Increased Sign-up Bonuses on These American Express Cards

Savings Beagle | September 29, 2017 | Everyday | No Comments

Occasionally, credit card issuers will increase sign-up bonuses to attract attention and, hopefully, more customers.

That’s the case with the following American Express cards.

Read on to see if these increased bonuses, and the associated cards’ benefits, are right for you.

American Express Cash Back Cards

The Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express and the Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express both have increased sign-up bonuses. The details for each card are:

Blue Cash Everyday

No annual fee
Earn $150 back after spending $1,000 in purchases in your first 3 months of cardmembership ($150 back is in the form of a statement credit)

Ongoing card earnings:

Earn 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 in purchases (1% thereafter)
Earn 2% cash back at U.S. gas stations
Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases

Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit in increments of 25.

Blue Cash Preferred

$95 annual fee
Earn $200 back after spending $1,000 in purchases in your first 3 months of cardmembership. ($200 back is in the form of a statement credit)

Ongoing card earnings:

Earn 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 in purchases (1% thereafter)
Earn 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and select U.S. department stores
Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases

Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit in increments of 25.

While the sign-up bonuses for both these cards are increases from the typical sign-up bonus amounts, they have been higher in the past.

And, you may be able to get an even higher bonus amount than what is published above by clearing your browser’s cache and using incognito mode. This doesn’t always work, but it’s worth a try. If you want more details, Google: American Express sign up bonuses incognito mode.

American Express limits sign-up bonuses to one bonus per applicant lifetime – meaning, once you receive a sign-up bonus on a specific card, you won’t be able to get a sign-up bonus for that specific card again, ever.

So you want to make your applications count, and grab a card when its sign-up bonus is high. Whether the current, increased, sign-up bonuses on the Blue Cash Everyday and Blue Cash Preferred are high enough is a decision you’ll have to make.

Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards

Both the Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card and the Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card are currently offering increased sign-up bonuses.

Gold Delta SkyMiles Card

$95 annual fee (waived the first year of cardmembership)
50,000 SkyMiles after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months of cardmembership. Another 10,000 SkyMiles after spending an additional $1,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of cardmembership.
$50 statement credit when a Delta purchase is made within the first 3 months

Card perks and ongoing earning:

Earn 2 SkyMiles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
Earn 1 SkyMile per dollar spent on all other purchases
First checked bag free for cardholder and those traveling on same reservation
Zone 1 priority boarding on Delta flights

Platinum Delta SkyMiles Card

$195 annual fee
70,000 SkyMiles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of cardmembership (including 10,000 MQMs)
$100 statement credit when a Delta purchase is made within the first 3 months

Card perks and ongoing earning:

Earn 2 SkyMiles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
Earn 1 SkyMile per dollar spent on all other purchases
First checked bag free for cardholder and those traveling on same reservation
Zone 1 priority boarding on Delta flights
Annual Companion Certificate – Receive a domestic main cabin round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal of your card.
Earn 10,000 bonus SkyMiles and 10,000 MQMs after spending $25,000 on the card within a calendar year. Additional bonuses at $50,000 of spend.

These increased sign-up bonuses are the highest offered on these cards. Might they offer even higher sign-up bonuses in the future? Maybe, but who knows what will come.

If you haven’t received a bonus on one of these cards (each card also has a business version for which bonuses can be earned, too) now’s the time to grab them considering the once-in-a-lifetime bonus restriction American Express has put in place.

You may be wondering what you can get with 60,000 or 70,000 Delta SkyMiles. Well, I wish I could give a definitive answer.

Unfortunately, Delta does not publicize an award chart that shows a specific mileage redemption amount for specific routes. Rather, they have a somewhat hybrid model that uses ticket price and, well, other factors, I guess, to price award redemptions.

You should be able to get a roundtrip, economy class award redemption within the continental U.S. for 25,000 – 35,000 SkyMiles. But that’s not guaranteed.

To get a rough idea of award redemption amounts for routes you may want to go to Delta.com and do a search using Miles as your pricing method.

Other Reasons to Get an American Express Card

Sign-up bonuses are just one reason to get, and potentially hold long-term, an American Express Card. Here are a few other reasons.

Amex Offers – I’ve written about the money saving opportunities Amex Offers provide in my piece, “American Express Offers – A Great Way to Save.” And regularly publish Amex Offers posts that alert American Express cardholders to recently posted Amex Offers of which they may want to take advantage. The most recent Amex Offer post covered money savings on Halloween costumes, at Five Guys, Pier 1 Imports and more.

If you have a no-annual fee American Express card, you can definitely make money taking advantage of Amex Offers throughout the year.

And if you have an annual fee American Express card, the Amex Offers can easily offset that fee with the money savings they provide.

ShopRunner – American Express cardmembership offers complimentary ShopRunner membership as long as you hold the card. ShopRunner, if you’re not familiar, provides free 2-day shipping from over 140 stores.

You can view more info on ShopRunner here.

In some cases, free 2-day shipping can more than make up for a credit card’s annual fee.

These are just two of the benefits that come with holding an American Express credit card. There are a variety of other benefits, too, such as extended warranty, car rental coverage and return protection to name just a few.

All making an Amex card a valuable addition to your credit card arsenal.

Wrap Up

Considering American Express’ sign-up bonus restriction, these increased bonuses may make now the time to grab one of these credit cards.

Of course, your personal goals and ability to meet minimum spends play a large part in whether now is the right time for you.

All of the cards mentioned will likely have similar – if not higher – bonus offers in the future. So if now is not your right time, don’t worry, another chance will be coming down the road.

And we’ll be here to let your know when it arrives.