The American Express Gold card

After having over 20 credit cards since I first reviewed the American Express Gold card, I can safely say this card – as of 2024 – fits a niche target audience. It has seen multiple changes in terms of the credits it offers – that have unfortunately made it more of a coupon book card like the Platinum. However, based on where you live (maybe a major metropolitan city like NYC, LA, SF, Boston, etc…), you might be surprised at the value this card offers – essentially paying you to keep it when considering a hefty $325 annual fee.

Sign-up Bonus

I’ve seen a variety of offers on this card over the years and they will continue to change. However, as of August 2024, the best offer I found was 100K MR Points + 20% back on restaurant transactions (upto $100) for spending $6000 in 6 months.

Bonus categories

• 4x at Restaurants (worldwide – including takeout and delivery) capped at $50K
• 4X at US supermarkets capped at $25K
• 3X at Flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
• 2X at Prepaid hotels and other eligible travel purchases, booked through AmexTravel.com
• 1X on Other Eligible Purchases

Included credits

The revised “coupon book” gold card offers four credits – each of which needs to be enrolled in to trigger the credit

$120 Dining credits

You get $10/month on valid purchases made at GrubHub, Seamless, Boxed, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and participating Shake Shack locations.

I’ve been using the credit at GrubHub for pickup orders from restaurants in my area. In my experience, prices are typically $0.50-$1 more per menu item than if I directly ordered from the restaurant.

$120 Uber Credit

Just add your Card to your Uber account and you’ll automatically receive $10 in Uber Cash every month. Thankfully the credit is auto-applied to Uber Eats orders as well (pick-up and delivery). In my experience, prices are typically $0.50-$1 more per menu item than if I directly ordered from the restaurant.

Surprisingly, the credit has also worked on my Uber rides in India (at the current exchange rates).

$84 Dunkin Credit

A recently added “perk”, cardholders now receive $7/month as a statement credit when paying with their card at any Dunkin’ location. This credit is honestly of no organic value to me as there is no Dunkin’ store in my city. However, many airports do have small storefronts that have successfully triggered the credit for me.

The best way I’ve found to leverage this benefit is to download the Dunkin’ app and reload $7 to the wallet every month. The reload triggers the statement credit so far. This way, the next time I visit a city/airport with a location, I will try and redeem my balance (but I won’t go out of my way to do so).

$100 Resy Credit

New in 2024, the card now offers a total of $100 in statement credits each calendar year when you pay with your gold card dine at U.S. Resy restaurants or make other eligible Resy purchases.

The benefit is offered as two $50 statement credits from January through June and from July through December. Enrollment is required through your Card Account.

Best way to find out which restaurants in your area are on the Resy Platform is to use this site. There is no need to sign up, just be sure to use your gold card to pay at the eligible restaurant. Gift cards do not trigger the credit.

The Points Calculator

You pay $325 but are reimbursed $120 (dining credits), $120 (Uber credits), $100 (Resy credits) and $84 (Dunkin’ credits). If you use all the credits organically, AMEX would essentially pay you $79 to keep the card – which is a win in my books for the value you get in return. However, discounting the credits not applicable to you to $0, if you do not atleast break even, the card may not be worth keeping.

For example, I value the Dunkin’ credits at $0 – and my current AF is still $250 – so I don’t mind keeping the card open. However, when my AF next year rolls in, I will effectively be paying $5 for the card at which point, I may look for a retention offer (or close the card).

The Value

Transfer partners of course! Eighteen Airline partners including the likes of Air France/KLM, Emirates, Delta, British Airways and Etihad amongst others.

Additionally you have hotel partners the likes of which include Marriot and Hilton (and all their properties).

Travel partners

To avoid paying additional cash and redeeming your points for your travel and stay of course!

I recently used the Chase portal to transfer 10,000 Bonus points to World of Hyatt and was able to redeem them for two nights at the Hyatt Place in Downtown Houston. The booking for three people (two queen size bed – room) including breakfast would’ve cost $777 had I paid for it. That’s a ¢7.77 per point redemption and a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Similar to transferring points out of the Chase portal, you may book Marriot properties for a weekend getaway or 3/4 night trips with the third or fourth night being free (depending on participating locations and resorts).

This is NOT a credit card, but a charge card.

Being a charge card, you are required to pay back the statement balance in full at the end of each month. No balance is to be carry forwarded and the interest APR is extremely high if you miss a payment. So please pay off whatever you owe immediately after it posts just to be on the safer side.

It may not affect your credit score negatively.

AMEX has a very different way of approving you for their cards in a way it does not, for some reason, involve a hard inquiry/pull if you’re an existing customer. You’re highly likely to be approved for this card if you have a score of 710 and above and have no negative marks already on your report.

Conclusion

Assuming all your spends are towards bonus categories, you can calculate how many points you earn and see if the benefits outweigh the costs. The big brother to the card is the Amex Platinum card which I’ll cover in a separate article.

I would recommend this card for one year after which you can close it assuming you utilized all the collected points either by booking directly on the AMEX travel website or transferring out to travel partners. If you spend a lot on dining out and eligible supermarkets, (more than $6,000) you actually stand to come out on top.

The second year of keeping the card will cost you only $10 [$250 Annual fee -$120 dining credits -$120 uber credits] but by knowing your expenses, you can easily justify the effective annual fee of $10.

Want access to American Express Membership Rewards but don’t want to pay an annual fee? Check out my article on the AMEX Everyday card here.

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