX cards and looked up special offers.  Nothing is appealing to me (consumer sucka spending), but how often do these offers change?  Some might be worthwhile.

Also, it appears they're offering gift cards with no purchase fees right now as one of their offers.  Can these be used to pay bills (like mortgage) to manufacture spending?  I seem to recall a thread that explained it but the fees for buying the cards in the past seemed to rule it out for me.

Thinkum

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2015, 11:12:15 AM »
We have the Coscto AMEX card and use it for everything. So far have made a little over $200 with it. Not bad for doing nothing more than using it on things we buy anyways. However, they have another Blue Card something or other that is even better. When this Costco deal expires I doubt I'll stick with AMEX though.

Trudie

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2015, 11:35:05 AM »
@Thinkum - Do what I did... call Costco AMEX with a different, unrelated issue (like to check your balance), then click through to a customer service rep and see if they will offer you an AMEX Blue Card.  When we were given the offer we got $200 for $1000 in spend within the first 90 days... easy peasy and we already have our statement credit.

We're using our Costco AMEX until it expires, but I liked AMEX so much that I was glad to offered a card.

The key -- I think -- was to call about something else, act a bit confused... and then while they have you on the phone they might come out with it.  I find that the offer varies, but perhaps you get a better deal if they bring it up???? I know, I know it's a lot of game-playing.  But I've heard that other Costco members weren't able to get the same deal when they called up and just asked for it.

Thinkum

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2015, 12:01:54 PM »
They have already sent me emails about cards I've been approved for, I even get pop ups when logging onto my account. I'm just not that interested. So many places do not like taking AMEX cards.

robartsd

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2015, 05:02:06 PM »
Costco AMEX was my default card until Citi's Double Cash card came along - 2% everywhere all the time is hard to beat. I'm hoping that I'll be able to use that at Costco when the AMEX partnership expires - even if my cash back at the pump goes down to 2% I'd be slightly ahead.

mrpercentage

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2015, 12:53:50 AM »
The blue card is better.

Free version (its what I have) 3% groceries 2% gas 1% everything else
$75 anual fee version 6% groceries 4% gas 2% everything else

Frs1661

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2015, 04:15:49 AM »
The preferred version is only 1% 'everything else' so depending on your grocery budget vs 'everything else' you may be better off with a double cash. That said, I have the amex blue cash preferred and like it.

Note that Costco, Sam's etc count as everything else...

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Archa3opt3ryx

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2015, 02:15:08 AM »
The preferred version is only 1% 'everything else' so depending on your grocery budget vs 'everything else' you may be better off with a double cash. That said, I have the amex blue cash preferred and like it.
Why not do both, and maximize your cash back? I just moved overseas so my setup now is different, but in the states I had two cards: Blue Cash Preferred that I used at grocery stores and gas, and the Capital One Spark Business for everything else (same as the Double Cash, except it also has no foreign exchange fees. You don't need a business to sign up for it).

The blue cash preferred is amazing. After rent, something like 75% of my spending was in groceries and gas. Got like $600/year back with that card alone.

Revelry

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2015, 01:57:34 PM »
I have two different AMEX cards and looked up special offers.  Nothing is appealing to me (consumer sucka spending), but how often do these offers change?  Some might be worthwhile.
Some change once a year, others more frequently.  There was a recently a 25,000 pt offer on their Blue Cash Everyday (cashback) and Everyday (MR points) cards that had me interested.

Quote
Also, it appears they're offering gift cards with no purchase fees right now as one of their offers.  Can these be used to pay bills (like mortgage) to manufacture spending?  I seem to recall a thread that explained it but the fees for buying the cards in the past seemed to rule it out for me.
No.  Everything AmEx gets processed as a credit transaction so their gift cards are pretty much useless for MS right now.

NotJen

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Re: New to AMEX rewards. Suggestions? Paying bills with AMEX?
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2015, 02:18:56 PM »
I have two different AMEX cards and looked up special offers.  Nothing is appealing to me (consumer sucka spending), but how often do these offers change?  Some might be worthwhile.

I think what you're really asking about are the "Amex Offers" that you can add to your card to get credits for shopping at certain retailers, right?  New ones come out all the time, but some are limited so you might not get it at all, or only on one card.  Right now, none of the offers are appealing to me, either, but there have been some awesome ones so far this year:
$15 back for $15 spent at Amazon - I bought a GC, then applied it to my next order.
$5 back for $5 spent at Google Play - used to reduce the price of a music purchase I was going to make anyway.
$20 back for $20 spent at Sam's Club online - got a bunch of home products for free ("paid" extra 10% for not being a member ... but it was all still free in the end).
$10 back for any spend at NewEgg - gift cards and some cheap things I had on my Amazon wishlist I managed to get completely free.