No AF Amex BCP for 4th Year Complete....Here's How I Did It

Data Point Forum
1

Hey everyone, I’ve written about this a few times before, but I wanted to drop a data point that I just completed the process for the 4th time—effectively holding an Amex Blue Cash Preferred (BCP) with no annual fee over the last 4 years.

If you aint familiar with the trick, here’s the process:

  • When your BCP annual fee hits, contact Amex via chat and request a downgrade to the Blue Cash Everyday (BCE). Amex will refund the annual fee and send you the BCE.
  • Shortly after the downgrade, an ‘upgrade offer’ will appear on your account to switch back to the BCP. This offer typically includes a bonus (like spend $1k in 6 months) with bonuses I’ve seen ranging from $75, $100, or even $150. Sometimes the annual fee is waived as part of the upgrade, sometimes it’s not.
  • Accept the offer with just two clicks, and Amex will send you a new BCP card.

In a year, you can repeat the whole process again…

I just went through it for the 4th time—downgraded to BCE about 6 days ago, and now I’ve already got the offer to upgrade back to BCP. Effectively holding a no-annual-fee BCP for 4 years now has been fantastic.

2

I think you can do the same thing with the Everyday Preferred card. But Amex’s card limit is really starting to bother me since I also want to get the Hilton cards.

3

Thanks, OP. Does it matter how many days between 0-30 you do this after the AF hits ?

4

No, it doesn’t have to be within 30 days. You can do it months later if needed. Amex will refund your annual fee at a prorated amount, so you might get around $80 back if you downgrade a couple of months later.

5

If I did the opt out pre-screen thing, will I not get this offer?

6

I regret getting the Morgan Stanley version of the BCP because it’s treated as a different product and doesn’t let you do this, as far as I know. I thought I was being smart by going for the better sign-up bonus, but having no annual fee would’ve been better in the long run.

7

Thnks for posting about this, it got me interested in the BCP. The fee isn’t worth it for me, but if I can avoid it, the card seems way more appealing. I hope to get it later this year.

I’m also wondering if I could do the same trick with the Platinum. I have a Gold card I don’t really want, but it’s offering 50k points to upgrade to the Platinum. So, if I upgrade when my fee hits, then downgrade again after a year and get another 50k upgrade offer, that could cover most of the annual fee.

8

Are there multiple hard pulls associated with it? I don’t think it’d be worth 2 hard pulls a year for instance for me at least.