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Is American Express Gold Card Worth It

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Earn Amex Membership Rewards

Amex Gold Card Worth It In 2021?! Everything You Need to Know

You will earn up to 4 Amex Membership Rewards per $1 on purchases:

  • 4x points at U.S. supermarkets
  • 4x points on restaurants, including takeout and delivery
  • 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
  • 1x points on all non-bonus spending
  • Terms apply

Membership Rewards points are most valuable when you redeem them for award flights and gift cards. If you have other American Express credit cards that earn Membership Rewards, you can pool your point balances to redeem pricier redemptions more often.

The Blue Business Plus From American Express: Best For Business Owners

The Blue Business Plus from American Express is the only Amex business card that earns Membership Rewards points and has no annual fee , making it a desirable choice for business owners looking to increase their travel rewards once business travel starts to pick up again.

This card offers simplicity at its finest, as you dont need to keep track of bonus categories. Instead, youll earn a flat 2 points per dollar on all purchases made with the Blue Business Plus, up to $50,000 per year, then 1 point per dollar thereafter. Since The Points Guy values Membership Rewards points at 2 cents apiece, thats effectively a 4% return on your first $50,000 of purchases every year.

Related: These business credit cards earn rewards and can get you through a cash crunch.

Businesses also pay nothing to add authorized users, and youll earn points on any expenses charged on those employee cards as well as your own. Plus, the Blue Business Plus offers a 0% introductory APR on purchases for the first 12 months you have the card, which rises to a variable 13.24% to 19.24% afterward. So if you use the card to finance your business purchases, make sure to pay the debt in full before the intro period ends.

Essentially, if you own a small business that typically spends less than $50,000 per year on credit cards, the Blue Business Plus allows you to track your business expenses while earning flexible Membership Rewards travel points, and all without paying an annual fee.

Gold Vs Platinum Amex Card: What’s The Difference

Thomas J. Catalano is a CFP and Registered Investment Adviser with the state of South Carolina. He is a CFP, registered investment advisor, and he owns his own financial advisory firm. Thomas’ experience gives him expertise in a variety of areas including investments, retirement, insurance, and financial planning.

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What Are The Rules For Qualifying For The Sign

The bonus is only available to customers who have not held a personal American Express card in the previous 24 months. Cards issued by MBNA or Lloyds Bank do not count.

You will receive the sign-up bonus if you have a Corporate or Business American Express card via your job and you receive Membership Rewards points from it.

You will definitely receive the bonus if you are only a supplementary cardholder on someone elses American Express card. As far as Amex is concerned, that card belongs to the primarily cardholder and does not make you an existing cardholder.

If you do not qualify for the bonus, you can still apply. You still receive the other card benefits, including the two free airport lounge passes and no fee in the first year.

American Express Gold Card Uk The Sign

AmEx has relaunched its popular Business Gold Card with a ...

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card offers 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points when you spend £3,000 in your first 3 months .

Membership Rewards points can be directly converted to Avios and with a number of other partners. If converted to Avios this would be enough for a return flight to Athens. Use our Avios points calculator to see where your points could take you.

Even better, you can get a higher bonus of 12,000 points if you use this specific link for the Amex Gold card , helping you to fly even further. For those who have read my post about the value of American Express Membership Rewards points if converted to Avios, youll know that I value the points at roughly £0.01 per point. As such by using this link youre making in the region of £20, with the total benefit somewhere in the region of £120. Worth considering! Just look out for the additional 2,000 points as shown below in red when you use the referral link.

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Amex Credit Card Points Calculators

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The Point Calculator is owned by RF3 LLC. This site is informational and meant to provide help in calculating points with various programs. The owner of this site is not a legal or tax professional and the statements and articles on this site are opinions of the owner and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances.

American Express® Gold Card Annual Fee

The American Express® Gold Card‘s $250 annual fee can be daunting for some but can certainly be justified with the benefits of the card. If you take advantage of the $120 Uber cash credit and the $120 in dining credit for select restaurants, you would have already offset $240 of the $250 annual fee. However, if you wont be able to use these benefits or prefer to have a no/low annual fee card it may be harder to justify the cost of the Amex Gold.See Rates and Fees terms apply.

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American Express Upgrade Strategy

If you ever receive an upgrade offer to an Amex card that you have never opened before then you are an ideal candidate for the upgrade strategy.

How does it work?

First, lets say you receive an upgrade offer to upgrade the Amex EveryDay to the EveryDay Preferred.

Assuming you have never opened the EveryDay Preferred, the first step will be to apply for the EveryDay Preferred . Once you are approved for the card and on your way to earning the bonus for that card you would then accept the upgrade offer to the EveryDay Preferred.

This means that you will end up having two EveryDay Preferreds. In the process you will earn the welcome bonus for the new card and also earn the upgrade bonus. As long as you can meet the minimum spend for these two bonuses you should be good to go.

This type of thing might be YMMV in some cases so it may not always work 100% of the time but this has been the established method for optimizing bonuses when presented with upgrade offers for a while.

What Is A Membership Rewards Point Worth

Amex Gold Card 4 Year Review | American Express Benefits, Rewards Points, etc. | Worth It?

Anything from quite a bit to a lot is the answer. I wrote this lengthy article on what American Express Membership Rewards points are worth.

Realistically, Membership Rewards points are worth at least 0.8p. This is because you can convert 1 point into 1.6 Nectar points via the new Avios partnership as we explain here. 1.6 Nectar points are worth 0.8p when spent at Sainsburys, Argos or eBay.

I tend to value airline miles at 0.75p 1p each so that is your valuation if you transfer to an airline programme.

Some of the hotel programmes also offer good value. Radisson Rewards transfers at 1:3 from Membership Rewards, for example. Their top five-star hotels generally cost 70,000 points per night which would be just over 23,000 Membership Rewards points. This would usually get you over 1p per point of value.

The other hotel partners are Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy.

You can take a look at the full list of Membership Rewards options here. If you are strategic you should be able to get 1p per point of value when you use them.

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$10 Monthly Dining Statement Credit

Earn up to $10 in statement credits each month when you pay with the Gold Card at participating partners. You must enroll in the benefit to receive the credits.

If you maximize the $10 statement credit each month, youll receive an annual savings of $120.

Participating partners:

  • Participating Shake Shack locations. Excludes Shake Shack locations in ballparks, stadiums, airports and racetracks.

American Express Gold Card Review: Dining Rewards Royalty

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This may influence which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list ofour partnersandhere’s how we make money.

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Which Do You Like And Why

About CreditDonkey CreditDonkey is a credit card comparison website. We publish data-driven analysis to help you save money & make savvy decisions.

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed on this page are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the offers that appear on this site are from companies from which CreditDonkey receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site . CreditDonkey does not include all companies or all offers that may be available in the marketplace.

*See the card issuer’s online application for details about terms and conditions. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. However, all information is presented without warranty. When you click on the “Apply Now” button you can review the terms and conditions on the card issuer’s website.

Redeem Points For Valuable Travel Rewards

American Express Gold credit card review

Redeeming points earned with the American Express® Gold Card is easy. When you log on to your Membership Rewards account, you can select any of the redemption options mentioned in the table below.

But not all redemption options yield the same value. Ultimately, the best ways to use Membership Rewards points are for flights, whether through the Amex portal or by transferring your points.

You’ll get 1 cent per point for flights booked through the Amex Travel portal, and potentially more than double that if you transfer them to an Amex transfer partner, making those the two best redemption options.

These transfer partners include more than a dozen frequent flyer programs, and in most cases, you can transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio. You’ll want to have a specific flight in mind and know how many miles you need before you transfer your points though, as transfers are non-reversible.

Other travel redemptions are less lucrative. Redeeming your points for a hotel, rental car, cruise or vacation package will only get you 0.7 cents per point. This is still better than non-travel redemptions like gift cards, statement credits and shopping with points, which will get you as little as 0.5 cents per point. If you want to redeem rewards for something other than travel, understanding the difference between cash back, miles and points will help you pick a card that better suits your preferences.

Redemption option
Cover your card charges and receive a statement credit 0.6 cents

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Is The American Express Gold Card Worth It

The American Express® Gold Card can prove extremely lucrative for anyone who spends a lot on travel and food. It’s a great middle-of-the-road card for anyone who wants premium perks and bigger rewards, but isn’t ready to pay for the steeper annual fee on a card like The Platinum Card® from American Express.

To get the most value out of this card’s rewards system, though, you have to redeem your points for flights through the Amex portal or transfer them to one of Amex’s airline partners. This means that the American Express® Gold Card is best for people who want to earn rewards that can be redeemed for flights otherwise, you’re probably better off with a rewards program that’s a little more flexible.

How To Use The Amex Gold Card:

  • Use the card for all restaurant, U.S. supermarket and airfare purchases to take advantage of bonus points.
  • Spend at least $4,000 in the first six months to earn the introductory bonus.
  • Make all major travel purchases on the card to take advantage of its protections.
  • Check out the list of Amex travel partners to see if you can squeeze more value out of your points by transferring them.
  • Enroll in ShopRunner and the cards dining credit.
  • Look out for Amex Offers to earn bonus points on some purchases.

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Points Per $1 At Us Supermarkets

Amex Golds dining rewards cover every day eating at home, too. But people tend to spend more at the supermarket than at restaurants over the course of a year. So Amex limits your bonus earning rate of 4 points per $1 at U.S. supermarkets to $25,000 spent on groceries per year. After that, youll get 1 point per $1. Purchases at superstores and warehouse clubs also earn you just 1 point per $1 spent.

Potential Downsides Of The American Express® Gold Card

American Express Gold Card Still Worth it in 2021?

Keep in mind, the American Express® Gold Card unlike typical credit cards, allows you to carry a balance for certain charges, but not all. The benefit of this is that you lower the likelihood of incurring interest. Just make sure you’re in a position to pay off balances in full every month though if you’re considering this card.

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Capital One Savorone Card

Designed with foodies in mind, the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card offers unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores . Although the bonuses are fewer than the Amex Gold Card, the lack of an annual fee makes this an interesting alternative, especially if you find cash back more appealing than travel rewards. On the downside, the card doesnt offer much in the way of perks.

American Express Gold Card Overview

The American Express Gold Card is one of the premier cards for dining rewards, and the best for dining in Amexs elite card portfolio.

Its high rewards rate, valuable benefits and up to $340 in total annual credits toward eligible dining, Uber and hotel purchases make the annual fee well worth it.

Compared to Amexs premier travel cardThe Platinum Card® from American Expressand similar top-tier rewards cards, the Amex Gold card is the best option for earning rewards outside airfare and hotel stays.

Want more details? Jump to the following sections:

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What Could Be Improved

While this card offers quite a few features, there are still a couple minor issues.

Annual fee

The American Express® Gold Card has a $250 annual fee . While the fee is justifiable for many, its a high annual fee, and something potential applicants should consider.

Inflexible spending credits

Although the American Express® Gold Card offers valuable spending credits, they aren’t entirely easy to use. Dining credits are doled out in $10-per-month increments, so you need to dine with a participating restaurant every month to maximize this benefit. Terms apply.

Free First Checked Bag

The American Express Gold Card for Military Members ...

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card members and up to eight companions on the same reservation receive a free first checked bag. Because Delta normally charges $30 each way for the first checked bag, this perk can be worth much more than the annual fee even if you only fly Delta a couple of times a year.

Families, in particular, can get a huge value four people with a checked bag each on a round-trip itinerary would normally incur fees of $240 for their luggage.

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X Membership Rewards Points

Business Gold cardholders get 4X the rewards points in two select categories in which they spend the most money each billing cycle.

The categories you have to choose from include:

  • Airfare
  • Gas stations
  • U.S. purchases for shipping

After you spend $150,000 in combined purchases in the select categories in one calendar year, the rewards points drop to 1 point per dollar.

You Can Transfer Your Points To Other Loyalty Programs

One of the biggest selling points of the American Express Gold Rewards card is the flexibility to transfer to partner programs that you might already be a member of, including airline and hotel groups like Aeroplan , Marriott Bonvoy, British Airways Avios and others.

Through American Express website, you can browse a growing list of programs that allow you to exchange your points at a competitive ratio, enabling you to combine your points pools to access even larger and premium rewards. For example, you can transfer Membership Rewards points 1:1 to Aeroplan, and get up to 20% more value out of your points.

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