How Does The Amex Gold Card Compare To Other Rewards Cards
While the Amex Gold card offers one of the best rewards rates on both restaurant and U.S. supermarket purchases, its high annual fee can make it difficult to recoup the cards value with rewards earnings. Plus, while it comes with a few valuable credits, its dining credit has some restrictive requirements that could make it harder to maximize.
To get a sense of where the Amex Gold stands in todays marketplace, our team of researched hundreds of credit cards to rank the Amex Gold based on factors like its rewards rate, welcome bonus, annual fee and more. The card fared quite well because of its rewards rate, welcome bonus and annual bonus . It does charge a higher annual fee than the average rewards card, however.
Though the Amex Gold can easily pay for itself if you take advantage of its benefits, if you arent sure how many of the cards perks youll use and worry about a high annual fee coming back to bite you, there are a few other rewards cards that offer great rewards rates and charge a lower annual fee. Plus, since the cards rewards are best used for travel transfers, it may not be the best fit if youre looking for maximum flexibility.
Consider these alternatives:
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Does The American Express Gold Card Pair Well With Other Cards
Yes, especially when combined with other strong American Express cards within the Membership Rewards program, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express and the Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card.
The Amex Gold is also one of the key components of the Amex trifecta which helps maximize your rewards.
What Income Do You Need For The American Express Gold Card
American Express doesnt list the specific income requirements for its credit cards, including the American Express Gold Card. When applying, applicants must provide their income details along with other required details to carry out a credit check.
American Express has a variety of resources available to make accessing credit easier for consumers. Its pre-qualification tool makes it easy to check eligibility without impacting credit scores. American Express also partners with Nova Credit to facilitate access to credit for newcomers to the U.S.
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Secondary Rental Car Insurance
Secondary rental car insurance covers any damage to a rental car not covered by your primary insurance when you pay for the rental using this card.
Other credit cards offer primary rental car insurance, which pays before your insurance and saves you the hassle of filing multiple insurance claims.
But there are situations where this secondary insurance becomes the primary insurance, including when renting a car outside the U.S. and your personal car insurance does not cover you in that country, or if you dont have collision insurance.
You still need to maintain liability car insurance to cover damage to another person or property.
Up To $120 In Uber Cash
American Express® Gold Card members also get up to $10 per month in Uber Cash that can be used to pay for U.S. Uber rides or U.S. Uber Eats purchases. Your Uber Cash will automatically show up in your Uber account each month once you add your American Express® Gold Card to the app. If you don’t use the full credit by the end of the month, you’ll lose it. However, if you’re able to maximize the American Express Gold Uber benefit, that’s up to another $120 in savings.
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Does Amex Gold Have A Spending Limit
No, the Amex Gold doesnt have a preset spending limit. No Preset Spending Limit means your spending limit is flexible. Unlike a traditional card with a set limit, the amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment, and credit history.
As a result, the Amex Gold Card doesnt have a credit utilization rate on credit reports like many rewards credit cards. But, cardholders will need to pay their balance in full each month to keep their account in good standing and potentially improve their credit score.
For more expensive months, cardholders may want to call American Express to pre-authorize large purchases that may trigger a card fraud alert.
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Is The Amex Gold Card Right For You
For the right cardholder, the Amex Gold is absolutely worth it. The card offers the highest combined rewards rate you can find on both U.S. supermarket and restaurant purchases making it ideal for foodies and household shoppers. Plus, it comes with several travel protections and credits that can help offset its high annual fee.
If you take full advantage of the Amex Gold cards rewards and benefits, the cards value should easily eclipse the annual fee, adding up to over $500 in value.
Evaluating the Amex Golds value relative to its annual fee, personal finance writer Nicole Dieker put it like this: What you might not realize is that the credits, points and benefits offered by the American Express Gold Card can more than offset the annual fee especially if you use your Amex Gold Card wisely.
Heres a quick look at just how much value the cards perks alone can offer the ideal user:
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Is The Amex Gold Card Worth It
The American Express® Gold Cards $250 annual fee isnt quite a premium price, but its still substantial and youll need to overcome this fee in perks or rewards to make the card worth your time. Here are a few factors thatll help you decide if the Amex Gold Card is worth the price of the annual fee for your needs.
- Review your overall spending. To break even on the annual fee with rewards alone, youll need 25,000 points. Get there by spending $6,250 at restaurants or US supermarkets, which is around $520 per month. Of course, youll likely be spending on other categories as well, which will only add more points to cover the annual fee and earn something extra.
- Take advantage of the cards valuable credits. Earning the dining and Uber cash credits could help you offset most of the cards annual fee when used effectively.
- Create a Membership Rewards plan. One of the biggest assets of the Amex Gold is the fact that it earns Membership Rewards points. These can prove much more valuable than standard cashback , but youll need to put a little more effort into redeeming them to find this value.
- Clear the welcome offer. The welcome offer can be worth around $600, which is enough to pay for the annual fee twice over.
American Express Gold Card Calculator: Is It Worth $250
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The American Express® Gold Card offers competitive point multipliers when it comes to purchases at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets, and it also has a handful of other benefits offered by Amex that make it stand out in compared to other premium cards.
Is the American Express® Gold Card worth the $250 annual fee?
Important note: the American Express® Gold Card is NOT the same card as the Platinum Card® authorized user Gold card. They are two completely different cards, and you will not receive the same benefits.
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More Info About Amex Gold Card Requirements:
Amex doesnt openly state any other Amex Gold card requirements, but there are plenty of other factors that Amex considers during the approval process. The amount of existing debt you have, the number of accounts you have open, and the number of recent hard inquiries on your credit report are among those factors. Amex looks at your entire financial profile when making a decision.
One way to get a better idea of whether you meet the Amex Gold card requirements is to use Amexs pre-qualification tool. Just put in a few personal details and Amex will show you all cards they think youd likely be approved for. This pre-qualification process wont impact your credit.
How do I check my Amex application status?
You can check your American Express credit card application status online or over the phone at . Both methods only take about a minute to do, so use whichever is more convenient for you. Youll need to provide the same basic personal information in both cases. Lets go through the steps.read full answer
American Express Gold Card’s Outstanding Benefits
The card offers up to $120 in dining credits each yearthat’s $10 per month in automatic statement credits when you use your card at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Boxed, and participating Shake Shack locations. Before you start swiping, though, enroll in the program. Otherwise, youll be paying the full bill out of pocket. Be aware, also, that you need to use the credit every month, since it wont roll over to the next one if it isn’t used.
The card also comes with up to $120 in Uber credits. Add your Gold Card to your Uber account, and youll automatically get $10 in Uber Cash each month for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S.
The card also comes with a $100 annual airline fee credit. The caveat is that you’ll need to choose a single qualifying airline once per year, and the credit only counts toward things like checked baggage fees and in-flight mealsnot for tickets or seat upgrades.
Lastly, the card provides payment flexibility with its Pay Over Time and Plan It features. Pay Over Time allows charges over $100 to be paid over time just like a credit card at a set interest rate determined by the credit quality of the applicant. The Plan It feature allows the flexibility to split up large purchases into smaller payments over a period of months in exchange for a set fee.
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Blue Cash Preferred Card From American Express
If you eat at home much more often than at a restaurant, the Blue Cash Preferred is a good option.
The Blue Cash Preferred offers 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on the first $6,000 of eligible purchases in a calendar year , 6% on select U.S. streaming subscriptions, 3% on transit, 3% on gas at U.S. gas stations and 1% on all other eligible purchases. Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit. You won’t find a better rate for U.S. supermarkets. There is a $95 annual fee, and the welcome offer is currently a $350 statement credit after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first six months of account opening.
Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Check out our full review of the Blue Cash Preferred Card for more details.
American Express Gold Card Vs American Express Green Card*
With an annual fee of $150, the American Express® Green Card is one of the starter Membership Rewards cards. It earns 3 points per dollar on restaurant purchases, 3 points per dollar on travel including flights, hotels, transit, taxis, tours, and ridesharing services and 1 point per dollar on other purchases. The American Express Green Card could be a better fit than the Amex Gold if more of your budget is spent on getting around, particularly for those who commute and road-trip more than they fly.
Read our in-depth comparison of Amex Gold Vs. Platinum.
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How The American Express Gold Card Compares To Other Travel Cards
The Amex Gold is perhaps the best all-rounder of the American Express premium travel cards, considering its travel credits and upgraded rewards on everyday categories. Its $250 yearly pricing makes the Amex Gold card a fantastic pick if you need a middle-ground between the $99 annual fee-level premium cards and elite cards in the $450+ annual fee range, but there are other options if it doesnt line up with your spending.
People Looking To Complete The Amex Trifecta
The two biggest weak spots in the Amex Gold’s bonus categories can be easily fixed by pairing it with two other strong Amex cards: The Platinum Card® from American Express or The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express.
No matter how much money you spend on dining and groceries a year, youll likely want to combine multiple cards into the Amex trifecta to maximize your bonus category earning.
If you combine these three cards and use each one for its bonus categories, youll end up earning anywhere from 25 points per dollar, or 410% back, on nearly all of your purchases. And these cards really fit together like puzzle pieces, with the Amex Platinum providing luxury perks, such as lounge access and hotel elite status, that the Amex Gold doesnt, and the Blue Business Plus elevating your base earning rate on non-bonus spending from 1 point to 2 points per dollar without costing you a penny in annual fees .
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Recent Credit Card Applications
American Express doesnt enforce these credit card application rules:
- Only one new credit card in 5 days
- Up to 2 new credit cards in 90 days
- Can own up to 5 American Express credit cards at one time
It can still be a good idea to follow these three guidelines to maximize your approval odds. Too many recent applications can lower your credit score and even jeopardize your chances of qualifying for the welcome offer.
Unlike the Chase Ink business credit cards, you dont have to worry about a 5/24 rule. Chase will most likely decline your business credit card application if you have opened at least 5 new credit card accounts in the most recent 24 months.
You may consider the American Express® Business Gold Card because you dont qualify for any Chase business credit card offers at this time.
Disadvantages Of The American Express Gold Card
As the Amex Gold Card may not be the ideal card for you if you dont spend much on food and drinks.
The annual fee could also be a heavy cost for some cardholders. Youll have to make sure to maximize the benefits of the card, especially the annual dining, Uber, and hotel credits to offset the annual fee.
The Amex Gold Card may also not be a good fit for frequent travelers who want benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status.
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American Express Gold Card
7.5/10How we rate credit cardsSee Rates and FeesIntro OfferReward Rates
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at U.S. supermarkets .
- Earn 3X Membership Rewards® Points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
Annual FeeLate Payment FeeForeign Transaction FeesPenalty APR
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at U.S. supermarkets .
- Earn 3X Membership Rewards® Points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
American Express Gold Card Review
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The American Express® Gold Card offers an unprecedented four points per dollar at restaurants and on up to $25,000 spent each calendar year at U.S. supermarkets, making it among the best dining and grocery rewards cards. It also offers an outstanding three points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com. To help make up for a $250 annual fee, cardholders will also receive up to $120 each year in dining credits at select chains and up to $120 a year in Uber credits.
Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months. Terms Apply.
| $250 | |
| Rewards Earning Rate | Earn 4X Membership Rewards Points at Restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S., and earn 4X Membership Rewards Points at U.S. supermarkets . Earn 3X Membership Rewards Points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com. |
| Foreign transaction fee |
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American Express Gold Card One
As a new cardholder, you’ll earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in the first six months. If you redeem your points for travel directly with Amex, the one-time offer could be worth up to almost $750, which isn’t a bad return on spend for $4,000 worth of expenses in six months.
Even converted through a less lucrative option, the one-time offer points might still justify the card’s annual fee in full for the first year. That allows you some time to test-drive the card and determine whether its the right fit for you before its renewal fee looms.
