Mourning the Demise of Three American Express Credit Cards

As a credit card bank, we like American Express a lot. Why? Because the company consistently offers excellent customer service, and their cards typically have very consumer-friendly terms and conditions associated with them (this report says it all.)

So we are sorry to report that three popular American Express cards are no longer available. The cards are:

• Blue from American Express®
  
  
• Blue Cash® from American Express
  
  
• Blue Sky from American Express®

These cards were great, because they each offered 0% intro APR on new purchases for 12 months, and each featured a generous rewards program. Introductory balance transfers were not free (2.99% for 12 months) but, on the plus side, you didn't have to pay a balance transfer transaction fee.

These cards may return, but there's no way of knowing if or when.

There are still two Amex cards to which you can transfer a credit card balance and pay no balance transfer fee. These are:

• The TrueEarnings® Credit Card from Costco and American Express, which offers:

• An introductory balance transfer APR of 1.99% for the first 6 months of Cardmembership, as long as the transferred balances post to your account during the first 30 days of Cardmembership and
  
  
• 0% Introductory APR for Purchases for the first 3 months of Cardmembership.
  
  
• Click here
  

• The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, which offers:

• An introductory balance transfer APR of 2.9% for the first 6 months of Cardmembership, as long as the transferred balances post to your account during the first 30 days of Cardmembership and
  
  
• 2.9% Introductory APR for Purchases for the first 3 months of Cardmembership.
  
  
• Click here

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No Fee Balance Transfer Update

In our last post at this blog, we confirmed that the Bank of America (BofA) Pet Rewards Visa® card was still offering 0% intro APR on transferred balances, with no balance transfer fee. Today's news isn't good: this card was discontinued yesterday. I felt a need to confirm this somber news because sometimes a bank will discontinue a credit product from affiliate sites like www.BalanceTransfer.cc, but the product can still be found on the bank's website. So I searched for this card using my favorite search engine and found that it was still listed on the BofA website. For clarification, I decided to have another online conversation with a BofA representative. The conversation ended a few minutes ago; here's how that conversation went:

Current Transcript of the Chat Session. Thank you for choosing Bank of America. An operator will be with you shortly. You are now chatting with Amanda.

Amanda: Hello, thank you for joining Bank of America online chat. I am here to assist you in selecting new accounts that fit your needs. How can I assist you today?

you: Hello

you: I want to know if the Bank of America PetRewards® Visa® card is still available

Amanda: No I am sorry it is not.

Amanda: It was discontinued yesterday.

you: OK, so Bank of America hasn't had a chance to remove all pages related to this card yet, is that right?

you: I was able to find this card with a Google search

Amanda: That's not our site so they may still have it (?)

Amanda: However if you try to get to the application you will get an error.

you: Ok, well thanks for your time

Amanda: You’re very welcome.

Amanda: Are you looking for a balance transfer card?

you: yes

Amanda: How much are you looking to transfer?

you: I'm looking for 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers, with no balance transfer fee

you: I'm looking to transfer about $4,000

Amanda: Well we don't have a card with no fee but we do have cards with 0% APR for 15 months on balance transfers and then we give you $25.00 back for doing the transfer. So once you get the credit back the fee would only be like $95.00

you: are you referring to the Bank of America Cash Rewards card?

Amanda: That is one of them

you: OK, so I'd like to know the other cards with similar terms and benefits

Amanda: Please click here for information regarding our Visa Signature with WorldPoints.

Amanda: Please click here for information regarding our WorldPoints Platinum Plus MasterCard.

Amanda: Are you still with me? Please respond so I can leave this chat window open to answer any application questions you may have.

you: I have all the information I need. Thanks and have a great day.

Amanda: You’re very welcome.

Right now, the best 0% credit card in the American market is the Discover More Card, which currently offers 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 12 months, with a transfer fee of 3%. Unfortunately, there is no longer a cap on the transfer fee with Discover More, so if, for example, you want to transfer $3,500 or more, the transfer fee would be at least $105.

But you do have options, like the Bank of America Visa® Signature® WorldPoints Rewards credit card, which now offers 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 15 months, with a balance transfer fee of 3%. This is one of the cards the BofA representative recommended during our online conversation (which I posted above.) With this card, there is the added benefit of a $25 statement credit that you can use to reduce the balance transfer fee. So if you were to transfer $4,000 to this card, the real transfer fee would be:

• $4,000.00 X 0.03 (transaction fee) = $120.00
  
  
• $120.00 - $25 (statement credit) = $95.00

Am I sure that a balance transfer would qualify for the statement credit? Yes, I am, because I just checked the terms & conditions for this card. Here's a clip:

"...To qualify for this offer, your new account must be used to make any purchase, balance transfer or cash advance transaction totaling $25 excluding any transaction fees, if applicable within 45 days of the account open date. Limit one (1) statement credit per new account...."

We also have confirmation of this from the BofA representative (see transcript above.)

Ok, so I'm guessing that your next question is, "Why would you recommend the Discover More card before recommending the BofA Visa Signature with WorldPoints Rewards card? Seems that the BofA card offers more value with the 15 month holiday from paying interest on transferred balances."

The answer: because with the BofA cards, the balance transfer fee is subject to finance charges. Here is a clip from the term & conditions associated with the BofA Visa Signature with WorldPoints Rewards card:

"...We include Transaction Fees when computing finance charges. Incurring Transaction Fees results in an APR exceeding 0% for the billing statement on which those fees appear. The Daily Periodic Rate (DPR) will remain 0% as disclosed..."

We also like the Discover More card because its cash back rewards package is the most generous in the American consumer credit card market.

Where Did The "No Fee Balance Transfer"
Pulaski Bank Credit Cards Go?

A little FYI to end this blog entry: The two "no fee balance transfer" cards from Pulaski bank are still available here. The reason we removed them from the "No Fee Balance Transfer" page was because these cards are very difficult to get. Approvals are few and far between. However, if you feel that your credit profile is stellar -- and I mean super perfect -- then by all means give one of these cards a try.

The reason these two Pulaski Bank cards are so hard to get?

• 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 6 months
  
  
• No balance transfer fee
  
  
• For the regular Pulaski Bank MasterCard® or VISA® Card, the APR on purchases and cash advances is 6.50%. For the Pulaski Bank Visa Gold Card, the APR on purchases and cash advances is 8.00% (you will have a hard time finding credit cards on offer from other American banks with APR's that low, especially for cash advances!)
  
  

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And Then There Were Four...

0% credit cards that don't charge a fee for transferring balances are consistently the most popular cards we recommend on this website. It is quite difficult, therefore, to see 3 great "no fee balance transfer" cards disappear from the market.

The American Express IN cards (IN:NYC, IN:Chicago & IN:LA) are no more. These cards offered 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 6 months, with no balance transfer fee. The really sad part is that American Express is one of the best banks out there when it comes to credit cards. Most other banks play "follow the leader" with their terms and conditions. American Express, on the other hand, always plays fair with their customers (based on anecdotal evidence.) Must have something to do with the fact that the company has along history of catering to wealthy, discerning consumers who actually read the terms and conditions before they signup for a card.

So now there are 4 cards left offering 0% intro APR and that don't charge a fee for transferring balances. Check them out here.

Of course, the hunt for the best 0% cards continues. Stay tuned.

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New Card Added: The Clear from American Express Card

We've recently added a new credit card to the list of American Express credit cards we recommend here at BalanceTransfer.cc. It's the Clear from American Express® card, and it offers 0% Intro APR on new credit card purchases for 12 months. The APR for balance transfers is 4.99%, with no balance transfer fee.

Yup, it would be great if you could transfer balances to Amex Clear at 0%, but 4.99% isn't that bad, considering the fact that it's 4.99% for the life of the transferred balance. Right now, the U.S. Prime Rate is 8.25%, so transferring a balance to this card can save a lot of people out there some serious cash (the APR for many credit cards in the American market is the U.S. Prime Rate plus a margin.)

The main selling point of this card is that there are no fees: no over-the-limit fees, no annual fee, no late fees, no balance transfer fees and no cash advance fees. As quoted from the American Express website:

"No fees of any kind."

However, if you are the type of person who pays their bills on time, all the time, then this "no fees" marketing strategy is almost meaningless, since a person like you is very likely to avoid such fees in first place. Of course, if you are the sort who sometimes misses a payment, or you go over your credit limit every once in a while, then you may be very attracted to the fact that the Clear card has no fees.

Though American Express won't charge you any fees for a late payment, they will report any late payments to the credit bureaus. Keep that in mind. Furthermore, if you are late with a payment more than once within a 12 month period, the folks at Amex may raise the APR associated with your account.

Another characteristic about the Clear card that should be noted: every year, you get access to a "user-friendly" credit report and credit score. A great feature -- no doubt -- but I failed to find out which credit score and credit report they're offering: is it TransUnion, Experian or Equifax? Or is it some other proprietary credit score and report? Hmmmmm... Please post a comment if you know that answer. Thanks!

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0% Intro APR Balance Transfer Credit Cards from American Express -- and You Won't Have to Pay A Balance Transfer Fee

Here at www.BalanceTransfer.cc, we are constantly on the lookout for the best 0% credit card deals. We live and breath credit card balance transfers, for the simple reason that 0% introductory annual percentage rate (APR) credit cards are, quite easily, the most consumer-friendly financial tools available today.

Allow me to present the anatomy of the perfect 0% intro APR credit card offer -- in my humble opinion, of course. Here are the attributes:

• 0% Intro APR on both transferred balances and new credit card purchases for at least 6 months
  
  
• No balance transfer fee for the initial balance transfer(s).
  
  
• No annual membership fee
  
  
• A competitive "go to" rate (FYI: the go to rate is the credit card's annual percentage rate that kicks in once the interest-free period ends.)
  
  

Right now, the best 0% credit card is the Discover Platinum card, a card that -- believe it or not -- meets all of the above-listed requirements! Citibank (Citi) also has 2 excellent credit cards that meet all of the above, except that they don't offer a 0% intro APR on new credit card purchases (click here for more info.)


American Express® Now Has Three, 0% Credit Cards That Are..."Perfect"

Some exciting news for credit card balance transfer fans all across the country: American Express has a new set of consumer credit cards that qualify as "perfect 0% credit cards" -- perfect by my definition anyway -- and these cards offer rewards to boot. They are the American Express INSIDE Rewards cards. Details below:

• IN:LA Card from American Express
  
  
  • 0% Intro APR on transferred balances AND new credit card purchases for 6 months
    
    
  • no balance transfer fee for the initial balance transfer(s).
    
    
  • no annual membership fee
    
    
  • competitive "go to" rate (factors including your credit rating will determine how low your go to APR will be)
  
  
• IN:CHICAGO Card from American Express
  
  
  • same benefits as the IN:LA card above
  
  
• IN:NYC Card from American Express
  
  
  • same benefits as the IN:LA card above

Of course, it's always important to remember that the terms, conditions, features and benefits of the credit cards we recommend at this website and blog are not set in stone, and therefore can change at any time. So if you plan on taking advantage of any credit card offer recommended here, try not to procrastinate.

Looks like the competition among the major credit card companies is heating up. Let's hope the trend continues!

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