American Express Blue Cash Review: Can You Really Make Money on This Balance Transfer?

In my previous balance transfer card arbitrage article, we reviewed some of the things that consumers need to watch out for when trying to make money with this balance transfer arbitrage strategy. It wasn't a comprehensive guide, but it was more than enough to make it crystal clear that you have to pay attention to the details of the offer, in order to profit from balance transfer arbitrage.

Today, we're going to examine the terms & conditions from an actual balance transfer offer to determine if it is good enough to make some free money with if for taking the issuer's credit card. I recently received an offer from American Express for its Blue Cash card, so we are going to take a look at the terms & conditions for Blue Cash.

Here's What We're Looking For

We need to know the following when screening balance transfer offers for this credit card arbitrage tactic:

(1) The APR for the balance transfer;

(2) The transaction fee to transfer the balance and the caps;

(3) The annual fees; and

(4) The length of time for the promotional interest rate.

In reviewing at the terms & conditions for the American Express Blue Cash card, I noticed the following:

(a) There's a 4.99% APR for the life of the balance on balance transfer requests submitted with the credit card application - any subsequent balance transfers will be subject to the substantially higher, standard purchase APR;

(b) There's no balance transfer fee for the offer, but subsequent balance transfers may be subject to a balance transfer fee that is unknown;

(c) There's no annual fee; and

(d) The 4.99% APR on balance transfers is good for only 6 months.

Here are a few other details: American Express has its own bank, American Express Bank FSB, and by accepting their offer to transfer credit card balances to their bank, you authorize the bank to forward the balance transfer check to the credit card company the balance is being transferred from.