New Signup Offer on Amex Blue Cash Cards, 10% Back on Restaurants (up to $200) + $150/100

The Offer

Amex started a new signup offer on their Blue Cash Everyday and Blue Cash Preferred cards. This offer is currently only available by using someone’s referral, found in the login. There are two parts to the bonus: the basic bonus and the special restaurant bonus.

Cash Bonus

• Blue Cash Everyday gets $100 bonus after spending $1,000 within three months
• Blue Cash Preferred gets $150 bonus after spending $1,000 within three months

Restaurant Bonus

• You earn 10% cash back on the first $2,000 in purchases made at U.S. Restaurants on the Card Account within your first 6 months of Card Membership starting from the date your account is approved
• Maximum of $200 back on restaurants with $2,000 in purchases

The Fine Print

• Offer is available through May 3, 2017.
• Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.
• The statement credit will be applied 6-8 weeks after the spend threshold is met.
• Qualifying purchases can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on a single Card Account.
• You earn 10% cash back on the first $2,000 in purchases made at U.S. Restaurants on the Card Account within your first 6 months of Card Membership starting from the date your account is approved (up to $200 back). You will receive cash back in the form of statement credits, which will appear on your monthly billing statement within 8 weeks after you make a qualifying purchase.
• To get 10% back for a restaurant purchase, the purchase must be at a restaurant located in the United States. You will NOT get 10% back for purchases made at a restaurant owned by a U.S. company but located outside the U.S. (e.g. Hard Rock Café in Paris).
• You also will NOT get 10% back for purchases at nightclubs, convenience stores, grocery stores, or supermarkets. You may not get 10% back for purchases at a restaurant located within another establishment (e.g. a restaurant inside a hotel, casino, or event venue). For example, purchases made at a restaurant located within a hotel may be recognized as a purchase at a hotel, not a restaurant. Merchants are assigned codes based on what they primarily sell. You will not get 10% back if the merchant’s code is not eligible. You may not get 10% back on purchases made through a third-party payment account, or using a mobile card reader.
• If your application is not received by 05/03/2017, you will not be eligible for the 10% Offer even if your application is approved.
• The 10% back you earn for this offer is in addition to any rewards you may get from using your Card Account.
• Qualifying purchases can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on the Card Account.
• If your application is not received by 05/03/2017, you will not be eligible for the $150/100 Statement Credit and 10% Promotional offer and the friend who referred you may not receive the Referral Bonus even if your application is approved.

Our Verdict

Hat tip for this goes to Sirtheta who mentioned this among numerous other referral offers now available. It’s interesting that they bumped up the referral bonus from $50 to $100, as noted there. I thought it was worth highlighting this new offer in a dedicated post.

Until recently, it was possible to get a similar bonus offer with 10% was on Amazon, not restaurants. Before that it was 5% on travel up to $4,000 in purchases & 10% on wireless on up to $2,000 in purchases. Restaurants will be better than Amazon for a lot of people as it’s harder to get a good category bonus on restaurants compared to Amazon. We also saw a 10x restaurant deal on the Blue for Business card recently.

I’d expect this 10% restaurant Blue Cash offer to go public as some point soon. We’ll see. Hopefully, the cash part will bump up to $250 cash + $200 restaurant via incognito offers, as has happened with similar offers in the past.

Bear in mind that you can only get one signup bonus per lifetime on Amex cards. Check out these things to know about Amex cards before applying.

Please don’t post your referrals here, we’ve created a dedicated thread for that purpose. Follow the instructions and post there.