American Express Blue Cash Everyday

New Amex Offer at Walmart.com and Purchase of Gift Card

amex offer walmart onlineThere is new Amex Offer. “Get $5 statement credit when you spend $15 or more at Walmart.com.”It is only for online purchases and not valid on gift cards reloads and prepaid cards. I understand what exactly “gift cards reloads” means, but I’m not sure about “prepaid cards.” Since the terms doesn’t say “not valid on gift cards” but “not valid on prepaid cards,” I assumed that the purchase of regular gift cards is eligible for the offer.

discounted starbucks gift cardI browsed gift cards at Walmart.com, and I find that only Starbucks gift cards are useful to me. However, there is no denomination of $15. They have $25 and $30 (3/$10 multi-pack). If I buy $25 Starbucks gift card and get $5 statement credit, it’s like a 20% discounted gift card. It is a lot of discount, but you can find better deals at gift card exchange sites. As you see in the picture, ABC gift cards are selling them with 24% discount.

To maximize the benefit of this offer, I need to one extra step. My plan goes like this:

Buy $15 Walmart GCs -> Redeem Walmart GCs for Starbucks GCs

walmart egift cardAfter adding some gift cards to a cart and pretending to check them out at Walmart.com, I found that Walmart probably allowed to use GCs for purchase of other gift cards except for Visa, MasterCard, and American Express GCs. It seems that they even allow to purchase Walmart GCs with Walmart GCs. And you can choose any amount of Walmart GCs between $10 and $1000 in one cent increment. (e-gift cards are between $5 and $200.) So, when you buy $15 Walmart GC with Amex Offer, you get 33.33% off deal.

I have two AmEx cards that can sync with Amex Offers, Blue Cash Preferred and Serve. Buying $15 Walmart GCs with each card and then redeeming them for $30 Starbucks GC will be perfect to get the full of the benefit of this offer.

Walmart Cancel My Order

walmart cancelled my orderI chose e-gift card to save time and checked out one $15 Walmart GC with Blue Cash Preferred. Almost at the same time as check-out, I received an order confirmation email from Walmart and “Thank You for using your Enrolled Card” email from AmEx. Then when I tried to buy another $15 Walmart GC, a problem happened. Walmart sent another email that told me the order was cancelled because my payment couldn’t be verified.

I don’t know what caused the error, but I’m sure I enter the right credit card information because I received confirmation emails from both Walmart and AmEx. My question is what happened to my Amex Offer now. It can be redeemed only once on each card. I have never experienced this type of thing before. I’d better wait till the pending transaction will be cleared.

American Express Blue Cash Preferred vs Everyday

amex blue cash credit cardThe two credit cards from American Express, Blue Cash Preferred and Blue Cash Everyday, both offer bonus cash back on the purchase at grocery stores and gas stations. Preferred charges an annual fee of $75, and Everyday has no annual fee.

Benefits

Preferred

  • 6% cash back at grocery stores (up to $6000 per year in purchases, 1% after that)
  • 3% cash back at gas stations and selected department stores
  • 1% cash back on any other purchases

Everyday

  • 3% cash back at grocery stores (up to $6000 per year in purchases, 1% after that)
  • 2% cash back at gas stations and selected department stores
  • 1% cash back on any other purchases

The limits only apply on purchases at grocery stores. Cash back at gas stations and department stores are unlimited. Let’s say that you use two cards at grocery stores only. When you spend $2500 a year, cash back from two cards are:

  • Preferred $2500 x 0.06 – $75 (annual fee) = $75
  • Everyday $2500 x 0.03 = $75

So, if you spend more than $2500 a year (or $208.33 a month), you’d better choose Preferred over Everyday. After you have spent $6000 at grocery stores, you can still earn 1% cash back. You can track your spending on each category online account page. The picture is how statement looks like when grocery purchases has exceeded $6000. There are two lines for U.S. Supermarkets, and one is follow by “1%”.

amex blue cash reward statement

What to Do when reaching $6000 limit

Until next year, My AmEx Blue Cash Preferred offers only 1% cash back at grocery stores. You can use another card that offer cash back more than 1%. For example, 2% Bank of America Cash Rewards Visa, 2% US Bank Cash+ Visa, etc. Or you may apply for another AmEx Blue Cash card. But maybe you don’t want to have many credit cards, or don’t have credit score good enough to get approved of new credit cards. For those people, there is a way to continue to get bonus cash back at grocery stores with the same AmEx Blue Cash even after you have spent $6000 at grocery store. The key item is American Express Gift Card.

You can purchase AmEx GCs online, at their website www.americanexpress.com/gift-cards/. But you shouldn’t go to the site directly. You have to go through online shopping portal sites. A rate of cash back for the purchase of AmEx GCs varies from portal to portal. However, most of the time, either Befrugal or TopCashBack offers the highest rate between 2% and 3%. A purchase fee of AmEx GC is $3.95 regardless of value of gift card. There are some different shipping options and costs, but say you purchase $1000 AmEx GC with cheapest shipping option. A purchase Fee and shipping cost $3.95+$8.95=12.90. You have to spend $12.90 for $1000 cash equivalent item, but credit card reward’s 1% cash back covers most of it. So, cash back from the portal will remain! It means that you always get 2% to 3% discount every time you use AmEx GC.

Summery

American Express Blue Cash Preferred and Everyday are both great credit cards for grocery store purchases. To offset an annual fee of Preferred ($75), you need to spend $2500 annually at grocery store. (if you use the cards only at grocery stores) As a rough indication, if you spend less than $2500 a year, choose Everyday. If you spend more than $2500 a year, choose Preferred. In my opinion, $2500 is just a little amount. It is $208.33 per month. Even if you don’t buy foods at grocery stores, some grocery stores sell gift cards. You can buy merchant or Visa/MasterCard gift cards to get full 6% bonus cash back ($360) easily.