Update: There’s now a $400 signup bonus on this card with waived annual fee
BCP Morgan Stanley Version
Press Release | Direct Card Link
American Express launched today a version of the popular Blue Cash Preferred card exclusively for Morgan Stanley customers. This includes E-Trade customers, a company owned by Morgan Stanley.
The card has very similar to the standard Blue Cash Preferred card, including signup bonus and all, with one exception:
- The Morgan Stanley Amex Blue Cash Preferred card gets a $100 annual statement credit after spending $15,000 on purchases in the calendar year.
Card Details
- Annual fee of $95 waived first year
- Card earns the following cashback rates:
- 6% at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 in spend annually, then 1%)
- 6% on U.S. Streaming subscriptions
- 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations
- 3% cash back on Transit (e.g taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more)
- 1% on everything else
- $100 statement credit every year after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases
Currently, the signup bonus on the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred card is $300 after spending $3,000 within the first 6 months.
Our Verdict
While the Morgan Stanley American Express Platinum card is only available for Morgan Stanley clients (which typically means a managed portfolio, see also this post), the Morgan Stanley Amex Blue Cash Preferred is available to E*Trade clients as well. I believe you can open an e*Trade account with no fees and no minimums and be eligible for this card.
I found the launch of this card to be interesting, but may or may not be useful. I can see two angles here:
- $100 annual bonus: The annual $100 bonus is nice, but many people won’t want to spend $15,000 on a 1%-earning credit card. You can do $6,000 on groceries, and potentially some more on Streaming, Gas, and Transit, but for me personally it would not be worth spending $15,000 on the card to get the $100 bonus.
- Signup Bonus: Since this is a new version of the Blue Cash Preferred, it should be possible to get this card and bonus even if you’ve gotten the standard Blue Cash Preferred signup bonus in the past. A $300 cash signup bonus will be interesting to some. Note: at the moment, there’s a better $350 signup bonus on the standard Blue Cash Preferred card, so you’ll want to do that one first, if eligible.
I wonder if they’ll allow upgrades/downgrades between the Morgan Stanley Platinum and the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred. There’s one other Morgan Stanley Membership Rewards card that has no annual fee; not sure if they allow upgrades/downgrades with that card.
