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Message
Blue Sky American Express Card
Posted on 5/16/13 at 11:04 am
Posted on 5/16/13 at 11:04 am
I've been looking into Travel rewards cards and just happened to get an offer for this card in the mail the other day. Wondering if anyone had any experience with this card ?
It is offering 30,000 bonus points after $500 in purchases in the first 3 months and 0% APR for the first 15 months. Seems like a good deal but is this a good card or is there much better out there? Still a newbie with all this stuff so any advice would be appreciated.
It is offering 30,000 bonus points after $500 in purchases in the first 3 months and 0% APR for the first 15 months. Seems like a good deal but is this a good card or is there much better out there? Still a newbie with all this stuff so any advice would be appreciated.
6
Posted on 5/16/13 at 11:07 am to YankeeDoodle
I got the Blue Sky Preferred last summer. It won best travel rewards card in last year consumer report I think. With the extra incentives I would definitely get it.
Amex is a 10/10 as a company as well, so even if you don't get that card you should look to them in the future.
Amex is a 10/10 as a company as well, so even if you don't get that card you should look to them in the future.
Posted on 5/16/13 at 11:22 am to TheDiesel
Yea it seems like a good card and I like the no annual fee. I plan to pay it off each month so the interest shouldnt be too big of a concern to me.
Posted on 5/16/13 at 12:02 pm to YankeeDoodle
If you use it to pay for everything rather than your debit card go ahead and get the preferred version. Yes it has a $75 fee but you get double the cash back 
Posted on 5/16/13 at 12:25 pm to BACONisMEATcandy
How much is the bonus on the preferred?
Think I'll hold off on this one.
Think I'll hold off on this one.
Posted on 5/16/13 at 12:36 pm to wegotdatwood
quote:
wegotdatwood
You seem to be on the verge of becoming quite the churner.
IF you got a Chase UR earning card, check out the manufactured spend opportunity their gift cards have right now. I used it legitimately so I could convert my credit card money to cash to pay my rent using Bluebird, so figured you might want to do that while it lasts.
You could do an endless loops and get completely manufactured spend ie Use Chase card to buy gift card, transfer gift card to Bluebird, use Bluebird to pay Chase card, but that makes me uncomfortable.
This post was edited on 5/16/13 at 12:42 pm
Posted on 5/16/13 at 12:38 pm to YankeeDoodle
quote:
It is offering 30,000 bonus points after $500 in purchases in the first 3 months and 0% APR for the first 15 months.
I got the same deal a few months back and pulled the trigger. I've got about $500 in points right now burning a hole my pocket.
Posted on 5/16/13 at 12:47 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Explain a little more dumbed down.
What's bluebird? Could I pay a mortgage?
What about gift cards.
Heading in for an interview!
What's bluebird? Could I pay a mortgage?
What about gift cards.
Heading in for an interview!
Posted on 5/16/13 at 12:49 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
quote:
You could do an endless loops and get completely manufactured spend ie Use Chase card to buy gift card, transfer gift card to Bluebird, use Bluebird to pay Chase card, but that makes me uncomfortable.
From what I've read... Chase closes suspicious activity accounts without questions and takes away the points... Be careful
quote:
How much is the bonus on the preferred?
No Idea... I do not have this card
quote:
What's bluebird? Could I pay a mortgage?
Prepaid card by Amex... they will write checks from your account though
LINK
This post was edited on 5/16/13 at 12:53 pm
Posted on 5/16/13 at 1:07 pm to CoolHand
quote:
I got the same deal a few months back and pulled the trigger. I've got about $500 in points right now burning a hole my pocket.
Seems like a good problem to have. Figured if anything, this will encourage me to take more trips if I have all these points and can make it cheaper.
ETA: Side question- How easy is it to redeem these points when booking a flight/hotel? Anyone have any issues?
This post was edited on 5/16/13 at 1:22 pm
Posted on 5/16/13 at 1:14 pm to BACONisMEATcandy
quote:
From what I've read... Chase closes suspicious activity accounts without questions and takes away the points... Be careful
Ya. I don't have the balls to do a loop. I consider this legitimate. I should be able to pay my rent with a CC and so I do.
Also, I am basically neurotic when I learn something new. I have probably read every thread about how this works, what gets you in trouble etc the internet has to offer.
Those idiots were doing $60,000 a month in looped manufactured spend. I am doing about $1,500 a month converting credit card spend to cash to pay my rent. Basically wegotdatwood, you can buy Giftcards (usually best with a 5X multipler category) at a store or what have you. $500 gift cards come with a $4.95 activation fee. Federal law made it necessary that these gift cards come with PINs, which makes them now effectively debit cards.
Bluebird by Amex is a prepaid checking account through walmart (plenty of those in Arkansas). Bluebird can be "loaded" with funds from a debit card. Bluebird also has check writing features. Therefore, you can buy gift cards, go to walmart, load your bluebird account with the funds off the gift card, then log on to bluebird and have them write a check to your landlord, mortgage company, or even do billpay bank to bank.
You have just paid your rent with a credit card. Its mostly effective to meet minimum spend requirement in a hurry, but if you get 5x at stores with gift cards you can rack up points you otherwise could not.
This post was edited on 5/16/13 at 1:18 pm
Posted on 5/16/13 at 1:20 pm to BACONisMEATcandy
quote:
If you use it to pay for everything rather than your debit card go ahead and get the preferred version. Yes it has a $75 fee but you get double the cash back
Bacon, you are thinking about the Blue Cash preferred. He is talking about the Blue Sky, which has travel rewards points.
Posted on 5/16/13 at 1:25 pm to TheDiesel
quote:
TheDiesel
Have you had any issues when redeeming these points for a flight/hotel or is it a pretty straightforward process?
Posted on 5/16/13 at 1:41 pm to TheDiesel
quote:
Bacon, you are thinking about the Blue Cash preferred. He is talking about the Blue Sky, which has travel rewards points.
Whoops... you're right. My mistake
Posted on 5/16/13 at 1:46 pm to YankeeDoodle
I got the same offer, so I decided to get it and pay my taxes with it. Not a bad deal to get $500 of travel rewards for paying my taxes.
Posted on 5/16/13 at 1:56 pm to YankeeDoodle
Not at all. Once the charge clears you go online, select the charge, and then choose how much of your available credit you want to use.
Literally check the box and click accept.
eta. If you get the preferred you get $100 towards airline fees. To get that I had to call, but it took 5 min.
Literally check the box and click accept.
eta. If you get the preferred you get $100 towards airline fees. To get that I had to call, but it took 5 min.
This post was edited on 5/16/13 at 1:57 pm
Posted on 5/16/13 at 2:48 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
quote:
you can buy Giftcards (usually best with a 5X multipler category)
With what card?
Posted on 5/16/13 at 2:48 pm to YankeeDoodle
I've got that same offer sitting in my mailbox. Thinking about pulling the trigger after my home mortgage closes this month.
Would it be better in the long haul to use a pure airline card? ( like the British Airways one with free companion tickets)
Would it be better in the long haul to use a pure airline card? ( like the British Airways one with free companion tickets)
This post was edited on 5/16/13 at 2:50 pm
Posted on 5/16/13 at 3:15 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
quote:
Teddy Ruxpin
What kind of giftcards are you buying to load at walmart? Are we talking $500 prepaid visa or amex cards or something like that?
Let me see if I understand this...
1. Open a Bluebird account
2. Buy 3 x $500 prepaid visa giftcards (+ approx $5 activation fees).
3. Go to walmart(?) and load $1500 to your bluebird account from the 3 giftcards
4. Go online to bluebird account and have them write a check to your apt complex for $1500.
Is that right? Obviously I'm confused about how step 3 goes down.
And if all of this is correct, then you're basically breaking even between the $5 activation fee and your 1% rewards (assuming you're only getting the minimum rewards percentage). Or what am I missing?
I guess I could see where this would be advantageous if you had rewards categories that would allow you to reap 5% or more somewhere where you could buy a prepaid giftcard. But it seems like a lot of hassle for minimal return.
Posted on 5/16/13 at 3:42 pm to kennypowers816
quote:
I guess I could see where this would be advantageous if you had rewards categories that would allow you to reap 5% or more somewhere where you could buy a prepaid giftcard. But it seems like a lot of hassle for minimal return.
Right, usually its best to hit the minimum spend requirements for a card. As in, you need to spend $5,000 in 3 months to get your signup bonus. In that case, you are just trying to earn say $500 in rewards by spending only $15 dollars you usually wouldn't, so its worth it.
However, right now, through Chase, they are shipping their gift cards without any fee whatsoever. This is because they had to pull their GCs out of their bank branches so its temporary.
Therefore, I only paid $1,500 to get $1,500 in gift cards. I then took the gift cards to Walmart (any cashier will do, you can also use the Moneycenter ATM if isn't broken).
You tell the cashier, "I want to load my Bluebird with a swipe load/with my debit card" They will take your bluebird card and swipe it on their side, ask you how much, you say, "$500."
Slide your card and boom, loaded. You can only do $1,000 a day. I go to walmart about twice a month so I'm not going out of my way to do this.
And yes, when a fee is included at $4.95, you want to buy that card at a store that gets a category bonus to make it really worth it. Again, I don't go out of my way to do any of this like some people do.
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