Opinion: Why Now Is the Best Time to Get the AMEX Gold Card

Every household may not spend much money on flying or staying at luxury hotels, but everyone has to eat, either at home or at a restaurant, making food expenses one of the biggest household expenses for most people. Of course, credit card companies know what people spend most of their money on, and there are many credit cards that earn rewards or points towards dining and groceries. Among competitors, American Express's (AMEX) Gold Card stands out with its increased Membership Rewards (MR) points-earning potential. Though the annual fee is higher than other products, it is the best time to get the AMEX Gold Card right now, and the offer won’t stay for long.

You can get the original Gold color like mine or get a rose gold version.

Multipliers & Sign-Up Bonus: Worth up to $1,500

The AMEX Gold Card is currently offering a sign-up bonus of 75,000 Membership Rewards (MR) points after spending $4,000 in the first six months of account opening. I personally value MR points at 2 cents per point, valuing the sign-up bonus at $1,500. However, if you use a referral link or search for the offer using Google’s Incognito Mode, you may be able to find the same spending threshold but with a bonus of 75,000 MR points. This is the highest offer I’ve seen, and I don’t think there will be a better deal for a long time. I strongly suggest grabbing the card sooner than later.

If you’d like to apply for the AMEX Gold card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! Click HERE to access my referral link!

Use my referral link to get the historic high offer and earn 75,000 MR points! Photo credit: www.americanexpress.com

The AMEX Gold Card earns 4X MR points at restaurants worldwide, 4X MR points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per year, 3X MR points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com, and 1X MR points on all other purchases. Continuing with the valuation of MR points at 2 cents per point each, you are looking at an 8% return on restaurant and U.S. supermarket purchases.

Annual Fee & Benefits

The sign-up bonus is lucrative, but the AMEX Gold Card is not a cheap card to have. It has an annual fee of $250 that is not waived during the first year. However, it does come with great benefits to offset this fee. Additionally, the card is equipped with standard benefits such as trip delay protection, ShopRunner perks, lost baggage protection, no foreign transaction fees, and a $100 credit at hotels under The Hotel Collection when booked a minimum of two consecutive nights using AMEX Travel. These perks are great, but the main two benefits that will offset the annual fee are the $120 dining credit and $120 Uber credit.

The AMEX Gold Card is a great dining/grocery card with minimal travel benefits.

The $120 dining credit is broken into $10 per month that can be used at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, some Shake Shack locations, and Boxed. Though I appreciate the dining credit, I do not value it at 100%. Since most delivery services have additional surcharges such as delivery fees, it is almost impossible to get a meal for only $10. I realistically spend between $15 and $20 per head when using delivery services, which is why I much prefer Chase’s approach of giving out a lump sum of dining credits ($60 per year through DoorDash), which is enough to cover 2-3 people comfortably. If you cannot utilize the dining credit at the aforementioned restaurants or delivery carriers, you can use it at Boxed and contribute the credit towards grocery shopping. It is important to note that you need to go to your AMEX Gold’s benefits page and enroll in the dining credit benefit. After the enrollment, AMEX will reimburse you up to $10 per month on eligible dining expenses at the above-mentioned venues. 

My monthly $10 dining credit usually goes to ShakeShack.

The $120 Uber credit is again broken into $10 per month that can be used at either Uber or UberEats. This may sound contradictory, but I do value the Uber credit at 100%. First, UberEats offers more dining options than Grubhub, should I decide to use the credit for lunch. Now, UberEats can offer grocery, prescription, and alcohol delivery services, making it a more versatile option than Grubhub. Second, I already receive $30 per month in Uber Cash from my AMEX Platinum and AMEX Charles Schwab Platinum Cards. Having the Gold Card increases my monthly allowance to $40, which can generously cover about three lunches. Lastly, I use Uber to go to my home airport at least once a month, and repeatedly, the flexibility of using the credit towards either a ride-sharing service or a meal delivery service gives an edge over the dining credit.

Not only UberEats offers more dining options but also Uber Cash can be used towards Uber rides.

The Uber credit is a fairly recent addition to the card’s benefit. The AMEX Gold Card previously offered an annual airline credit of $100. The airline credit follows the same rules and policies as its older sibling, the Platinum Card: You choose an airline upon receiving the card and once every calendar year, and you can use the credit towards incidental fees such as checked baggage, in-flight amenities & entertainment (excluding airplane WiFi), ticket change fees, etc. Some loopholes existed to get around the rule and use the credit towards the airfare. However, they required more trouble than benefit, and I’m somewhat glad AMEX replaced it with a more relevant benefit since AMEX’s airline credit does not include gift cards, airline tickets, upgrades, or award tickets, which makes it difficult for cardholders to use the credit.

The airline credit did not fit the AMEX Gold Card’s profile from the beginning, and I’m glad the Gold Card will no longer have the airline credit.

If you value those two main benefits at 100%, the annual fee can be significantly reduced from $250 to $30. Even if you value the benefits at 50% or simply don’t take advantage of them, you can still easily offset the annual fee by earning lots of MR points, thanks to the card’s great earning multipliers.

Summary

The AMEX Gold Card is a great mid-tier card and is currently offering a highly lucrative sign-up bonus that could be worth up to $1,500. Its annual fee of $250 is not cheap, but it does come with $120 dining credits and $120 Uber credits to offset the annual fee. Though you may have to spend more than $10 every time you use either of the benefits if you fully value them, the Gold Card’s effective annual fee drops to $10. The card earns 4X MR points at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets. These two categories are very popular and competitive, and you can earn a lot of valuable MR points especially if you use the card for a family.

If you’d like to apply for the AMEX Gold card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! Click HERE to access my referral link!