AMEX offer worth it?

[MamaBear12]

I wasn't planning on applying for a new card, but just got an offer for an AMEX blue cash everyday...$150 statement credit if I spend $500 in the first three months. Easy to meet that on groceries alone...and the 3% cash back on groceries is appealing.

My hesitation is that we're moving and buying a new home in about 16-17 months. Hubby makes more than me and has the job secured where we're moving, so his credit score matters more than mine for the mortgage, but I'm not sure if the mark on my credit from opening the new card is worth the $150 and extra cash back right now. Thoughts?

 

[havaneselover]

It's a good card. With your time horizon I would not be concerned.

ETA: I probably have opened 3 cards/year for the last several years and my credit score is > 800.

 

[Princess Minnie321]

I agree you should be fine. Last year my DH and I opened four cards between us for the rewards. We were just preapproved for a home equity line of credit and our credit scores are 799 and 796.

 

[manning]

If you've never had an amex card you will find from time to time vendors refusing to take it. All credit card companies charge the vendors a transaction fee. Amex fee is the highest of them all.

Here's one sight that may help you in your decision. There may be other sites that I don't know of.

 

[Princess Minnie321]

I have the American Express blue cash preferred which is 6% back on groceries and 3% on gas. Last year we paid a $75 annual fee and earned $600 in rewards. I charge everything with it including my cell phone and Internet bill. I make weekly payments so we never carry a balance or earn interest. There are very few stores that do not take American Express. I carry a visa as a backup for when I do encounter a place that says no Amex, but over the past year, I have only encountered 3-4 stores that would not accept it.

 

[MamaBear12]

If you've never had an amex card you will find from time to time vendors refusing to take it. All credit card companies charge the vendors a transaction fee. Amex fee is the highest of them all.

Here's one sight that may help you in your decision. There may be other sites that I don't know of.

Thanks for the tip. It wouldn't be my only card. I would use it as my grocery and gas card (3% and 2% cash back) when these aren't in the 5% rotating category on one of my other cards.

 

[Lizziotti]

We have an Amex but not that particular one. Does yours also give you Starwood points because if so we love ours. Easy to earn points for nice hotels. We have stayed free on all our vacations with it. They will upgrade your room for free if they have any available. We've had some pretty great rooms. Swan and dolphin are part of Starwood. But like a previous poster said some places will not take it.

 

[manning]

We have an Amex but not that particular one. Does yours also give you Starwood points because if so we love ours. Easy to earn points for nice hotels. We have stayed free on all our vacations with it. They will upgrade your room for free if they have any available. We've had some pretty great rooms. Swan and dolphin are part of Starwood. But like a previous poster said some places will not take it.

Yes, but I have several others for backup. One thing you may want to check with them is car rental collision primary coverage for a fee. Don't know if all Amex offers it but Starwood Amex does.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

I had this card and recently upgraded to the annual fee version of the same card. We love it!

 

[Anthony1971]

If you've never had an amex card you will find from time to time vendors refusing to take it. All credit card companies charge the vendors a transaction fee. Amex fee is the highest of them all.

Here's one sight that may help you in your decision. There may be other sites that I don't know of.

While in the past Amex was a higher fee this is not true anymore for 3 reasons. Amex has opened its network to second party processors (V/MC never processed its own cards the reason for so many processors) allowing it now to be grouped in with V/MC etc. However not all merchants (stores) take advantage or are aware of this. The second reasons varies V/MC charge different rates for different cards if you pay with a rewards card the merchant will pay far higher than what Amex charges. However this will also vary as well as larger stores (anything other than your small mom and pop store mostly unless they have a large $$$ volume of credit cards or see next sentence) will pay a straight percentage the theory is you will take rewards and non rewards cards and the fee will even out. The or and third reason: if a smaller business uses PayPal or Square or like they pay the same rate no matter which cad they take. In this day and age you will find it rare that merchant will not accept Amex and the ones that do not are places that mostly deal in small dollar transactions and simply it is not worth them starting an account with Amex but as above this is becoming smaller and smaller as more networks start accepting Amex through the processor they currently have. If you run across a place that says they do not take Amex my suggestion is ask the person to try running the card as the processor they use may have updated to take Amex and they are not aware of it.... This was also the case with Discover years ago which also now processed through second party processors. It is far more complicated than most realize how credit cards work... I could write a long explanation but in the end a credit card transaction goes through multiple steps involving multiple separate business which collect a fee before an approval number is received by the store and few more separate places before a merchant is paid.
Lastly opening a new credit card should not hurt your credit score unless you carry balances on others and will actually help it should you pay on time and not finance. Closing a credit card on the other hand can actually lower your credit score.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I'd do it this far out. As long as you know with 100% certainty you will not run a balance on the card (you'll pay it off in full every month). The mark on your credit score for the credit pull is really only around for 1-2 months and seems to be about 5-8 points. I've found that opening a new credit card can increase my credit score within a few months because having more credit available drops my credit utilization ratio (unless I'm charging more than I normally would to meet a high spend which will not be your case).

 

[MrPTato]

You will be fine opening if your mortgage app is that far out. I have the Preferred with the 6% grocery and 3% gas and we use it for all those purchases, and the Disney Visa for backup. Only a couple places have not taken the Amex, but I have had good acceptance elsewhere. Got $750 back last year just by using it almost everywhere.

Having a mix of credit is good for your score and the HP disappears off in 2 years. Having lower utilization help your scores...so unless your utilization will jump by closing a card, the actual closing won't do anything to your reports.

 

[Ngwira]

It's a good card. With your time horizon I would not be concerned.

ETA: I probably have opened 3 cards/year for the last several years and my credit score is > 800.

There is a better offer out there. $250 back after $500 spend. You can find it in incognito mode. But, yes it's a good card.

 

[MamaBear12]

There is a better offer out there. $250 back after $500 spend. You can find it in incognito mode. But, yes it's a good card.

Thanks! Can you elaborate on this please?

 

[bearzabout]

If you fly Delta, their platinum American Express card is an amazing deal. I pay a $195/year annual fee, but it gets me one free companion ticket within the continental US every year, plus one free checked bag for each person on my itinerary and early boarding. We plan one long distance trip per year and spend over $400/ticket to fly so we end up saving at least $200 every single year with the card.

 

[MamaBear12]

If you fly Delta, their platinum American Express card is an amazing deal. I pay a $195/year annual fee, but it gets me one free companion ticket within the continental US every year, plus one free checked bag for each person on my itinerary and early boarding. We plan one long distance trip per year and spend over $400/ticket to fly so we end up saving at least $200 every single year with the card.

I wish we lived near major airline hub airport to take advantage of an airline-specific mileage cc. Where we are it just makes more sense to fly whichever airline is cheapest and/or best route for our particular trip.

 

[Ngwira]

Thanks! Can you elaborate on this please?

Incognito mode on internet explorer or private mode on safari. It's when you surf the internet without tracking cookies.. many people have successfully pulled up better AMEX offers when they go to AMEX's website anonymously. Amex entices them with better offers when they cannot recognize them as existing customers. Keep in mind that sometimes this method doesn't work, but basically you would go to www. Americanexpress.com in incognito mode and see what offers are available. If you see a higher offer you would apply.
I have seen the $250 back after spending $500 in incognito mode at the beginning of January.

 

[Ngwira]

I just found the $250 after 1,000 spend on the bce in incognito mode on chrome.