The American Express Gold card is great for individuals looking to maximize Membership Rewards points through spending at grocery stores, dining and flight. The American Express Gold card offers high multipliers for most peoples everyday spend!
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Sign Up Bonus + Annual Fee
American Express is quite tricky when it comes to sign up bonus (SUBs). Location, VPN use (to spoof location), browser cookies, and relationship with American Express all can affect the offer you see. Try using the “Pre-Qualify” or “Check for Offers” button on the American Express site to check to see if there are more competitive offers. If you don’t find a more competitive offer, please consider using our referral links.
Please read the Membership Rewards Points Guide prior to applying.
Review
The American Express Gold card has great multipliers for regular spend. It’s actually my most used card in my wallet! I personally use my Gold card every week between shopping at the grocery store and eating out. The Gold card has a great SUB, and for most people can remain as a keeper card because it has a justifiable annual fee with many credits.
Who is this card for?
This card is for people who frequently go to the grocery store and eat out, order takeout, use food delivery services, but also want to travel once a year. It is also good for those looking to beef up their multipliers to pair with an American Express Platinum Card.
The Gold card does not have a path to a no annual fee card, you can downgrade to a Green or upgrade to a Platinum, which have annual fees. That being said, this is typically a keep or cancel card, if you want a Platinum card, it would be best to simply apply rather than upgrade. Unlike with Chase, you do not need another card with “superpowers” to make use of the points. American Express has many transfer partners that you can use your points with. The card has an annual fee of $250, but comes with $240 in food credits. That’s an effective annual fee of $10, plus the SUB and all the easy multipliers to earn points. The card comes with access to the American Express Hotel Collection, giving you some premium hotel benefits, making it a makeshift travel card as well. This card doesn’t have all of the premium travel perks, but it has enough to make a small trip here and there more enjoyable for the casual traveler. Overall, when you are ready to move past Chase, I highly recommend getting and keeping this card.
Multipliers
4x On dining
4x On groceries
3x On flights booked directly with airline or American Express Travel
1x On everything else
Benefits
$10 dining credit for select restaurants
$10 a month Uber/Uber Eats credit
The Hotel Collection
No foreign transaction fee
Various travel, shopping, and phone Insurance
1 to 1 Transfer Partners
Elite Hotel Benefits
The American Express Gold card does not come with any particular hotel status, however, it does come with access to the American Express Hotel Collection. What is game changing about this is the fact that you don’t need status with the hotel to be treated like an elite that does.
The Hotel Collection (HC) a pretty cool program that American Express has that gets you a few perks at select hotels. You get the space available room upgrades, however, you are not guaranteed free breakfast, and there is no late checkout benefit. This collection is limited, so you may not find the hotel you want on it. If you are looking for a more robust program, consider the American Express Platinum card for its Fine Hotel + Resorts Collection.
One last thing to keep in mind with the HC is to check the price of booking directly with the hotel first. In my experience, the HC have been competitive 100% of the time, but it is all about perspective. Sometimes HC happens to be $5-$20 more expensive per night than the lowest available price (including hotel specific discounts), but in my experience, when you add the $100 credit and other value perks it is still worth it. For some it might not be worth it; if you use the HC to stay at a Conrad and you are Diamond status with Hilton already, you already get free breakfast, late checkout, early check-in, and you might not plan to spend additional dollars at the hotel. In this particular case, it doesn’t make sense to spend what could possibly be additional dollars more than the direct rate to get a $100 credit.
Uber Cash
The Gold card comes with Uber Cash credits each month. You get $10 each month, they do not rollover month to month. These credits can be used on Uber rides, Uber Eats, and now Postmates orders as well. In order to get these credits, you must add your Gold card to your Uber wallet.
Dining Credit
Similar to the Uber $10 credit, you also get another $10 credit each month for select restaurants and services. These include Grubhub, Seamless, Boxed, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth's Chris Steak House, and participating Shake Shack locations. You must enroll in the benefits tab to make use of this credit.
Travel Insurance
If something happens while you’re on a trip, it is definitely good to have travel insurance. If your situation falls under the category of covered instances, you will be covered just because you used your Gold card for your purchase.
Before you go on a spending spree for lost luggage or one of the items that appears to be listed here or on the benefits page, please call American Express customer service to be sure that your situation meets their requirements.
Shopping Insurance
The Gold card might not have good multipliers for purchases for things on eBay or sketchy sites that you might not trust, but sometimes, it is worth it. About 5 years ago a friend of mine wanted an iPhone; we looked on eBay and found one that seemed like it was a good buy. Unfortunately, it had a few scratches on it and my friend did not exactly want it. To make things worse, the seller did not take returns, so we felt like we were in a tough spot, thanks to this return protection benefit, we got all of our money back, and got to keep the phone. Every case may have varying results and it is important to pay attention to American Express terms and conditions.
Often times when I buy expensive electronics I buy an extended warranty, but with this card you get one just for using it. You will also be covered for 90 days on eligible purchase even if you lose something you purchased!
ShopRunner
When I’m not shopping on Amazon, I sometimes consider how long is this going to take to arrive? With ShopRunner you can get free 2 day shipping on eligible items, from specific stores at no cost to you. All you need to do is enroll from the benefits tab. I have used this benefit with Ebags, Calvin Klein, and Adidas!
Summary
The American Express Gold card is a good mid-tier travel card because it offer good multipliers on food and air travel. The credits equal $240 and the annual fee is $250, making it a fairly good card to break even on. Extra perks like the Hotel Collection give it a place in my wallet, and I believe can be a good addition to most people’s collection.
If you think this card would be a good fit for you, please consider using our referral link below.
