topic Re: Amex Gold Card in Credit Card Approvals

Amex Gold Card

Laredo — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:39:31 GMT

I never had an Amex card and always wanted one. Since my chapter 13 was just discharged a month ago I thought it would take years to get one but my scores are in the 700s. I have clicking on the pre approval screen here and there and was always denied. Today the pre-approval came back with the platinum or gold card. I don't travel much but we eat out often and of course grocery shop so I thought the gold would fit better. I selected gold and applied and got approved. From what I understand the platinum gives a lot of benefits but I could not justify the fee when we don't travel much.

Was this the right choice? I see many on the forum have multiple Amex cards so just wondering.

Re: Amex Gold Card

coreyb80 — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:44:05 GMT

Congrats on the approval!

Re: Amex Gold Card

Laredo — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:47:58 GMT

Thanks. Did not expect the approval.

Re: Amex Gold Card

bigseegar — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:50:23 GMT

@Laredo wrote:
I never had an Amex card and always wanted one. Since my chapter 13 was just discharged a month ago I thought it would take years to get one but my scores are in the 700s. I have clicking on the pre approval screen here and there and was always denied. Today the pre-approval came back with the platinum or gold card. I don't travel much but we eat out often and of course grocery shop so I thought the gold would fit better. I selected gold and applied and got approved. From what I understand the platinum gives a lot of benefits but I could not justify the fee when we don't travel much.

Was this the right choice? I see many on the forum have multiple Amex cards so just wondering.

Congrats! I have all 3 the Platinum, Gold and Green so YES if you don't travel quite a bit you for sure made the right choice. Gold is a great card points wise fro dining and groceries.

Re: Amex Gold Card

Laredo — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:54:25 GMT

@bigseegar wrote:
@Laredo wrote:
I never had an Amex card and always wanted one. Since my chapter 13 was just discharged a month ago I thought it would take years to get one but my scores are in the 700s. I have clicking on the pre approval screen here and there and was always denied. Today the pre-approval came back with the platinum or gold card. I don't travel much but we eat out often and of course grocery shop so I thought the gold would fit better. I selected gold and applied and got approved. From what I understand the platinum gives a lot of benefits but I could not justify the fee when we don't travel much.

Was this the right choice? I see many on the forum have multiple Amex cards so just wondering.
Congrats! I have all 3 the Platinum, Gold and Green so YES if you don't travel quite a bit you for sure made the right choice. Gold is a great card points wise fro dining and groceries.

Great. Now I just need to understand how Amex works as far as rewards. As mentioned, never had one before. I was told it does not have a spend limit but I'm sure there is a cap. Will read the forum and learn as I go.

Re: Amex Gold Card

Mdowning30 — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 16:45:12 GMT

@Laredo Not a set limit, but they do set an internal limit, i have seen internal limits start at $1750 for example on the low side. You'll get MR points for travel, 4X earned on Groceries & Dining and 3X on travel, 1X everything else.

I actually just changed my Discover card to the "Gold" design, so that will be my first gold card lol.

Re: Amex Gold Card

Laredo — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 16:54:05 GMT

@Mdowning30 wrote:
@Laredo Not a set limit, but they do set an internal limit, i have seen internal limits start at $1750 for example on the low side. You'll get MR points for travel, 4X earned on Groceries & Dining and 3X on travel, 1X everything else.

I actually just changed my Discover card to the "Gold" design, so that will be my first gold card lol.

Thanks. I used the spending power calculator and when I put $15K it read good but $20K came back can't approve. So guess I am around $15K. Guessing

Re: Amex Gold Card

FLLGuy — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 17:40:46 GMT

Congrats on your discharge and huge congrats on your Amex approval - it's a great card to have. I was discharged 07/2021 and couldn't get any pre-qualified love from Amex until 6mos later by January 2022. Just like you, my wife and I eat out alot during the weekends in South Florida and personally went after the Gold card for dinning and groceries and ran the spend required to earn the sub. I couldn't help myself and also got the Platinum for traveling purposes which im targeting next year after i cash in some restricted stocks.

Nice work on your path to healthier credit especially after BK 13 discharge. Feels good huh?

Re: Amex Gold Card

Laredo — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 18:17:56 GMT

@FLLGuy wrote:
Congrats on your discharge and huge congrats on your Amex approval - it's a great card to have. I was discharged 07/2021 and couldn't get any pre-qualified love from Amex until 6mos later by January 2022. Just like you, my wife and I eat out alot during the weekends in South Florida and personally went after the Gold card for dinning and groceries and ran the spend required to earn the sub. I couldn't help myself and also got the Platinum for traveling purposes which im targeting next year after i cash in some restricted stocks.

Nice work on your path to healthier credit especially after BK 13 discharge. Feels good huh?

It feels very good after five years to have the BK 13 closed. Just shocked that they gave me an approval less than a month of discharge. Last time I checked my scores were in the 700s and ran one today and saw my score for experian jumped to 820. That is where the pull was done for Amex. Have no clue how it jumped that high because it is usually my lower score.

Re: Amex Gold Card

Aim_High — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 16:22:27 GMT

Congratulations on your AMEX Gold card approval, @Laredo! The Gold is a great card! I'll give you some highlights of AMEX and the Gold card.

As you noted, with the 4X MRs on dining out and groceries ("everybody eats!" ), I personally think it's the most "practical" of the three AMEX charge cards for the masses. I appreciate how the spending cap to earn 4X MRs on groceries is much higher than the Blue Cash Preferred ($25K versus $6K annually) so much easier to stay within, regardless of the size of your family or grocery bill.

As @Mdowning30 pointed out, an AMEX charge card like the Gold is a little different because you don't have a predefined spending limit and payment-in-full is normally expected unless you are offered the "Pay Over Time" feature for the charges. (The interest rate is high, though, so not suggested to use this feature.) Your spending limit is defined as you go along by your spending and payment patterns. It may be lower at first and slowly increase as you use the card. There is a tool on the website or app where you can check to see if larger-than-normal charges would be approved before you run the card through, saving yourself some frustration or inconvenience. ("Check my Spending Limit.")

If you are able to use all of the available monthly "credits" back against the AF, its possible to reduce your ~effective~ AF from $250 to $10. [$10 x 12 = $120 on GrubHub food delivery, selected restaurants, or a few other options (plus) $10 x 12 = $120 on UBER rides or UBER Eats food delivery.] There is a also a $100 annual credit available for certain charges for two-night minimum stays at the AMEX Hotel Collection hotels. IMO, the credits on Gold are possibly the easiest for the average person (who may not travel freqently for business or pleasure) to recoup.

It's been suggested to me on the forums that with AMEX, for most consumers it's best to pick cards that are either cash-earning or MR-point-earning so as to not dilute your spending between systems. (It takes a lot of MR points for the most useful redemptions.) Member Rewards points are not very valuable for cash, so my only concern is when you say you don't travel much whether you'd get enough value from points versus cash. Cash value for MRs is about 6/10 of a cent per point normally. Gift cards can be slightly more valuable than cash value and sometimes, AMEX will offer promotions on gift cards at 1 cpp or higher. I can currently redeem MRs for a $25 gift card at Walmart at about 7/10 of a cent per point ($25 gift card for 3,572 points) but they are offering a promotion for Wayfair gift cards at about 1.06 cpp value ($25 gift card for 2,353 points.) You can redeem MRs directly for travel booking through AMEX, normally at about 1 cpp without bothering with transfer partners. However, the best value is by transfer to airline or hotel travel partners where you can reach 1.5 to 2.0 cpp or higher valuation in some circumstances. Reaching the highest valuation often takes some patience, research, and skill. And the best value is often for redemption on certain international airline routes using upgrades to business or first class, so if your preference is domestic coach fares, those higher values would be less likely. During September, AMEX is running one of their periodic promotions where they offer a bonus for transfer of points to certain partners. See >this link< for a forum thread about that subject.

Another way to increase the value of your AMEX card is by using the AMEX "Offers" and referral bonuses. I just completed a three-month bonus for an approved referral where I earned +5 MRs (per dollar spent) on all dining spend (up to $25k) in addition to my normal 4 MRs (per dollar spent), so I earned 9 MRs (per dollar spent) during that period for dining out! Sometimes, they will offer you additional MRs for spending a certain dollar amount over a defined period (sort of like an additional SUB after you're a cardholder.) The regular offers are like coupons at certain businesses for money back or extra MRs during a defined promotional period. For examples, I have one for Chili's restaurant (spend $40 or more and get $10 back), Levi's online (spend $150 and get $30 back), and Macy's department stores (get +1MR per dollar spent up to 10K points.) They've given me bonus points for adding cardmembers to my accounts after they spend a nominal amount, maybe $1K to $2K.

Hope this helps give you a high-level overview and welcome to AMEX.

Re: Amex Gold Card

Laredo — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 18:50:09 GMT

@Aim_High wrote:
Congratulations on your AMEX Gold card approval, @Laredo!    The Gold is a great card! I'll give you some highlights of AMEX and the Gold card.

As you noted, with the 4X MRs on dining out and groceries ("everybody eats!" ), I personally think it's the most "practical" of the three AMEX charge cards for the masses.    I appreciate how the spending cap to earn 4X MRs on groceries is much higher than the Blue Cash Preferred ($25K versus $6K annually) so much easier to stay within, regardless of the size of your family or grocery bill.

As @Mdowning30 pointed out, an AMEX charge card like the Gold is a little different because you don't have a predefined spending limit and payment-in-full is normally expected unless you are offered the "Pay Over Time" feature for the charges. (The interest rate is high, though, so not suggested to use this feature.) Your spending limit is defined as you go along by your spending and payment patterns. It may be lower at first and slowly increase as you use the card. There is a tool on the website or app where you can check to see if larger-than-normal charges would be approved before you run the card through, saving yourself some frustration or inconvenience. ("Check my Spending Limit.)

If you are able to use all of the available monthly "credits" back against the AF, its possible to reduce your AF from $250 to $10. [$10 x 12 = $120 on GrubHub food delivery, selected restaurants, or a few other options (plus) $10 x 12 = $120 on UBER rides or UBER Eats food delivery.] There is a also a $100 annual credit available for certain charges for two-night minimum stays at the AMEX Hotel Collection hotels. IMO, the credits on Gold are possibly the easiest for the average person (who may not travel freqently for business or pleasure) to recoup.

It's been suggested to me on the forums that with AMEX, for most consumers it's best to pick cards that are either cash-earning or MR-point-earning so as to not dilute your spending between systems. (It takes a lot of MR points for the most useful redemptions.) Member Rewards points are not very valuable for cash, so my only concern is when you say you don't travel much whether you'd get enough value from points versus cash. Cash value for MRs is about 6/10 of a cent per point normally.   Gift cards can be slightly more valuable than cash value and sometimes, AMEX will offer promotions on gift cards at 1 cpp or higher.   I can currently redeem MRs for a $25 gift card at Walmart at about 7/10 of a cent per point ($25 gift card for 3,572 points) but they are offering a promotion for Wayfair gift cards at about 1.06 cpp value ($25 gift card for 2,353 points.) You can redeem MRs directly for travel booking through AMEX, normally at about 1 cpp without bothering with transfer partners. However, the best value is by transfer to airline or hotel travel partners where you can reach 1.5 to 2.0 cpp or higher valuation in some circumstances. Reaching the highest valuation often takes some patience, research, and skill.   And the best value is often for redemption on certain international airline routes using upgrades to business or first class, so if your preference is domestic coach fares, those higher values would be less likely. During September, AMEX is running one of their periodic promotions where they offer a bonus for transfer of points to certain partners. See >this link< for a forum thread about that subject.

Another way to increase the value of your AMEX card is by using the AMEX "Offers" and referral bonuses. I just completed a three-month bonus for an approved referral where I earned +5 MRs on all dining spend (up to $25k) in addition to my normal 4 MRs, so I earned 9 MRs during that period for dining out!   Sometimes, they will offer you additional MRs for spending a certain dollar amount over a defined period (sort of like an additional SUB after you're a cardholder.)   The regular offers are like coupons at certain businesses for money back or extra MRs during a defined promotional period. For examples, I have one for Chili's restaurant (spend $40 or more and get $10 back), Levi's online (spend $150 and get $30 back), and Macy's department stores (get +1MR per dollar up to 10K points.) They've given me bonus points for adding cardmembers to my accounts after they spend a nominal amount, maybe $1K to $2K.

Hope this helps give you a high-level overview and welcome to AMEX.

That was a great overview and cleared a lot for me. Thanks for taking the time to write it out.

Re: Amex Gold Card

CreditAggie — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 20:34:23 GMT

Congratulations on your Amex Gold approval!

Re: Amex Gold Card

Stealth-1 — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 23:30:46 GMT

@Laredo wrote:
I never had an Amex card and always wanted one.

I selected gold and applied and got approved. From what I understand the platinum gives a lot of benefits but I could not justify the fee when we don't travel much.

Was this the right choice? I see many on the forum have multiple Amex cards so just wondering.

Congrats on your first AMEX card!

Yes, you made the right choice. The Gold card is definitely the more practical charge card for most people and offers many ways to offset the reasonable AF. @Aim_High's post brings up great points.

Re: Amex Gold Card

ScenicRouteTo850 — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 00:08:05 GMT

Amex Gold is my favorite card by quite a bit. So many points for food!!! Delicious points.

Re: Amex Gold Card

cashorcharge — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 02:51:11 GMT

That's great! Congratulations on your Golden AMEX Approval!!!🎉🍾🥂

Re: Amex Gold Card

KingRue8500 — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 21:16:58 GMT

Congrats on your AMEX Gold approval

Re: Amex Gold Card

Laredo — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 01:06:47 GMT

Now to see how to spend $4K in 6 months so I can get the 60K in MRs. That is about $700 per month but says on qualified purchases so need to see what that is. Like I said Amex is all new to me.

Re: Amex Gold Card

Aim_High — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 01:45:41 GMT

@Laredo wrote:
Now to see how to spend $4K in 6 months so I can get the 60K in MRs. That is about $700 per month but says on qualified purchases so need to see what that is. Like I said Amex is all new to me.

"Eligible Purchases" is standard bank terminology for SUBs and is not unique to American Express. There are a few account charges that don't count towards the SUB spending such as returned merchandise, fees, interest payments, etc. And they specifically exclude gift card purchases or loading prepaid cards.

The definition is in the fine print of the SUB offer stipulations:

Eligible purchases can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on a single Card account. Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits and do NOT include: fees or interest charges; purchases of travelers checks; purchases or reloading of prepaid cards; purchases of gift cards; person-to-person payments; or purchases of other cash equivalents. Some American Express® Cards are not eligible for enrollment in the program. Your Card account must not be canceled or past due at the time of fulfillment of any offers.

Re: Amex Gold Card

Laredo — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 02:12:51 GMT

@Aim_High wrote:
@Laredo wrote:
Now to see how to spend $4K in 6 months so I can get the 60K in MRs. That is about $700 per month but says on qualified purchases so need to see what that is. Like I said Amex is all new to me.
"Eligible Purchases" is standard bank terminology for SUBs and is not unique to American Express. There are a few account charges that don't count towards the SUB spending such as returned merchandise, fees, interest payments, etc. And they specifically exclude gift card purchases or loading prepaid cards.

The definition is in the fine print of the SUB offer stipulations:

Eligible purchases can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on a single Card account. Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits and do NOT include: fees or interest charges; purchases of travelers checks; purchases or reloading of prepaid cards; purchases of gift cards; person-to-person payments; or purchases of other cash equivalents. Some American Express® Cards are not eligible for enrollment in the program. Your Card account must not be canceled or past due at the time of fulfillment of any offers.

Thanks @Aim_High

Re: Amex Gold Card

learningcredit54 — Sun, 11 Sep 2022 13:53:57 GMT

@Laredo wrote:
@Mdowning30 wrote:
@Laredo Not a set limit, but they do set an internal limit, i have seen internal limits start at $1750 for example on the low side. You'll get MR points for travel, 4X earned on Groceries & Dining and 3X on travel, 1X everything else.

I actually just changed my Discover card to the "Gold" design, so that will be my first gold card lol.
Thanks. I used the spending power calculator and when I put $15K it read good but $20K came back can't approve. So guess I am around $15K. Guessing

Congrats on the approval. Gold is a GREAT card. As for the internal limit do not go based off of your spending power. I just got back on good terms this year with Amex and although I have checked my spending power when making larger payments and have been said they would be approved- whenever the purchase was made I would receive an email stating to make payments to continue to use my card with no problem.

My internal limit is at around 2k because everytime I get close or go beyong that amount payments are requested. Very close to what @Mdowning30 stated with the internal limit at 1750.00

The key is to build the relationship with them - spend and pay and spend and pay. Its tricky cause spending too much that your verifiable income cant justify may cause a red flag but not spending enough may cause them to keep these internal limits low.

Mind you this is based off my experience and what I have read so I may be wrong - I am sure other members can correct me. Enjoy the card!!