The American Express Gold Card - Review
Rating: 4.5/5
Pros:
Excellent “workhorse” card for American Express Membership Rewards users
Annual credits lower effective annual fees to $30 a year
No foreign transaction fees
Various insurance for Baggage and Rental Car coverage at no extra cost
Metal credit card for that flex
Cons:
Limited restaurants for $120 dining credits
$250 annual fee if all credits are not used
Intro and Author’s Note
I’ve been giving lots of personal credit card tips and advice in the past couple of years, so I think it’s only fitting that we start looking at each individual cards and seeing what they have to offer. In this new series of articles we’ll be reviewing each credit card offered by major credit card companies and hopefully it will help you determine if a particular credit card is right for you.
There have been a lot of questions on whether to even consider this card as it is a “travel” focused card, but unless your income has changed, I can only see the points accrued allowing for a better traveling experience once the rest of the countries start opening up for travel.
The American Express Gold Card
My main credit card game is based on an American Express ecosystem so it’s fitting that I start with the most used card of them all, the Amex Gold card. It has the flexibility of giving some extra points on travel but gives a 4x multiplier on my 2 biggest categories for spending: groceries and restaurants. So what does this $250 annual fee card have to offer? Let’s take a look:
Sign-up Bonus Offer and Earned Points Rates
Current Offer as of 09/21/2020:
Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards Points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
Usually the signup offer is a 30,000 MR points after a $2,000 spend on purchases in the first 3 months of Card Membership, but this is great offer as it only requires a spend of $1,000 a month, when combining restaurant and grocery purchases, is relatively easy to do.
Earn 4x MR Points at U.S. Supermarkets
Up to $25,000 per calendar year.
Earn 4x MR Points on Restaurants
No limits to spending, global restaurants wherever American Express is accepted.
Earn 3x MR Points on Travel
On flights booked directly with the airlines or on amextravel.com
Fees and Rates
Annual Fee: $250
I understand, a $250 annual fee isn’t exactly cheap, where other cards have plenty of benefits in the $95 annual fee range, American Express requires a premium. There aren’t a lot of cards that have a $250 annual fee, so the comparison is rather difficult when it comes to cross-shopping credit cards, but at the same time it can be justified if you are using it properly as we will take a look at it in the next section.
Rates: 15.99% - 22.99% APR
The Amex Gold card is typically a charge card, meaning that you do not have a hard limit (although there probably is a hidden-one that is set up based on the information provided by the applicant at the time of applying), but the trade-off is that you must pay off the balance in full each month. This can be beneficial for someone who would rather use the card as cash rather than credit or someone who pays off their card in full anyways each month. However, in the recent months American Express has been rolling out a new feature called “Pay Over Time”, probably due to the global recession that we’ve been seeing, plus with the rates being in line with other credit cards it will mean that the charges to people who pay the interest fees will be fair, and at the same time there will be increase revenue for the company.
Benefits
$120 Dining Credit
Each month, American Express will credit $10 when you pay with the Gold Card at The Cheesecake Factory, Shake Shack (participating locations), Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Boxed, Grubhub, and Seamless. I find that the $10 is pretty easy to use each month, which lowers the effective annual fee to $130.
$100 Airline Fee Credit
Every calendar year (Jan 1st to Dec 31st) American Express offers a $100 airline fee credit to be used on incidental fees, such as checked bags fees and in-flight costs. You must choose the airline prior to using the card to pay for these fees. It may not be as useful at the time of writing this article as global travel is down, but can easily be used once travel is resumed, and combined with the dining credits, takes the effective annual fee down to just $30.
Various Benefits:
No Foreign Transaction Fees
Access to The Hotel Collection - Stay at least 2 consecutive nights and get a $100 resort credit, and room upgrades when available
Baggage Insurance Plan - $1,250 for carry-on baggage, and $500 for checked baggage
Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance - $50,000 vehicle damage and theft
Hidden Benefits:
When you enroll your American Express card to your Amazon account, you will occasionally receive discount offers to purchases shipped and sold from Amazon; to trigger the discount offer, simply use 1 MR point towards your qualifying purchase to get your discount.
Cardholders will receive offers from various retailers ranging from additional MR points, statement credits, and big MR points offers.
Cardholders will be able to sign up at Rakuten.com to accrue MR points instead of cash back, as large as 20x MR points.
Spending Strategy and Conclusion
My recommendation is to pair this card with the American Express Platinum card and the American Express Everyday card for the trifecta. Limit your spending with the Gold card to grocery and restaurants, Platinum for travel, and the Everyday card for all your other purchases.
The American Express Gold Card is a must-have when it comes to accruing MR points for your next travel with the 4x on your everyday spending at grocery stores and restaurants. When combined with the American Express Platinum card, you can take your next trip in style and luxury with the points you accrued throughout the year!
