By Mr. BI received a targeted credit card offer from American Express a few days ago. Since I’ve never had an AMEX card before, I knew little about them. I opened the packet, skimmed it, and was about to throw it away when I saw that it contained a sign-up bonus offer. Hmmm, time for a closer inspection. 
The card that they’re offering is the AMEX Blue Sky credit card, a card that offers travel rewards. Here is a synopsis of the card:
- Earn one “point” for every dollar spent
- 7500 points equals a $100 credit (toward a travel purchase)
- Points are unlimited and never expire
- 0% intro APR for six months
- No annual fee
Note that the points can only be redeemed for some type of travel expense, such as airline tickets, hotels, cruises, and travel packages. Credits are given post factum, meaning that if you want to redeem points, you make the travel purchase that you want, then call AMEX (or go online) and redeem the points. You will then receive a credit depending on how many points you redeem.
As I mentioned, 7500 points is equal to a $100 credit. This works out to just over a 1.3% cashback equivalent, so the rate is not terrible, but not stupendous. It’s slightly better than using a solid 1% cashback card, provided that you travel enough to use the rewards.
Bonus Offer
Now, on to the part that caught my attention. AMEX is offering a 30,000 points sign-up bonus offer. This is worth $400 of free travel! To receive the bonus, I have to charge $1000 to the card by the end of July (roughly three months from the time of the offer). As long as I make it my primary card for a few months, this should not be a problem.
Keep in mind that this was a targeted offer, and (unfortunately) I don’t think this bonus offer is available directly on their web site.
Honestly, I doubt I will use the card much after I charge the initial $1000, since I can earn a higher cashback return elsewhere (such as with my Chase Freedom Card). However, once I receive the 30,000 bonus points, my wife and I can take a free trip somewhere.
Hey, did you actually apply for this card? I got the promotion, applied for the card, and stupidly threw out the promotional materials for the special bonus offer. Now customer service is telling me that without a “promotion code” they don’t know what I’m talking about when I tell them that I get 30,000 bonus points — even though I sent in the application they sent to me with the offer! Did you save your promotional materials, and do you have the “promotion code” (whatever that is)?
BTW, I like your blog. If you have the energy to keep it up, I’m sure I’ll really enjoy it.
Hi Jonathan,
Yes, I applied for the card, and received it yesterday. I don’t remember any promotional code, but I’ll go back and take a look. I *think* I saved the original offer.
By the way, when I called to activate the card, the CSR that I talked to reminded me that I had 30,000 bonus points waiting for me provided that I spent $1000 by the assigned cutoff date.
You might try calling them again. Perhaps that one CSR is clueless. In the meantime, I’ll look for my original materials.
Thanks for the comment!
Sorry Jonathan, I can’t find the original offer. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I really don’t remember any promo code, unless it was something that I quickly filled out on the original application.
Best of luck resolving your situation. I hope you eventually get the bonus.
I found out what that promo code was, wow that took too long. Anyway its probably too late for Jonathan but for anyone else its L381-0001
I had the same problem where they didn’t credit my account with the points and when I called about it I didn’t have the paperwork anymore. I found this and gave that code and I think they were surprised it worked too! Now they are in the process of reviewing why the points didn’t go through and said they’d call me in 7 days. I hope it works in a week like it should have months ago!
I also ‘just’ signed up for this (Feb ‘09). It sounds like a no-brainer, as all that’s required on mine is $500 in qualified expenses on the card in 60 days. And, I just fished the original offer our of the trash to keep the codes on the offer, in case I end up w/any ‘issues’ with Amex. Thanks! btw…bonus ID on mine was 2635.
Hey, I just received a pre-screened offer and the points they advertised to me were 1.33 per dollar spent. Is there qualified purchases? Did anybody else see these point values?
Phil – Are you sure you don’t mean 1.33% instead of “1.33 points per dollar spent”? The Blue Sky card is supposed to earn 1 point per dollar spent, but you can redeem 7,500 points for $100 worth of travel. Thus, you effectively earn 1.33% for every dollar.